Early Workers
Done at Dawn: Community members skip the sleep and make their
living early in the morning.
While some students wake up for 8 a.m. classes and drag
themselves through the cafeteria, Leticia Perez has been up for
almost three hours making sure the most important meal of the day
isn’t forgotten.
“I think (the students) appreciate us,” said Perez, a cook in
Corbett Hall.
Many people work early mornings ensuring smoother rides for the
rest of society.
Perez wakes up at 4:45 a.m. to make it to work by 5:30 a.m. and
has done so for almost six years.
“I am a morning person,” Perez said. “My body is used to
it.”
Perez enjoys the early mornings because it frees up her days and
evenings for other activities.
“I like getting off earlier,” Perez said. “It’s like you are not
being lazy.”
Carrie Hadley also sacrifices her warm bed during early hours to
allow students access to the Campus Recreation center at 6 a.m.
“There are usually 35 to 40 people already waiting outside the
doors before we let people in at 6,” Hadley said.
Hadley, a sophomore health and exercise science major, finds it
hard to be herself so early in the morning.
“Sometimes it’s hard to be nice so early in the morning,” Hadley
said.
Hadley has been working for the recreation center for a year and
a half but would rather work at a job with regular hours.
“It’s hard to get a job here,” Hadley said. “I am a college
student that needs the money and the hours. I’ve got to pay my
bills.”
Other students take on jobs at early hours for reasons other
than money.
“It was a combination of money and brown-nosing,” said Adam
Finney, a coordinator for Intramural Sports. “It started as a
favor.”
Finney lined the intramural fields for three semesters at 7 a.m.
Finney, a junior computer information systems major, started lining
fields when he was a referee and this favor helped him work his way
up the ladder to the coordinator position he holds now.
It might not be his first choice, but Finney said he would do
the job if was he asked again.
“If I had to I’d be here for it,” Finney said.
Some might wake up earlier to work while others stay up during
the late hours of the night.
Joe Feptkether works at Silver Mine Subs, 1240 W. Elizabeth
Ave., making and delivering sandwiches to students who stay up
until the late hours of the night. Feptkether, a student a Front
Range Community College, leaves work around 4 a.m. and doesn’t
think people appreciate his late-night efforts.
“(This job) has its pluses and minuses,” said Feptkether. “It’s
nice to get 30 hours in three nights of work. You can’t really get
that in too many places.”
Feptkether works on nights he doesn’t have class and has done so
for the past two years.
“It’s decent money for part-time,” Feptkether said. “And I do
enjoy working at night because my days are just too busy.”
An hour before employees at Silvermine are done working, Kyle
McDuffie started his newspaper route. McDuffie, a health and
exercise senior, arrived at the Fort Collins Coloradoan at 3 a.m.
to begin his three and a half hour route.
“I could only do it for two months,” McDuffie said. “It was a
last option.”
McDuffie delivered newspapers during the summer and thinks only
half of the customers appreciated his efforts in delivering their
papers.
“The people who were up when I dropped off their paper were
nice,” McDuffie said. “But the others just complained about me
walking on their grass and their paper not being close enough to
their door.”
Snow removal is another early profession that some take for
granted. Sean Casey works for a landscaping company that removes
snow as early as 3 a.m. when conditions require it. Casey, a
student a Front Range, removes any snow over two inches from
business in Old Town. If the snow continues to fall, Casey might be
called out of bed again to plow away the evidence.
“Sometimes it’s hard to wake up so early,” Casey said. “But my
job makes it easier for others to get to work in the morning and
that helps.”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.