I have worked the same summer job for, including this summer, the last four summers. It's not a hard job, but there are some things you learn from it. Here's my list of 10 things I've learned from working with awkward co-workers to dealing with customers.
- You know exactly how other workers feel when you walk into their store, meaning most of them would love for you to walk right back out.
- Perfecting the fake smile, although with the right (AKA nice) customer, it could be genuine. You never know. However, this smile normally happens when you're marking a bill to check if its counterfeit, and the customer goes, "I just printed those off this morning." Because it's not like it's the hundredth time you've heard that one.
- Having to listen to yet again another customer’s life story, where you mainly just smile and nod, not actually listening to them. But how you really feel on the inside:
- Some people are just downright rude, and you cannot change that.
- When the customer says, “I’d like to see a manager. " Who then tells them the exact same thing you just told them.
- Working with people who actually talk to you which makes a shift a bit better. Usually, it's just gossiping about the latest drama that happened at work.
- Working with people who don’t talk to you, and the best thing you get is half a chuckle when you talk, which then leads to them going right back to texting while you sit there like this:
- You have mastered how to hide your phone from customers.
- Learning how to deal with all kinds of people, because while some customers may be nice and talkative, others will barely talk, even if you’re asking a question. For me, I work in admissions at a water park, so when I say, “How many?” half of the time I get a blank stare back. Which leads to a little bit of sass getting in my tone when I ask the same question two seconds later, with a fake smile on my face.
- Saying every year you’re not going back, and then look where you end up the next summer...back in the same place.
One of these days, it'll be your last time to work a summer job, because you'll be moving onto bigger and better things. However, you won't forget the memories you've made, and the friends that made work so much better. You definitely won't miss some of the awkward high school students you've had to work with, because while it was their first summer there, it was your who-even-knows summer there. But, you'll definitely miss the managers and other people who have worked there alongside you the past few years. Who knows, you'll probably be back next year.
