NASA Engineer Gets Second Job At Tiffany's So She 'Doesn't Have To Worry About Money'
She has a chemical engineering degree but still needs a second job to supplement her income.
TikTok & Instagram You know the cost of living crisis is worsening when even NASA engineers are struggling! The cost of everything has been on the rise for over a year.
As of March 2023, the price of all goods is up 5%, according to CNBC. So, it’s no surprise that many people are getting another job to live more comfortably. But people are shocked to see someone qualified as a NASA engineer picking up a retail job. One woman did just that and posted the story to TikTok.
Kelly, a NASA Engineer got a second job at Tiffany’s & Co, so she 'doesn’t have to worry about money.'
Kelly, according to her now-deleted TikTok videos, has a degree in chemical engineering and works as NASA Engineer out of Houston, Texas.
“I am a NASA engineer, and I’m applying for a job at Tiffany’s--part-time. And I have my interview in 40 minutes,” she said in a 2021 video that is no longer public on TikTok.
She showed off the outfit that she was wearing to the interview. She wore a black dress, matching heels and a purse. She labeled her outfit “basic” and “not very cute” but chose to wear it because she felt it was “on-brand” with Tiffany’s image.
On brand with the work ethic it takes to become an engineer at NASA, Kelly arrived for the interview twenty minutes before time, declaring she’s “always early.” The position was for a location in The Galleria, an upscale shopping mall in Houston. She spent her free time walking around Neiman Marcus, adorning a sleek gold face mask. When she finally arrived at Tiffany’s, she had a round of interviews to complete. After speaking to a couple of managers, she shared her progress.
“Just met the second manager to talk to. Waiting for the third,” she said.
Apparently, she aced all the interviews with the managers because they hired her on the spot. When she was back home, she shared the news in the video.
“I got the job—[as an] operations person. [It pays] twenty dollars an hour, not bad,” she said.
It’s unclear what exactly her position is since Tiffany’s has operations assistants, operations managers and other similar jobs. However, $20 per hour is high for Texas, where the minimum wage is just $7.25! So, hopefully, this will be more than enough so that she can live comfortably in addition to her salary from NASA.
But, while we're glad Kelly landed the role, it's hard not to feel like this is a damning look at the reality of our economy. Why does Kelly need another job on top of working at NASA, which is undoubtedly demanding? According to Payscale, NASA engineer salaries can range between $56k-$149k. While we don't know what Kelly makes, perhaps she wants a higher standard of living, which is completely acceptable since different people want different things.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.