Posted on 06/21/2004 10:03:12 AM PDT by rface
Summer break can teach you quite a few things about yourself, and it can be that all too necessary "grow-up" call that you need. I began the summer with no job and no prospects, but I was confident that, with two years of college education under my belt, along with my many skills and qualifications, any employer would jump at the chance to hire me. I was determined to land some sort of office job where the work would be menial and the pay would be great. But that didn't quite pan out. So, with bills mounting, I headed to the mall.
I just knew that with two years of college education I would definitely snag some retail job in no time at all. I filled out applications and went on interviews, but nothing happened. Weeks were flying by, bill collectors were calling and I had become entangled with the "Days of Our Lives" serial killer saga. I had to do something.
I did what I vowed to never do again. I did the thing I had deemed beneath me. I applied at a restaurant, a fast-food restaurant. I considered this sort of job to be the bowel of employment field. It was with a heavy heart and much regret that I accepted a job at the local Burger King.
The first day was filled with hours of tedium. Insert Whopper into broiler. Wait for Whopper. Insert bun into warmer. Remove bun. Remove Whopper. Repeat over and over again. It seemed like this went on forever, but it was actually only a three-hour shift.
By the end of the week, I had advanced skills in flame broiling, tomato preparation, dishwashing, salad design and french-fry frying. Now that my training was over, I noticed something that made me love my new job: I had absolutely no responsibilities.
My job was basically to make sure we didn't run out of perfectly flame-grilled beef patties, and a machine even did that. This job required no real thinking - or work, for that matter.
On my first day, my manager told me "as long as you're working, then you'll pretty much be left to yourself." And on this day, I discovered that you only to need to appear to be working to be left alone. I was surrounded by things to do that looked like work, but weren't really. Thus beginning the Faux Work Show, that delighted all the managers.
Each day my show grows more grand. I recently added sorting frozen french fries by length to my act. As a reward, each day I get more time to myself and more praise for being such a hard worker.
During all this I've had time to get over my complex and realize this is just a job. It is by no means indicative of who I am as person, and even if it were, it wouldn't make me a bad person. I was honestly ashamed of my BK job at first, but I realized two things: the first is that money is money, and when I spend it, it doesn't matter where it came from. The second it that I should be proud of my job because I'm doing something I don't want to do, but I have to do it - and that's essentially what it's like to be an adult.
I never really considered myself to be an adult until this summer. I wasn't really looking forward to becoming one. Now I'm dealing with this fact, and it's hard, but I'm accepting it. Thank you, Burger King.
Many years ago,for the summer, I was an inspector in a greeting card company.
It was a long,flat roof,one floor building and there was no air conditioning.I was never so hot in my life.
I lasted the entire summer and never forgot it.
You just gave me a nightmarish flashback! I had blocked it out! Now, I am in the corner in a fetal position crying "Mama...Mama..."
Stay safe !
Everyone should have to do hard, menial labor for marginal pay to make them appreciate a really good job.
Stifler, is that you?
I wish.
This lad gets it.
Absolutely. I'm a systems engineer and project manager. I hate my job, but gotta do it. The worst day doing this is better than the days when I had to scrub grills, clean bathrooms, pump gas, or serve food at the ballpark stadium. I never look down my nose at low-salaried workers, I respect them for doing a job they have to do in order to survive. There's some high-paid whiners in the office who never did "real" work and I don't respect them.
OMG that was funny!
Proof reading?
Then you get out get some schooling, spend 10 or 15 years getting really good at what you do and never work again, just show up every day and have answers, closest I ever came to stealing money.
A very important principle that holds true in American Business all the way through the CEO level
Until something goes wrong. Then you have to work your a$$ off to make it look like someone else's fault.
Shalom.
We were inspecting for printing flaws. The color would often not be where it should be,but slightly off to the side.
It was hysterical and quite an eye opener for me.Some of those people did this as a full time job and I couldn't imagine it,but they were a good bunch and treated me well.
In the heat the glitter from the cards would get all over our sweaty faces. I received lots of strange looks when I got on the bus to go home. I was "glowing".
Yup. When I'm getting interviewed and the ever popular "how do you handle stress" question comes up I have the same answer every time: there's nothing in the software industry as stressful as being the only guy in the grill area when the entire Catalina High School football team comes in after practice. Compared to those days what I do now can barely even be called work, forget stress.
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