Our parents and professors stress to us how important it is to stay busy over the summer. Some stress about gaining experience with an internship. Others might believe it’s better to earn some cash with a part-time (or full-time!) job. Either way, being employed is a great way to stay productive over the summer. However, as any working student can tell you, these experiences are not always a walk in the park.
Retail, child care, and interning. All of these jobs come with their own tasks and benefits, along with a unique set of annoyances and trials. So which is the worst? Let’s break it down, shall we?
Retail
The best thing about this job if you’re one of the lucky ones, like myself, is simple: employee discounts. Nothing feels better than getting a $60 pair of pants for $30. However, the amount of crazy customer stories that any retail worker can tell you is sometimes overwhelming. Coupon issues, language barriers, out-of-policy returns… It piles up pretty fast. Although those experiences are awful, it does arm you with good answers to interview questions like, “Can you work well under pressure?”
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Child Care
What could be better than playing with tons of ten year-olds in 90 degree heat?! Okay, a lot of things, but the bonds formed between co-counselors can make it all seem worth it; not to mention there’s always at least one camper that is endearing, cute, and/or funny. And it could be worse; at least they’re potty-trained. Unless they’re not (sorry!). Another perk is the consistent scheduling, usually with guaranteed hours which equals guaranteed moolah.
Interning
Obviously the pro’s and con’s of an internship depend on a broad variety of factors like what field you’re in. The biggest pro is that it will likely be an impressive line on a resume and will give you real life lessons and experiences that will (hopefully) help you when you graduate and move on into the real world. The biggest con is the mundane tasks that can be passed down to interns. In my own experiences, for every 2 hours of actual work there was usually 3-4 hours of copying, faxing, and coffee fetching.
Every job has its own ups and downs, but it’s up to us to focus on the positives even when cranky customers shove expired coupons in your face. There were probably days when everyone you knew was going to the beach while you were locked up in an office, mall, or playground, but working during the summer was a great way to beat summer boredom while gaining some cash and experiences.
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