Best Summer Job You Ever Had?

"PatBateman" (PatBateman) 06/06/2014 at 12:02 • Filed to: Summertime

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Ah, Summer. Now that I'm a suit-wearing working stiff, this time of year just means pool time on the weekends. But when I was 19, I had the time of my life. And got paid for it. What was your best summer job?

At age 19, I was an volunteer firefighter/EMT. But I got a lifeguarding certification that Spring and immediately got hired by the City of Austin as a Lifeguard and promptly upgraded to Head Lifeguard. I was paid well, had lots of overtime. All to get gloriously tan, have my blonde hair bleached to ultra-blonde, and hang out by the pool. Sure I had to be responsible and make sure that no one drowned (no one did), but otherwise it was a blast.

Share with the group: did you have a "glory days gig"?

multiple wheels for each day of the week > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:04

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Running rides at the Jersey Shore. Sea Isle at FUN City. Lots of girls(new ones each saturday) and hanging with College chicks was awesome

mr_gofast > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:05

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bouncer at a day club/afterhours club (edm music)

sure the evening hours sucked but the eye candy when the club is open during the day is retarded - you could go from girl to girl and just picture above their head the name of the club they danced at or the parlor they worked out of.

Victorious Secret > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:07

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35 cent whore.

Times were tough.

PatBateman > mr_gofast 06/06/2014 at 12:07

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Yeah, I could see how that could be fun. FUN fun.

PatBateman > Victorious Secret 06/06/2014 at 12:08

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But did you have FUN?

Nibby > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:09

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Interned at a museum, essentially an art counselor for rich kids. Other than a few terribly behaved ones, an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:09

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Had an internship when I was 17 where I worked as an ER Radiology clerk ordering x-rays by following what the incoming paramedics reported.

Reading pagers, saw an angry person with a bleeding arm on a table, learned that the two shifts of Radiologists don't really like each other, taping someone from Pediatrics to a chair with medical tape.

That's the dream. For me at least.

macanamera > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:09

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Mechanic! It was fun. Hard work, but fun.

dinobot666 > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:10

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Building fences. It was really hard labor, but I got to work with a crew that I knew and we were usually done by 3 pm at the latest.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:10

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Life guarding is a mixed bag for me. I love the tan and sit in the sun for hours part, and the pay while not great could be worse. But the members of the swim club I guard at treat us like the country club help and our expectations are insanely high compared to other clubs around us.

Jagvar > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:10

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During my college years, I worked as a reporter for a small-town paper during the summers. That job took me to so many interesting places, and I met so many interesting people. I even interviewed Russell Crowe's parents, who were in Connecticut promoting his latest film. Lovely, sincere people; sometimes the apple falls pretty far from the tree, I guess.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:12

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I am currently trying to start a summer lawnmower repair business. Not too bad.

Racescort666 > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:12

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Mower crew for a city park service. It was awesome. We had a rain day one day so we couldn't really mow anything. My buddy and I found a tandem bike and rode it around the shop while all of the manly men used the power tools we weren't allowed to use as college kids.

MonkeePuzzle > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:12

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summer job? ski tech at a ski rental store, went snowboarding EVERY. DAY!

(aussie summer in the US)

Jagvar > multiple wheels for each day of the week 06/06/2014 at 12:12

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Gunnison Beach on Sandy Hook is awesome. It's a 5-hour drive for me, but I still try to make it once a summer.

Big Bubba Ray > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:13

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+1 to the lifeguarding. I did it a few summers back for the first time and ended up loving it. Getting tan, looking at sexy girls all day long, sexy girls looking at me cause I was so damn tan. Hooking up with sexy girl co workers.

So many babes where I worked.

Party-vi > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:13

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As a gas-station attendant for a few summers in high school. The cigarette reps would give us boxes of free matchbooks, and one Sunday we taped a box of 500 matchbooks end-to-end and lit it on fire. The smoke that billowed into the parking lot from 10,000 matches brought the fire department over. Fun times.

CKeffer > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:21

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Data entry/intern position I had every summer during college was pretty awesome 8-5 mon-thurs, 8-12 fri, $10 per hour, no weekends, it was inside in the A/C and so long as I got my work done correctly and promptly I was more or less left alone. That job paid for a lot of fun stuff....as well as funded my car part habit .

Victorious Secret > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:21

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You tell me.

yamahog > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:28

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Worked in an Italian deli in New York. Sure it was hot, and customers were rude, but OMFG fresh homemade mozzarella, foccacia bread, pizza, marinara sauce.... yes.

Titanius Anglesmith > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:31

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I was a delivery driver for a chicken restaurant. Sounds shitty, but it was in a rich area and was open till 2 AM. I got to hang out with my girlfriend all night, driving around making lots of money. I would make like $500 in a weekend.

2222222222212 > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:32

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Vehicle security gate at EAA in Oshkosh during the fly-in. Get paid nickels to gather credentials from aerospace-loving movie stars like Harrison Ford and Johnny Depp!

McMike > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:36

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I worked year round. Summer jobs are for amateurs.

trollface.jpg

Carl (@stuffcarlsays) > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:43

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I worked for a Saab dealership from the summer between Junior and Senior year of high school, up until I was a sophomore in college. My availability was always better in the Summer, so I got to do a lot more stuff. The first summer, the summer of '99, I was strictly a lot attendant. All I did that summer was move cars around the lot, wash customer cars, and pickup/dropoff customers at their homes or offices for service.

