After being at school all day, most students try to take a nap or grab a snack before either hanging out with friends or doing homework, but for other students, there is only time for working on homework before going to work for the night.
For Sarai Cruz, junior health science major, after driving home from California Baptist University to San Bernardino, she has to get school work done before heading off to work for the night at the Amazon Fulfillment Center located in San Bernardino.
“I work the 6:30 p.m. – 5:30 a.m. shift every Wednesday through Saturday.” Cruz said. “It’s around 40 hours a week, but during the holidays I usually work around 50 hours.”
Cruz’s job is to walk the aisles in the warehouse and pick all the items needed to fulfill orders.
“The aisles go from one to 225 and that’s on the floor that I’m assigned,” Cruz said. “By the end of the night I usually have walked anywhere
from 10–12 miles.”
Starting the job right out of high school, Cruz said she needed a way to help pay for college so she applied to become a white back, which is a temporary position. After working in the position, Cruz was hired on full time, and in July she will have worked there for
three years.
“Because I work at Amazon I have been able to pay for college and right now I have done it without taking out any
loans,” Cruz said.
Working full-time and also being a full-time student does have its drawbacks. During the days that Cruz works, she averages around five hours of sleep.
“Working full-time and being a full-time student has messed up my sleep schedule so much,” Cruz said. “The days I work I am trying to sleep during the day and the days I don’t work I am so tired in the morning and sleepy during the day and at night I am wide awake.”
The long hours of work and school has affected Cruz in other ways, as well.
Before the job at Amazon, Cruz would attend church every Sunday but now averages once or twice a month.
Cruz said she has also noticed her time with family has decreased as well.
“I hardly get to see them and when I’m at home I see them for a couple of hours,” Cruz said. “Then either I have to go to work or they have to go to work so our schedules just contradict.”
Cruz said she hopes that after graduating CBU she can receive her master’s degree at a physical therapy school and become a physical therapist for children with physical disorders.
