Hi, I'm Kelly Parra and my first novel, GRAFFITI GIRL (MTV/Pocket Books) is hitting bookshelves May, 2007, and I just wanted to say that I totally advocate the high school part-time job.
Let me tell you my reasons...
a) Part time jobs give you some responsibility.
b) PTs get you away from parental supervision.
c) And the pocket change ain't so bad, either.
Of course, there's a more important reason. Let's take a step back into my teen years. I had 3 part-time jobs.
1) Old Country Buffet aka OCB
OCB came into town, swooped up a bunch of high school kids and opened its doors. First buffet restaurant in my small town with plenty of goofing off with friends, and free buffet during break time. The downsides were sticky tables, cheap tippers, and the polyster uniforms. Can you say, "itchee?"
2) Ricky B's Pizza
The highlights for working at Ricky B's were the free pizzas, and of course, the front counter view of cute guys. Oh, and I'm just a tad on the short side, and I was happily eye-level with Ricky B. It was a nice feeling. hehe. The con--late night weekend shifts when you could be out having fun with your pals. Who would have thought pizza was so popular on the weekends? ;)
3) Baskin Robbin's 31 Flavors
Yes, if we're on the same wavelength, you totally guessed right. Working at BR31 = Free ice cream. Free banana splits, Brownie ala modes, milkshakes, and Chocolate blasts. I also can't forget the muscular forearms I was sporting scooping rock-hard Peanutbutter Chocolate and Rocky Road. The downer, you had to mop and wipe down for hours on end. Those ice creams shops run a tidy ship.
So my conclusion? The absolutely best part of these high school part-time jobs?
Free food. :)
Share your high school job!
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13 comments:
My dad's a home-business owner, so my part-time jobs were usually associated with that, but the benefits (er, other than food-wise) were pretty similar. I definitely think responsibility is something teens can handle and need to learn.
Nice post, Kelly! :)
Great post, Kelly! Another positive thing about high school jobs is they help you to branch out of your social circle and meet new people. My world got much bigger when I started working at a drive-thru photo booth, and that was when I started forming my first relationships with adults, too.
Hi Lisa and Tina, thanks for your additions! :) :)
Hey Kelly-
I worked in a department store during my last two years of high school. I wanted to work in the junior section, but they stuck me in women's instead. It was weird to be selling business suits at 16, but hey, the 20% discount was great!
YUCK! I hated my p/t high school job. I worked for a country club--RUDE people, nasty men, bitter plastic surgeried to death women, and enough money to treat the help like personal slaves. Worse, the man who managed it was a lecherous, sexually harassing creep--and it was before the time when sexual harassment meant anything--i.e., you were told to just deal with it. So . . . I am grateful it's 2007! Women--and girls--don't have to put up with things like that! :-)
E
Isn't that always the way, Alyson, getting stuck in the deparment you don't want? haha! I did also work in a department store after graduation, it was children's. :)
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Yuck, is right Erica! Yes, I'm glad we're in 2007 too! I did take a job once helping to cater a really wealthy family party, it was certainly a different lifestyle than what I knew!
I worked at Dunkin' Donuts. I got fat on chocolate creme-filled donuts and contracted white-lung disease from inhaling all that sugar.
Writing is actually the only job I've ever had- part time or otherwise. I did, however, do a decent amount of volunteer work in high school- mostly tutoring and working at the March of Dimes.
I worked at a typing place part time. (Yes, I know, this is really dating me!) This would have been a dead boring job, but for the fact that the owner was a crazy (oops, I mean eccentric) actress, and most of her clients were stage and screen writers. I got to read all these fabulous plays and films before they were produced! Oh, I also had to transcribe several episodes of The Twenty Minute Workout, which was this soft porn exercise show popular at the time. (Now that *was* boring. Imagine typing, 'Four more, now three more, now two more' several hundred times...)
Bev
Kelly, I worked at BR too. I started my shift by sampling all the ice cream. I really liked having my own money. My boss was a really interesting person and I loved spending time chatting with her. I only worked my senior year of high school...my only regret is that I didn't start sooner.
Lauren, ugh, donuts. My fave in high school were the white topping donuts with the sprinkles. yum!
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Jennifer, volunteer work always counts!
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Bev, lol! At least reading all those screenplays was an added bonus! Very cool!
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Rene, yes! The BR flavors were wonderful to sample! I didn't realize until I wrote this post how many jobs I had in high school. haha!
My worst part-time job has to be in a shoe shop.... smelly feet... gross!!!!!
haha! That would be kinda bad, Sara!! :)
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