Let them eat 401(k)ake

Boy, the NY Times sure likes giving advice. A few weeks ago they had an article about the rise of unpaid internships and their general worthlessness. If it doesn't pay; it doesn't teach you anything, that article proposed. Upon reading this article, at my first real post-grad job, I thought it was bs. I've had both paid and unpaid jobs and internships, and I didn't think how much I took away from the experience had anything to do with how much monetary compensation I received. Besides I've learned tons of great job skills during my internships in college. I can do amazing things with spreadsheets and I've mastered the art of the business casual email. The tasks that I do at my "real job" don't vary greatly from what I did at my "fake jobs," but something fundamental has changed.
In high school I had a job to pay for trips to the mall and cheesecake at the diner. In college I had an on-campus job to make beer money. Now I have to pay for my own rent and food, which in New York, don't come cheap.
At all my previous jobs, I tried to ignore the office politics. My mantra was not to get involved in personalities. I could act like I was above the fray, because I wasn't a part of it. My internship would end at the end of the semester or the summer, and it's almost impossible to get fired from a part-tiime job as long as you're a warm body. But the "real world" is different. All of sudden it matters if people like you, and if they're spreading rumours behind your back. It's like being back in the cafeteria in high school.
Thankfully the New York Times also has savings and retirement adivce to help the recent college grad actually escape the soul-sucking gray cubicle. The first two suggestions are prosaic, at best. Drink the sludge at the office, instead of getting Starbucks, and quit smoking, not because it's bad for you, but because it's expensive. (Although the lung cancer will keep you from worrying about the state of your 401(k), since you probably wont' make it to retirement age.)
But my favorite peice of advice is to sock $325 away in your 401(k) every month. After paying my rent and utilities, I have $521 to pay for cable, internet, phone, groceries, clothes, cleaning supplies, toiletries, laundry, dry cleaning, transportation, and grooming. Forget restaurants, bars, concerts, museums, furniture, books, music, pets and travelling, Wait wasn't this the same newspaper that just told me I'm a complete ignoramous with no knowledge of global affairs or cultures, and I should get dear old mom and dad to bankroll the Grand Tour?