by Rena Sherwood

Created on: December 20, 2007   Last Updated: February 28, 2010

ANY job you can find as a teenager is a good summer job. The point of getting a summer job is not to start a career, but to start learning how to be responsible, which will help you immensely when you do find the job you want. Any summer job will teach you some vitally important skills that all employers look for. Even if you decide to go into business for yourself, you will have the skills learned from your summer job to help you out.

What Teens Can Expect

Summer jobs for teenagers pay low, are tedious and almost always look good on your resume (assuming the job is legal). They will always be crap jobs that even migrant workers would refuse. These jobs include food service, cleaning, retail and daycare. Don't let anyone kid you - these jobs all suck. Every single one.

However, because they suck, you can learn about what any boss or customer wants from you without having a job you actually like on the line. You don't have that terrible fear of being fired hanging over your head. You learn about dealing with dress codes, about arranging your own transportation (especially if you can't drive), showing up to work on time - even if you haven't slept in three days.

Dealing with People

You also learn about how to deal with people professionally, whether they are your co-workers or your customers. You learn how to smile at them when all you want to do is strangle them. Dealing with difficult people gets a little easier the more times you do it. This all goes into the deep, dark recesses of your memory as a valuable resource your subconscious can draw upon in the future when you do have a job you care about and have to deal with annoying people.

You never outgrow the need to interact with annoying people (unless you wind up being the last human on the planet.)  The more you talk to and work with annoying people, the less annoying they get.  Your tolerance for their behavior grows.  You also learn how to distinguish the dangerous people from the merely annoying ones.  Unfortunately, this is a trait you can only learn by doing and not by reading.

Historical Perspective

Thousands of years ago, when teens came of age in the civilizations of our ancestors, the teens were sent on a great task which usually involved fasting on a mountaintop for several weeks until they get a special vision. When they came back from the vision quest, they were adults and respected members of the tribe.

Now, instead of this vision quest, teens go to summer jobs that suck. When you get through the other side to September, you will be a man (or woman), my son (or daughter).

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