To most people, the holidays are a time of happiness and joy where all appears to be “merry and bright”. Christmas trees, songs, and decorations can evoke a feeling of warmth and love that is associated with the holiday season. To retail employees, the thought of anything Christmas-related filled them with constant and overwhelming stress. Student employees especially struggle a lot with working during the holidays. Balancing school and work can be particularly taxing.

“It’s hard to work during the holiday season,” said Junior, Vanessa Burkhart. “It’s hard working long shifts mixed with school work, extracurricular activities, and getting home later.”

Working a job in general is hard enough, but working as a full-time student makes it even more stressful, as it is a known fact that retail stores are busiest in November and December. One major day during the holiday season that is dreaded among employees is the infamous, Black Friday. Normal American civilians know the horrors of having to fight someone for the last couple of items, but few people actually have to work behind the scenes of Black Friday, restocking shelves and dealing with angry customers. Junior, Julia Scherrer, an employee at Target Starbucks, shares her struggles.

“There was a continuous stream of customers that kept us busy the entirety of the day,” she said. “Working as a student during the holidays is definitely more difficult than working the rest of the year.” Being a retail employee is hard enough during Christmas time, but being a student makes it much more strenuous. Julia says, “Balancing schoolwork with work is more stressful”. Being an employee can be taxing and hard, especially during the busiest time of the year. If you are a current student-employee, just keep on pushing forward,  and counting down the days until December ends.