What You Can Learn From My Worst Summer Job

Martin’s guest post last week about what you can learn from his best summer job really got me thinking. As someone a whopping decade removed from Martin (which is ridiculous, because plenty of days I still feel like I just graduated from college… and then I do something crazy like try to go out drinking with my brother who is still in college and realize, no, I am definitely not 21 anymore), I reflected a lot on my various places of employment over the years:

• Cashier at Walgreens

• Waitress at an Italian Restaurant

• Hostess at the Rainforest Café

• Nanny

• Lighting Technician for a whopping week of summer stock

• Substitute Teacher

• Sound & Lighting Technician on the Boardwalk for 2 Awesome Summers

• Customer Service Representative for Nationwide

• Stage Manager at Sea

• Stage Manager on a Train

• Production Manager Off-Broadway

Some of these have definitely been better than others. And that led me to think about what you can learn from my worst summer job. Out of that list, the stand out winner of a rough job was hostess at the Rainforest Café – I mean, who doesn’t want to spend 8-12 hours in an environment with scream children, cawing birds, and loud thunderstorms whenever you’re trying to talk to a customer? Even better, being a hostess also meant that you were the character creatures. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few upsides to working there – the Chimi-Cha-Chas are delicious and I’ve thought more than once about going in there to order the volcano dessert. It seemed like there was always a spare one that made it’s way into the crew break room somehow. Also, I always looked the coolest out of all my friends if we met up right after work – no one else was safari ready. Those perks aside, being a hostess was tough. You were constantly aware you weren’t making anywhere near the same amount of money as the servers and you were more likely to get yelled at about things than them. You had to wear those dopey safari outfits (granted, the servers did not escape that fate either). And, just when you thought the dopey safari outfit was pretty bad, you found out about Cha-Cha.

Lesson #1: That safari outfit made me think – do I want to wear crap like this for the rest of my life? No. I am going to study like a mo-fo next semster. It was pretty good motivation.

Cha-Cha is “the adventurous and brave red-eyed tree frog” (is it just me or doesn’t that actually sound terrifying). Cha-Cha was also the 30 pound, 800 degree costume we had to wear for 20 minutes out of each hour. My favorite part about Cha-Cha was the rancid smell of sweat and dying dreams that perpetually permeated the suit. One of the last weeks I ever worked there, we got a Nile the crocodile costume and we

over who would get to wear it. It hadn’t sucked up the odor of despair that let you know Cha-Cha was nearby yet.

Lesson #2: Nile taught me that you can actually sink to a point where something that’s still pretty crappy looks awesome. So watch out for that. 

Cha-Cha and Nile also taught me about how to treat the people you worked with. When you were in one of those monstrosities, you couldn’t really see, so one of the other hostesses would be your “escort.” If you and your escort were pals, they’d safely guide you through the scary maze of tables and trees and rocks and water and, best of all, excited, psychotic, sugared up children. They’d pull the kids off you when they tried to tackle you (because balance ain’t no joke in one of those costumes). They made sure you were back in the break room with Cha-Cha’s head sitting on the table as the clock struck 20 minutes. If you had taken a few too many bathroom breaks and left the other hostess out on the rock alone for too long or decided to “collect menus” more often than necessary, watch out. They’d guide you right into trees, children would tackle you to the ground and you’d be lucky to hit the break room after 30 minutes because, you know, “whoops, was it that long? Could’ve sworn it wasn’t even 20 yet!”

Lesson #3: Don’t piss off your coworkers. 

An alarming aspect to my summer job was that for a lot of people

. So I checked out their lives – a lot of unwed mothers, a lot of stoners, a few solid drug addicts, and a really weird boy that may still grow up to be the next unibomber… jury’s still out on him. Don’t get me wrong unwed mothers, do what you go to do to get by, and more power to you for doing it, but you still made a few decisions that got you to that point as well.

Lesson #4: Summer jobs introduce you to interesting walks of life. Just because you view it as temporary doesn’t mean everyone does. Figure out how they got stuck in this gig and do not repeat their mistakes. 

The most lasting lesson of my worst summer job though was how important it is to find something you're passionate about. You can spend 8-12 hours a day listening to parents yell at you because the wait is too long, fishing toddler shoes out of the crocodile pond and dreading the second you get tapped to get in the frog suit or you can spend 8-12 hours a day working on something you are excited about that doesn’t make you dread getting up in the morning. I saw that the future I wanted required a lot of hard work, but it would be worth it to be one of those parents yelling that the wait is too long one day instead of being yelled at (not that I ever would – bless your hearts, hostesses, I will be kind to you forever now).

Lesson #5: Find your passion and chase it. Do something that doesn’t make you dread getting up in the morning.  

Make a list of things that you enjoy doing and start your search based on this list. For example, if you enjoy helping people or working with children, a career in social work might be a good choice. Once you have made a decision on a career, you can start working towards your goal. A social work degree would be required for entry-level employment in this situation. As your career progresses, you might consider earning a Master of Social Work as well, since it can open up new doors within the industry. As long as you are passionate about the industry, your education should come quite easy.