Post-Graduation Reality

Having officially completed college hours earlier, Mark set out to meet up with a few friends, some of whom had also accomplished the same feat.  His first stop was at his good friend Fred's, from where they would soon depart with their driver.

“Freddy, hey man!  Congratulations on graduating!” Mark excitedly greeted his friend as he arrived at his bayside apartment.

“You too, man.  We both did it.  That shit is over!”

“Thank God.  I couldn’t take much more of the schoolwork.  It became such a grind, you know.  I just got so tired of the bullshit,” Mark reminisced, only officially removed from it all for a single afternoon, “But it’s over!”

“It is, man!” Fred agreed, “It’s done!  Never again.  No more buying $150 textbooks and having to do group projects with a bunch of fucking idiots.  It’s over, bitch!  We don’t have to deal with any of that shit ever again!”

“Yeah, man.  The hard part is over.  Now we start getting paid!  Makin' some monies!...  So you’re going to be eventually heading up to New York to look for a job – when are you leaving?” Mark asked his friend.

“I don’t know.  I think I’m going to relax around here for a little.  This is kind of my last time off until I retire, so I'll see how things go, you know?  I’m not really in any rush to go out and get a job.”

“Except for the whole not having any money thing.”

“I’ll make it work,” Fred said confidently, “I made it the entire semester with no job, so I think I can drag that lifestyle out a little longer.”

“You mean eating eggs three meals a day?  Is that really even considered a lifestyle?”

They both laughed.  They felt no worries at the moment; no concern about what the future may hold.  They were two lives that, like many young people, had previously been entirely centered around going to school and all that came with it. 

But no longer did they have to concern themselves with class schedules and homework and the like.  No longer did they have to hope that they did well enough the past semester to keep their chances for a decent job alive.  It was all done now.  They had nothing left to prove in the world of academia.  They had to now make the transformation from kids supported by their parents to mature, productive adult members of society.

“Hey, Fred, looks who’s finally here!” Mark excitedly said, "Looks like our driver showed up!"

“Oh, shit!  Lyle!  You finally got off of work!”

“Hey, man – congratulations.  Mark – you, too,” Lyle softly said, speaking in the low, almost inaudible mumble as he most always did, “Yeah, I got off of work.  I actually just left.  They’re going to be pissed because Saturdays are one of their busiest nights of the week, but they treat me like shit.”

“Well congratulations, Lyle.  You finally quit the dishwashing job,” Mark said in a way that seemed both supportive to Lyle while being a joke to Fred. 

Neither one of them took Lyle’s ups and downs in life very seriously because they seemed so insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  Their friend, who was the same age as Mark and Fred, had started college four years earlier like their entire group of friends had.  As a result of chronic drug over-use, Lyle was unable to successfully finish a semester at college before packing it in and heading back home. 

In the three and a half years since, Lyle bounced from one dead-end job to the other while his drug addiction expanded.  Although he had experimented with several drugs in the past, Lyle had finally given up the hard drugs and settled down with weed, his first love.  As a dishwasher, he had no expectations laid upon him and he was allowed to get high before, during, and after work.  In all, those were the main reasons that he stuck with the job. 

But Mark and Fred were being smart this night – they didn’t want to drink and drive – so they had spent the better part of the past week convincing Lyle that he was too good to be a dishwasher and that he should quit.  Their first action as supposedly mature adults was to encourage their friend to quit a job that he badly needed just so he could drive them around while they drank.  And it worked.

“Well, that worked out,” Mark said under his breath to Fred, “As long as he doesn’t crash tonight, he will have been good for something.”

“Dude, that kid is such a fucking idiot,” Fred replied, laughing, “he should have graduated right now, too.  He’s just excited to be driving us to other people’s houses so he’ll actually have somebody to get high with.  I think he’s more excited than us about tonight.”

“Yeah, I believe that.  The last few months when he would get high alone he would just have us play tricks on him and fuck with him.  Now he gets to get high in the company of others.”

“Good for him, though.  And good for us, too.  We’ve got a driver – let’s go!”

“Fred, you gonna get high tonight, man?” Lyle asked as they walked out the door.

“Lyle, I can’t!  I’ll be looking for jobs soon.  Real jobs!  I can’t go failing drug tests like you always do!” Fred replied, laughing as he had to reject a proposition that he was offered nearly every night from the same person.

“OK, man.  I thought on this big night you would be able to do it again,” Lyle mumbled back in a somber tone.

