“I never heard from them again. I was just kind of fed up with it.”

Samantha Krueger, known by friends and family as Sam, is a 21-year-old student at UW-Milwaukee studying History. She lost her old campus job when the pandemic started, but now she has a new job mentoring first-year students, and is very passionate about it.

Callie Donavan: Did you apply for unemployment during the pandemic?

I was previously employed by UWM before the pandemic hit, and I worked at the Restor on campus. The Restor is a school convenience store. I was told that we were not able to apply for unemployment, so I never tried.

We got a one-time $200 check, and then we were told because we received that we could not apply for unemployment.

Why don’t you still work at the store?

They asked us if we wanted to come back next year when they opened again. I told them I wanted to come back. Fall 2020 came and I received no communication about whether or not I was going to be working again and I had to reach out to them. I had already heard from a friend that worked there that they were hiring new people.  

I reached out to them, and they were like, “Oh yeah Sam, no problem.” They sent me all this paperwork I had to fill out and I had to do some online training. I did the paperwork, I did the online training, but at this point I was quarantining because my sister contracted Covid, and I had come in contact with her.

I emailed them and said, “Hey, I filled out my available hours and I did the training. As of right now I’m quarantining for two weeks.” I never heard from them again. I was just kind of fed up with it.

Where do you work now?

I work at the Student Success Center as a peer mentor. I meet with freshman students, and I help them navigate the transition between high school to college. I really like it, a lot more than working at the Restor.

Do you feel the pandemic has affected your current job?

Obviously I didn’t work as a peer mentor last year, but talking to other peer mentors, they talked about doing online only appointments all through last year. It was really hard to get students to make appointments with them and to engage with them.

Now, this year we offer in person appointments and online appointments or phone calls. I’ve noticed that my online or phone call appointments are a lot shorter, and we don’t connect as well as my in-person appointments.

What is the best part of your current job?

I really love meeting with students and being able to offer them resources and help them figure out college. I reassure them that it’s okay that they don’t know what they want to do.

What is the worst part of your current job?

I feel that they sometimes expect a lot from us. We are supposed to call our students and have them make an appointment. At a certain point, calling the students isn’t going to make them make an appointment with me.

What have you learned about having a job in 2021?

It has opened me to the struggles of students. I know I struggled a lot during the pandemic, and then talking to these people who are coming from high school and having to graduate while being online has been really eye opening.

I’ve talked to a lot of students who are like, “Yeah I just checked out my senior year because I didn’t have to be very present.” I know I kind of did the same thing online here at UWM.

Do you appreciate working more now after being unemployed during the pandemic?

Yeah, I think this workplace that I’m at now is a lot more flexible than the previous workplace I was at. We can just email and be like, “Hey, I’m taking a mental health day. I don’t feel comfortable coming in today.” That’s all we have to say.

At my old job, if you wanted to call in you had to find someone to take your shift. If you didn’t find someone to take your shift you were written up. There’s less pressure.

Do you talk about the vaccine at your current workplace?

No. We just follow UWM standards.

Do you talk about the vaccine with other employees?

Yeah, we disclose our vaccination status to each other and how we feel about vaccines.

Do you feel like there is tension in the workplace concerning the vaccine?

Not really. I feel like the majority of us are vaccinated. There are a few people who will wear their mask under their noses and I’m like, “What are you doing.”

Do you know if those people are not vaccinated?

I don’t want to make that assumption, but maybe they don’t care about Covid.