a job is a job; a side hustle is what you take on when your job(s) doesn't pay you enough to get by but demands so much of your time that you can't just tack another one on. the last time i worked part-time (on top of two other jobs to make ends meet while i was in school!) even the most flexible employers demanded double the availability for what they actually scheduled me for, and somehow were great at always scheduling me on the days/times i'd notified them i would never be available (due to the two other jobs thing) but since they'd already made the schedule it was now my job to find someone to cover me. and this was pre pandemic when the getting was pretty good! shockingly, as the economy has taken a nosedive, conditions for workers have gotten even worse, so even us 30-somethings who've gotten something steady and are used to being treated even marginally better than dirt—like, even my worst part time jobs at least didn't give me problems when i needed to go to a funeral, which seems unthinkably luxurious now—may not have experienced the need to find something both flexible and supplemental in this way.