“Sorry, Lyle.  I just can’t.  I’ll need to get a job soon.  Now come on, this is still going to be a great night!”

And with that the three of them set off into the night to celebrate their accomplishments.  They were filled with supreme confidence and felt that the world was theirs for the taking.  Fred and Mark each had degrees that they felt would entitle them to a well-paying forty-hour-a-week job.  And better yet, they were free of any stresses and concerns that came with earning those very degrees.  There were no worries.  Life was good.

* * *

“Ugh.”

“I know how you feel.  We really took advantage of Lyle driving us around last night,” Mark said, “Where is Lyle, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Fred said as he looked out the front window, “His car is still here.”

“It actually looks like he’s still in the car.  What’s going on there?”

Fred and Mark headed outside to investigate what was going on with Lyle.  They approached the driver side window and tapped on the glass, waking up a person that had clearly been in deep, deep sleep.

“Lyle!  Wake up!” Fred shouted.

“Uuuuuugh,” Lyle groaned, “what time is it?”

“Who cares?” Mark shot back, “just drive us to get some breakfast.”

“Why am I in a car?” Lyle asked.

“Looks like you were unable to get out under your own power,” Mark replied, “But don’t feel too bad.  I didn’t make it very far in the house before collapsing on the floor in front of the TV.  Fred did good, though.  I think he made it to his bed.”

“Yup.  It’s my apartment.  I know what I’m doing.”

“Where are we going?  Wawa?” Lyle asked, referring to the popular market-gas station chain.

“No, let’s go somewhere where we can sit and have a lot of coffee.  I need something to wake me up,” Fred answered.

“Denny’s?” Mark suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Fred replied.

“I think I need to stop at Wawa for some gas first,” Lyle said, “you think you guys could give me a couple dollars for some gas?”

“Sorry, Lyle, I don’t have any cash.”

“Me either.”

“Well, you guys think you could pay for my food?  I don’t have much money,” Lyle said.

“That’s a shame,” Fred replied, “but yeah, we could probably get you a little something.”

“OK, thanks,” said Lyle, “it’s just that I don’t have a job anymore and I used up pretty much all my gas last night.”

“OK, Lyle – FUCK!  We said we’ll get you something,” Mark replied, tiring of listening to what he considered petty problems, “You’re good.”

Lyle stopped to put his last $4 in the gas tank, then the three headed off to Denny’s on their first full day as independent, responsible adults.

* * *

“Fuck, man, I can’t believe we’ve graduated,” Mark said to both friends sitting at the table, although the comment only actually pertained to one of them.

“Dude, it’s crazy.  It seems like we just got done with high school,” Fred replied, “Now it’s four years later and I don’t know what’s happened to the time.”

“It’s not just that,” Mark picked up, “it’s that I don’t even know if I feel qualified to get a real job.  I really, honestly feel like I’ve learned nothing over the past four years.  It just seems like it’s a big sham.  Like I somehow just completely bullshitted through four years of college and somehow nobody ever found out.”

“I feel the same way!” Chris shot back, “I don’t know how I got a degree from an accredited university.  I could see maybe bullshitting my way through a technical school or community college, but not a four year university.”

“Yeah.  I just honestly have no confidence in my ability to use what I was supposed to have learned at school in a real world situation.  The stuff we did in class was bullshit.  I can’t believe they let me graduate.”

“Did you just barely graduate?” Lyle asked with a little glimmer of hope that maybe one of his friends may have struggled nearly as badly as he had in school.

“No.  I graduated cum laude, 3.5 GPA.  But that doesn’t mean that I know shit.  This is what I’m talking about.  How could it have been possible for me to get good grades and not know fucking anything?  Fuck the real world,” Mark vented, becoming less confident and more frustrated with some of the facts of life.

“Well, we’re fucked ‘cause unless we can think of some scheme, we’re going to have to get real jobs,” Fred replied, seeming to have accepted reality more quickly than his friend.

“I don’t know, man.  I honestly, at no point in my life, felt that I would ever grow up to become a productive member of society,” Mark admitted, “I don’t know...I guess I kind of thought that something would happen or some circumstances would arise that would allow me to continue to not contribute to the benefit of anyone but myself, you know?  I mean, what am I really going to do?  Become an engineer?  Just because I have a degree?  I honestly hate engineering with a passion.  I cannot stand it.  I can’t believe that anyone does it.  The only reason I did it in college was because it’s one of the degrees that will actually really help toward getting a real paying job.”

