Co-oping pays off for students in the end

Deciding to co-op is by far one of the best decisions I have made at Tech. Not only because it has " prepared me for the real world " and " given me invaluable work experience, " but also because it gives me a nice cash flow and a break from school every other semester.

I don't know how some students go to school for 5 semesters in a row, because there is no way I would have survived.

At the end of each work term, I may look forward to going back to school, but I am even more excited when that school semester is over and I can start working again.

Besides providing students with a break from school, co-oping gives students a chance to learn what the working world is really like, because it's not what you expect.

There are several things that co-oping has taught me. One is that workplace etiquette is a myth. People aren't always nice, polite or well-mannered. I went into one manager's office during lunchtime to find him licking his fingers and talking with his mouth full. I have heard coworkers hang up on people and I was in the office when a recruiter described characteristics that upper management would and would not put up with in a new employee.

By far the worst display of inappropriateness was when I unexpectedly stopped by an administrative assistance's desk and she told me she had " passed gas. " Pretty bad, huh? And you didn't have to smell it.

Another lesson I've learned is that the dress code only applies to young employees. The 65 year old administrative assistant can wear her strappy sandals every day that the temperature breaks 90 degrees, but the second a co-op comes in with an open toed shoe the gossip mill starts. Comments such as " I didn't realize we were allowed to wears shoes like that " are said just loud enough so you can hear them.

That is not the only thing that gets gossip going. The office is worse than any group of sorority girls when it comes to spreading rumors.

Rest assured that if you are the last person to find something out, no one likes you, because it doesn't take much to get someone talking about somebody else's business.

I have also found that if you co-op in an office with older employees, the conversation usually will default to old war stories from when they were in college.

You will hear about crazy parties and school scandals that date back to before you were even born. Imagine your grandfather telling you about all the beer he drank and the various girls he dated and you will get a good idea of how uncomfortable these conversations can be.

Those girls who think the dating pool will improve when they graduate are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Just because some guy has a job and should be grown up does not mean that he is. They do not miraculously become suave.

I had one guy follow me into an elevator not to ask me out but to ask me my full name. Even though it was an odd question, I didn't really think about until two hours later when I got an email from him. He had looked me up in the company address book to email me and ask me if I would be interested in going to lunch with him. If he had only read my editorial from last semester, I may be dating him now...

Finally, I have learned that a Tech education will earn you instant respect. People's eyes widen when you tell them you are a student at Tech and your opinion suddenly has a little more merit.

They don't know that I've spent four years trying to get my GPA back up to a 3.0 or that I spent every waking minute of one summer in the computer lab to earn the best damn C I've ever made.

Although the majority of people at work couldn't ever comprehend how hard Tech is (about 75 percent of them are Georgia fans) they are still amazed that I am about to graduate from here.

You ever wonder why GT alums donate so much money and are so proud to be a Yellow Jacket? Now you know. For all the crap you have to put up with to get through this school, it will by far pay off when you graduate.