Summer Job Market Slow, But Odd Requests Come In

Summer has been slower than usual this year at the Office of Student Employment in Weld Hall. Requests for baby-sitters range from none to three a day, and odd jobs are scarce.

After receiving many more requests than they could fill for camp counselors, instructors, and tutors, the staff found it more difficult to satisfy students looking for other types of full-time summer work.

Summer students have gobbled up the odd jobs, whereas regular College students have seized most of the openings listed in the book labeled: "Full-time and Regular Part-time--Catch As Catch Can." The office has assigned drivers to the Checker Cab Company, bartenders to the Hotel Commander, and a man "to sleep on a boat."

Cleaning Out Coffin

Most unusual of the spot assignments was a request by the Museum of Comparative Zoology for a man to clean out a coffin at $1 an hour. Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill hired a babysitter for two ponies through the office, while the cafeteria in Fenway Park asked for an office manager, offering an extra dollar for double-headers.

Common requests are for gardening, lawn mowing, chauffeuring, typing, furniture moving, house painting, and the like. The pay averages around $1 an hour.

More varied assignments have been organ playing for the New Church Theological School, public opinion polling for the Boston Globe, and acting as subjects for a psychological experiment.

Best paying jobs are rare assignments as subjects for scientific experiments.