“Well, what can we do?”  Fred asked, “Because I don’t want to get a real job either.  Grad school?  That’ll postpone a real job for a couple years.”

“Yeah, I’ve been seriously thinking of that,” Mark replied.

“But you just said that you really, really hate engineering,” Lyle said.

“Yeah, but I hate the idea of having to wake up and go to work for 40 hours a week even more.  I hate the idea of having to work by someone else’s pre-determined hours.  At least at grad school I could still pick the schedule and not have to go to some job.”

“I don’t think grad school is going to be all that easy,” Fred said.

“Lotto?” Mark suggested, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and win the lottery.  Why not us?  Other people win the lottery.  There are some people out there that have won it twice.  We could be those people.”

“You got any ideas that might not depend on games of chance?  I mean, what’s your next idea going to be?  Try your luck in Atlantic City?  Investing your savings in a pyramid scheme?  Rob a bank?”

“I’m fucked, man.  We’re fucked.  We’ve got to get real jobs – there’s really no other way around it,” Mark said, “I don’t know how other people do it.  Did I tell you that I know somebody that’s starting at a job tomorrow?  She was in my class three days ago and now she’s going to be working tomorrow.  One day off between school and the real world.  I couldn’t do that.  I can’t believe she did that.  I can’t even comprehend it.  But I guess I’ll have to at some point.  I’ll most likely have to get a job some time.  It’s going to suck but it’ll have to happen.”

“I think you’ve gone through the five stages of grief, Mark,” Lyle, a person not qualified to make a smart-ass comment, remarked.

“Fuck you, Lyle.  Do you even know what the five stages are?” Mark shot back, half-jokingly, “You’ve got it good, man.  You’ll still be living at home, so you won’t have to worry about bills or anything of any real consequence.”

“Yeah,” Fred chimed in, “You just got done working as a dishwasher.  There are really no great expectations on you from anyone in your life.”

“You have no pressure to succeed, Lyle,” Mark continued, “It’s been four years since you’ve taken a real college class – when was the last time that there was any pressure in any situation that you’ve been involved in?  You’ve got it easy.”

Though Mark and Fred had just, one day earlier, graduated from college, they were growing increasingly jealous of the no-pressure, low-expectations lifestyle of their college-dropout friend.  They decided to stop fighting it and stop belittling their friend, instead turning to their cooling Grand Slam breakfasts to calm their concerns. 

No matter how much they hated it, Mark especially, they would have to move on with their lives.  There was going to be no more of the carefree atmosphere of college.  No more making their own schedules and not being required to show up for classes and being able to do whatever either one of them wanted to do with their time.  They had to get jobs and work for the man.  It may have seemed like a lot of life to get to where they were now, but they still had much more living ahead of them.

* * *

It was late that Sunday night; Mark was back home, at the same house he and his family had lived in since he was in middle school.  He had had a nice dinner with his parents and brothers a few hours earlier.  They had discussed his future and it had become apparent that Mark was indeed going to be heading to grad school in the fall, at the same university that he had just graduated from, no less.

While lazily flipping channels, with the knowledge that he now had an entire summer of slacking ahead of him, his cell phone rang.  Looking at the display, he could see that it was Fred.

“What’s going on, Fred?” Mark asked his friend.

“Dude, I had to tell you as soon as I found out,” Fred began, “I’m heading up to New York on Tuesday.  My mom got me a plane ticket as a late graduation gift.”

“You’re going up there for a vacation?” Mark asked “Or are you already heading up there for a job?”

“A job, man,” Fred said, “I’m going to be staying with some friends of the family in Queens.”

“That’s nuts, man!” Mark said with enthusiasm and a hint of jealousy, “That’s really fast.  I mean, just earlier today we were talking about how we don’t feel prepared for the real world and now there you go – heading out in a couple days to get a real job.  That’s awesome, man.  Living the dream, though.  We’ve both been wanting to go there ever since we started watching Seinfeld.”

“I know, man.  I’ll have to get a place near Tom’s so I can just walk to the coffee shop.  In fact, I’m just going to have to start referring to it as ‘the coffee shop.’”

“This is exciting, though.  I can’t wait till I can get up there, too.  Oh, by the way, I am going to grad school, but with that Master’s in five program it’ll only take one more year, so I’ll be able to get up there a year from now.”