The next summer, after interspersed weekends and vacations, I returned full time initially as a lot attendant. Then one day, half the salespeople left. So the sales manager, the guy who got me in the door as a lot attendant in the first place, called me into his office. He said, "Carl, dress a little nicer tomorrow and we'll put you on the sales floor. Bob and Jane just quit and Tom can't handle all the ups himself." This was the beginning of my first career in car sales. I ended up not only selling Saabs, but I was the dealership's webmaster and eventually became a sort of right hand man to the sales manager. We opened a used car store the year I left the business to do other things.

TJDMAX > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 12:45

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I was a valet in Santa Barbara California for 4.5 years (16-20). By far the best part time job ever. My company did private events as well as a whole bunch of different hotels and fancy restaurants. I drove a whole bunch of fancy cars. Amg mercs, some Astons, Ferraris, BMW M cars, few Ferraris, Bentley's, you name it i've probably "driven" it.

Most of the cars we would just park.....But there were a few occassions where we had to park some cars "further away"......Lets just say i could probably write a very shitty movie about some of the stories I have.

Great job for sure.

thebigbossyboss > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 13:07

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3 summers of construction over here. Taught me more about life than school ever will.

Learned how to use "man tools" like a sawzalls nail guns (gods gift to man kind), circular saws, angle grinders, mini jackhammers, etc etc.

One summer I also got to do window prep for replacing windows in a sky scraper. Got to wear a harness with a safety rope clip, and stand with one foot on a stool, on foot on the edge of the window ledge (anywhere from 20-260 ft drop) and grind concrete above your head, while wearing a respirator.

That part wasn't too fun.

Ha.

BoulderZ > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 13:38

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I did the lifeguard thing for two summers, and it just wasn't all that for me. Oddly, I really think my summer landscape crew jobs were the best. We did everything: install giant whole-golf-course irrigation systems (pump powered by a stationary mounted Ford tractor engine of some sort), put in giant interlocking block retaining walls, do huge beautiful paver installs, beautiful plan installations and landscape beds, install sod, build a lawn from seed, residential, commercial, public spaces, and more. We got to run all kinds of equipment (skid loaders, diamond paver saws, backhoes, loaders, dump trucks to 10 tons, 600 gallon tankers, graders, seeders, ditch machines, pipe pullers, mowers, trimmers, hydroseeders, you name it). We got to take bare areas, or neglected ones, and turn them into beautiful green outdoor spaces that looked straight out of a magazine. Because we didn't slack, and did good work, the owner would just send us out for the day to whatever site(s). So, we had all day outside with no supervision or management telling us what to do or how to do it. The owner dealt with customers, we just did the work, so we didn't even have to talk to anyone. We spent a couple of days trimming the hedges, trees, bushes, and topiary in a 100+ year old retirement convent and cemetery, basically a retirement home for nuns. All day in a park with no one to bug you, and getting paid for it. It was great work for being fit, too. I'd still work in landscaping except the pay is absolutely crap for an adult, with only a few rare exceptions like owning your own business (and all the risk and hassle that entails).

Stupidru > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 13:56

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Got to run a gourmet pizza restaurant for 2 summers with my 2 best friends while the boss was off in the loony bin (true story). We made pizzas, we got to bullshit with each other, we made a TON of cash, and learned a hell of a lot about good food

Deputy Kovacs > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 15:21

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This summer I'm working at an MB dealership as Sales Porter. Basically, I get to drive the new cars that customers are buying and help bring in new deliveries and get them into the dealers systems. I've only worked for a week, but so far I've driven numerous ML's, GL's, E's and C's, but also a CLA 45 AMG, SL550, and a G63 AMG.

Downside: I work three days a week, 11 hours each day. Yeesh.

chuck07 > thebigbossyboss 06/06/2014 at 15:22

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I worked for my uncle for 2 summers in high school. He was building a house at the beach. So I got to stay at the beach and build a house. Not bad.

After he finished he got me a job with one of his buddies who ran an electrical company. I pulled wire for 2 summers. I made a ton of money on scraps. Some weeks I made more on scraps that I was paid for my work.

PatBateman > Big Bubba Ray 06/06/2014 at 15:25

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I was waiting for this comment. I had a gf at the time, so there was no hitting on girls. They hit on me quite a bit, though (not that I was some stud Adonis, but more because lifeguard life).

PatBateman > McMike 06/06/2014 at 15:28

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PROFESSIONAL amateurs.

PatBateman > Deputy Kovacs 06/06/2014 at 15:38

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Upside: you have four days off.

thebigbossyboss > chuck07 06/06/2014 at 15:52

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I know a guy in HVAC and every few months he takes back his scrap for about $800 or so. Must be nice!

shop-teacher > thebigbossyboss 06/06/2014 at 16:09

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I worked pretty much every school break for my dad's construction company from about age 13, until I was 25 (moved too far away for it to be practical). I learned all kinds of skills, and got a lot closer with my dad too.

BJohnson11 > PatBateman 06/06/2014 at 20:57

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When I was 17 I split time between the engine machine shop I worked at and my Dad's driving range. The machine shop was awesome because it was just me and my boss, taking apart engines and remachining components all all day. The driving range was the real fun though. Drove around the ball picker and did basically grunt work all day, then in the afternoon, hit free golf balls and brought cute girls out to do the same. Oh how nice it was to be young.

itrecruiter > PatBateman 06/16/2014 at 19:46

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I had a job as a research market analyst. AKA a totally made up title I gave myself. I drove around CT and took pictures of houses from the road. Did I mention i was driving my Miata? It was sweet.