slumming at the caterers

I picked up Sarah Dessen's The Truth about Forever over the weekend. I read a little over half of it, then put it down in disgust. I persuaded myself to finish it yesterday, because quitting on books makes such a bad start to the year, don't'cha know.
Here's why it drove me crazy:
1) I'm so tired of books about uptight college-bound girls (in this case, Macy's only a senior, but she's clearly going to go next year) that feature food service as a pressure valve. As in, "oh, my life is so stressful and hectic with all the things that a Good Girl does - thank God for my part-time job with those wacky catering/coffee shop co-workers, who help me find a more stress-free life!"
1.5) Almost without exception, the catering businesses/coffeeshops/what-have-you are locally owned. Kudos to Ellen Emerson White who, in Life Without Friends, put Beverly into a chain of ice cream shops (one without a wacky staff, even!).
2) The uptight girls nearly always have some talent they're repressing. In Macy's case (that's The Truth about Forever), it's running. Other UGs have suppressed their love of art.
2.5) The subcategory here of "incredibly talented girls who question their vocation" should be mentioned, if not condemned. I like both Freymann-Weyr's The Kings are already here and Ingold's Mountain solo.
3) The UGs always go to four-year schools. Why don't UGs ever go to community college? I'd hard-pressed to think of anyone in teen fiction who goes to one.