“That’s so funny, man.  You’re going to be going there in the fall!  It’s going to be like you never even graduated.  It’s going to be the same kind of routine!”

“I know, I know.  But it’ll be good to get the Master’s.  It’ll help get a real good job in New York.  Not that you won’t be able to get a job there, but I just – I don’t know, I think it would be good for me to get the Master’s.”

“No, definitely you should get one.  I wish I could get one but I have to go out and get a job now.  I’m definitely going to try to get one after I’ve got a little money in the bank.  Oh – I’ve got another call coming in.  I’ll call you tomorrow.  I’m going to call a few other people tonight then I have to start packing.  Later, man.”

“Later, Fred.”

Mark hung up his phone, surprised at what had just happened.  He was happy for his friend.  Happy, but a little jealous, too.  Ever since they had become friends in high school they had shared a love of New York City and had both planned on living there as soon as they could.  But now Fred would be able to live that dream first while Mark was stuck back at home, a six-hour drive from New York, for another year. 

“Well, I’ll just have to bust ass and get grad school finished with as quickly as possible,” Mark thought.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Fred headed up to New York City.  He had gone up there with nothing but a resume and verification of graduation to get a job.  But he was fortunate on this May Tuesday as he had just gotten out of a follow up interview with a company located in midtown Manhattan.  He decided to call his friend to tell him the news.

“Yo, Mark, what’s going on?” Fred asked after Mark answered the phone.

“Not much, man.  Me and Anthony have just been watching a bunch of movies.  It’s nice not having to worry about school or work and knowing that I won’t have to worry about it for another three months.”

“Oh, nice.  Anthony’s back in town,” Fred said, referring to a mutual friend that had gone away to a different school.

“Yeah, he just had his graduation ceremony the other day, so he’s going to be in town for the summer before heading off to law school.”

“Law school.  That’s fucking nuts.”

“You’re telling me.  I think we’re going to do a whole lot of nothing this summer before we have to get back to school.”

“Well, guess what?”  Fred said, “I got a job.”

“Are you serious?  Congrats, man,” Mark replied to his friend, this time without the jealousy that came when he first learned that Fred was moving to New York so soon, “Where at?”

“It’s just some small company but it’s located in midtown – on 37th street.  It’s sweet, man.  The other people that worked there seemed cool – I’m looking forward to starting.  I actually start up on Monday, so I’ve only got a few days off.  I’m heading uptown to the Upper West Side to check out some apartments right now.”

“Wow, just like on Seinfeld – they lived on the Upper West Side.”

“I know.  I hope I can find a place up there,” Fred replied.

“So this has all happened ridiculously fast.  Almost seems like it’s happened too fast.”

“I know,” Fred said with a chuckle, “I don’t know how this has happened.  I really don’t.  Remember how we were talking about how unqualified we feel to get a real job?  I still feel that way – and I just got a real job.  I don’t know why they think I’ll be able to perform for them, but I’ll do it.  That was the hard part, getting a job, and I did it.  It wasn’t so bad.  I think it’s not going to be too bad.”

“I can’t believe how quickly this has happened,” Mark replied, “I mean, just three weeks ago we were both still college students.  Just three weeks ago we were both still playing catch on the beach behind your apartment and throwing baseballs at Lyle while he got high.  Now you’re off living in New York; you’ve got a job....it’s just nuts.  I’m happy for you, man.  I can’t wait until I can get up there for a trip.  We’ll have to catch a Yankees game.”

“No doubt.  And soon enough you’ll be moving up here.  I mean, you’ll be done with grad school next May, so that’s twelve months away, but you figure you’ll have to start looking for a job well before that, and we’ll have to start looking for a beast apartment that we can split before that – it’ll be like you’re moving up here in four or five months!”

They both laughed at the thought.  But while it seemed funny that a year could go by so quickly, that time would fly by so rapidly, it was another fact of life that they would both have to learn. 

"It's weird, man," Fred began, "I know it hasn't been that long, but time has really flown since I've been up here, but it seems like just yesterday that we were on Spring Break and not worrying about anything.  Life is really speeding up and things are coming and going really quickly."

"I hear ya, Fred," Mark replied, "but there's nothing we can do to slow it down.  We've just got to take what we're given and roll with the punches.  We just have to make the best out of life, you know?"

That was the most profound discussion the two had ever had.

"And I guess if we ever need a lift," Mark continued, "we can just convince Lyle to quit his job again, you know, to lift our spirits."

"That kid is such an idiot."