Forget the library or mail room. Some students head into Evanston for extra cash.
Becca Cadoff is a shoe-a-holic. Her apartment is full of them. She’s devastated she can’t afford the Dolce & Gabbana sandals on sale at Nordstrom Rack. So when the SESP senior was looking for a place to work two years ago, she gravitated toward Williams Shoes. “I ended up spending more money than I made,” she says.
She worked for about a year at Williams in Evanston, performing accounting tasks like paying the store’s bills and occasionally working the sales floor. “It was fun,” she says, “until it was really cold and I had to walk there.”
Cadoff is one of many Northwestern students who decide to take part-time jobs in Evanston. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31 percent of full-time students at four-year institutions held down jobs as of last October. The reasons for taking on a job range from the need for extra cash to opportunities for life experience and responsibility. Cadoff started working her sophomore year to help her parents cover tuition costs. “I felt bad that they were paying so much,” Cadoff says. “I thought if I could make a little extra, I could pay for half my books at least. I wanted to start becoming a little financially independent.”
NU students visited the store frequently. Though she wasn’t acquainted with every student customer, some would talk to her about their purchases, and she eventually made friends in the process. After helping one customer pick out a pair of boots, she recognized her on campus later. “We started waving at each other on campus,” Cadoff says. “She was a Northwestern student, but I knew her through Williams rather than through Northwestern.” But not every customer was as friendly. “It was kind of awkward to see people I wouldn’t usually say ‘hi’ to,” Cadoff says. “It’s an, ‘I have to be professional and I also have to be serving you’ feeling.”
Weinberg sophomore Chris Lagedrost started working at Jamba Juice on Davis Street about a month ago for similar reasons. “Living in a higher-cost town, it’s nice (to have extra money),” he says, plus Jamba Juice is a “pretty social job.” His friends visit often, but he enjoys chatting with other students, too. “I usually like when Northwestern kids come in here,” he says. “It’s something to relate to.” As far as tipping goes, Lagedrost says NU students are no cheaper than other customers. “It’s a couple cents here and there when they don’t want to keep the change,” he says.
A few blocks south, Medill senior Mallory Gafas worked for a year and a half at the upscale steakhouse Pete Miller’s. She says she needed the extra money and had worked several work-study jobs, but they had all let her down. “They were mostly administrative…and I figured out that working in the evenings was better for me,” she says. “This just seemed more fun, easy, and it worked with my schedule.” Because Pete Miller’s is a more formal restaurant, students only dine on special occasions, and awkward encounters were infrequent. “I didn’t mind how many people knew me, unless they were trying to get a free steak,” she says.
But during Parents’ Weekend, comfort levels dropped. “I remember I sat 500 people in one night, and it was mostly all students and their parents,” she says.In spite of the stressful weekends, working at Pete Miller’s was worth it. “It was one of my favorite things about living in Evanston.”
