Reading [this piece](http://nyti.ms/1dT03JB) in the NY Times reminded me of the summer jobs I had while in college. I worked a couple of summers as a “maintenance man” at a local community pool. My job consisted of sweeping up, setting up and breaking down lounge chairs, and cleaning toilets. The summer before my senior year, I worked for the National Park Service in a similar capacity: landscaping, hauling chairs and stage equipment, cleaning up, and taking out trash–but with “gov’t hours” and much higher pay.
I guess these days the emphasis is to find a summer job in your major to make connections and pad your resume. I actually enjoyed the physical labor and placing my brain on vacation for the summer, but my main goal at the time was acquiring spending money to have some fun in the summer and for the following school year.
What jobs did the other parents here do during their summers off in college?
Last summer my S (summer between sophomore and junior year in college) worked in a warehouse. He learned to drive a forklift. He was happy with the job - it had regular hours, paid more than minimum wage, and he didn’t have to work evenings or weekends. Somewhat mindless physical labor.
When I was in college I was in the DC area, and got summer office jobs. I spent 1.5 to 2 hours commuting each way.
I went away to college and then never came back home. Stayed at the college rent free and worked in Admissions Office every summer. Also found a year round job working weekends caring for a handicapped woman. Got paid for 24 hours at minimum wage every weekend. It was grueling work both physically and mentally, but it sure helped me pay my tuition bills.
My D enjoyed coming home after her freshman year and continuing working at her fast food job. It was a great break for her mentally. I had encouraged her not to look for an internship that first summer, to give herself time to unwind. It was the best decision ever.
Worked the shovel crew at a masonry plant one break.
“Load sixteen tons and whadd’ya get?
Awful darn buff and a fat union check!”
With apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford and Merle Travis
I worked as a hostess at a very busy family-type restaurant. The owner had a horrible temper, and my feet were so tired at the end of the day I could barely stand up, but my meals were free and I got paid in cash.
I worked at a bank because it paid well. It afforded me the luxury like brank new car after high school and helped my family qualified for cheaper home loan at such bank, plus I think it was very close to my major. Triple wins. However, it was not mindless, well not completely.
One year, I worked at a university children’s science center, where my job was to sit near the front door and take entry tickets. Except that 85% of the visitors had year-long passes and walked through another door. So I sat there, reading Marcel Proust for hours at a time. My boss liked the scholarly look, I read most of Remembrance of Things Past. It was a good summer.
I ran a cash register in a swimming pool store every summer for five years. It was not an entirely worthless experience because I met my future husband there. He was one of the other seasonal employees.
If you had gone to Northeastern or Drexel you would likely have had multiple professional jobs in your field by the time you graduated.
Worked at a Six Flags type amusement park. They had our uniforms washed and waiting for us each day. I ran kids rides.
Scooped ice cream. Worked as a waitress at Pizza Hut. Did some temp work at an office that was boring as heck. Scooping ice cream was the most fun!!!
I worked for car dealerships most of the time, both during summers and during the school year. I did tag and title work, new car “asset management” (not so computerized in the 80s), answered the phones, filed for the service department, etc.
Back in the olden days, I worked at JCPenney through college. First in the Boys Department during the back-to-school rush, then in the fabric department. I was a drama major, and during the school year had a work-study job in the costume shop, so the fabric department job tied in well with that. I was painfully shy, and retail helped my social skills. My math skills stunk too, and many calculations had to be done on scratch paper (before calculators were commonplace.) e.g. 7 5/8 yds @$2.49 yd. So a practical need to finally learn my multiplication tables was helpful in later life. (In spite of the math aversion, I managed to get through calculus and get an MBA several years later.)
My kids have all had summer jobs:
D1 worked as a hostess in an upscale waterfront restaurant.
D2 worked two summers scooping ice cream and cooking fish and chips on the waterfront. Then two summers working for a not-for-profit, developing jobs for developmentally disabled adults.
D3 is on her third summer as a counselor for the city parks system day camps for school aged kids.
Only the not-for-profit job has had any relation to career aspirations, but all have been useful introductions to employment. They’ve been fortunate to have full-time summer jobs to save money for the school year, at well-above minimum wage.
The summer after freshman year I worked in the shoe department of a sporting goods store. It was pretty mindless and boring, but I didn’t mind it as a way to kill time and there were other teens working there to chat with. I remember wanting to learn how to work the cash register but the manager refused to let me work up front. He always had to have the cute teenage girls up front, in a funny bit of classic sexism.
The next two summers I got internships, so that was really my last unskilled job.
DH thinks that the purpose of these mindless, but physically intensive jobs is to show kids what they don’t want to do when they “grow up” and encourage them to work hard in the educational realm. 
I worked for the Parks Department for a couple of years until I was old enough to waitress. I waitressed through college and law school. Exhausting but well-paying job as I worked in a busy steak & lobster place.
DH had jobs working in an industrial warehouse-learned to run a forklift, heavy lifting, etc. Also worked at a major book company warehouse filling orders.
Retail then bank teller. Both taught me how to deal with all kinds of people. Neither was totally mindless but not as challenging as what I do now.
I read books until 5-6 am and fell asleep until the afternoon. Have lunch and start to read books through the night. My high school summers from another country.
That was your summer job?
Not really. In our culture, high school students normally don’t have job. My wrong posting I guess.
Golden Arches the summer after freshman year. Came home covered in grease and salt, but it was a great experience - I worked with an amazingly diverse crew, and learned lessons that made me that much more determined to get a college degree. Having to deal with the general public when they are hungry and in a hurry is not fun.
Intern at a GM plant the next 2 years. Great pay, and more education than they bargained for. When the company went through a crisis and people who counted on their overtime checks got cut back, it was painful to watch. It was interesting to be a southern female engineering student in an upper midwest factory environment. Many of the shop employees would stop me and ask what I was doing there and why I was studying engineering. Answering their questions helped me figure out my own career interests.