Sadly, sarcasm does not come through well in the written word, so I have to be blunt here: I hated my summer job. I know I could have it much worse, but spending several hours as a cashier in a super market was pretty awful. The tasks I was assigned were underwhelming, completely unchallenging, and did not spark my interest in the least bit. Scanning the barcodes of packaged foods, typing in the PLU codes for produce, and trying to figure out why the coupon that should be going through isn’t going through all while listening to screaming children and angry elderly women is not how I pictured my life going, but that’s where I found myself.
After several years (yes, several) working at this super market I finally found a way to combat the painful monotony of the job. Hopefully my acquired knowledge is the field of summer job survival can be applied outside of a grocery store in to every type of employment college students suffer through year in and year out.
Find a Positive
This sounds clichéd and horribly cheesy, but you really do have to find a positive aspect of your job. There is always something that can be spun into something beneficial for you. As a cashier, I was on the front line of the service industry and had to deal directly with the customers. These people ranged from flirtatious old men, to disillusioned housewives, to individuals who were incapable of understanding that their coupon expired three weeks ago. I had to deal with all types of individuals who moods, worldviews, and personalities varied from one to the other, so I had to learn how to deal with all of them. Every single person had to be treated differently, and I had to figure out on my own how each type of customer should be handled. As a psychology student who wants to be a clinician one day, I need to be able to know how to deal with all different kinds of patients and I got my basic training in people skills at this summer job. I was paid a meager $8.75 and hour, but I learned so much about what I need to do to work effectively with people.
Make Friends
Seriously. Do this. It doesn’t matter if you’re only going to be employed somewhere for three to four months. You need to make at least one friend. If you feel lonely at your job and you don’t want to be, it will stress you out even more and make the job more difficult to get through. Disregard age, socioeconomic status, gender, or whatever else you feel separates you from your colleagues. They’re in the same ship you’re in and you’ll make it ashore faster if you’re paddling together.
Humor
The wonderful thing about comedy is that it can be found anywhere. Any and all random happenstances in life can make you laugh. Such as a four year-old using the phrase, “I use the big boy potty now!” as a pick-up line (true story). Without a doubt something funny will happen. Being actively funny never hurt anyone either. Joke around about your job with your coworkers. Make fun of your boss. Play harmless pranks like switching nametags with your friend. I’ve spent a few shifts as Arthur or Tim instead of Terri and it threw some customers way off.
Find Something to Do Outside of Work
It may seem that over the summer all you do is work. Then you work some more. And maybe you can squeeze in a good night’s sleep in somewhere. If your life is nothing but suffering through summer employment, you will not make it without copious amount of Ben & Jerry’s. To avoid being broken by your job, find something outside of work that you can regularly do that you enjoy. They key word there is “regularly.” Going out every so often with your friends is not going to be enough. Taking sporadic trips to the beach will not make your summer of minimum wages bearable. You need to find something that is scheduled. Sign up for classes over the summer in an area you are interested in. Have weekly coffee dates with your friend or a group of friends. Go to your grandparent’s house every Saturday. Volunteer at an organization you support. The one thing that made my summer fly by was going to a nearby hospital every Thursday afternoon and participating in recreational and art therapy with the adolescents. I was able to help a lot of teens make it through a tough period in their lives and get surprising good at bad mitten. It made my summer, and my whole life, exponentially better.
Get on a Higher Up’s Good Side
This may require some sucking up, but it helps a ton. Find someone who is higher up the ladder at your place of employment and befriend him or her. Someone who has more leeway with the boss, but isn’t your boss, can make your schedule and working conditions a lot better for you. Do you need a certain Saturday off? Tell your friend who can coerce the manager to making sure you’re not on the schedule that day. Got a problem with your paycheck? Talk to your higher up buddy; they’ll get it sorted out faster than if you went to payroll yourself. Everything will go more smoothly if you have someone on your side.
The End Goal
The only reason any of us work miserable summer jobs is for money. Other than getting out of the house, the only real driving force behind working a low-income service job is the money. Higher education is a business, even though we’d prefer it not to be, and it runs on the thousands and thousands of dollars our families and we spend for the sake of bettering ourselves. The money we make at the aforementioned tortuous jobs all go to school. Books, supplies, bedding, toiletries, water-resistant winter boots, and reusable coffee mugs are all things that this money goes towards. It’s not spent on frivolous things. All of it goes to our educational experience (which does include large quantities of coffee).
These summer jobs are a necessary evil for the vast majority of the country’s population of college students. Even though it’s not ideal, we’ve got to plough through it. Plus, if you work enough this summer, next summer getting that amazing, yet unpaid, internship will be an option.