Comments on: Hire the Boy

By: Randee

Randee — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:20:52 +0000

I did the stint at McDonald’s, too, but remember it fondly. As MJ well knows, I went to an all-girls school, which was mostly great, but you had to work harder on the male-female interaction, which I regret, as I wish I had learned more about boys by being around them every day. Mickie D’s was eye-opening, and spawned many dates for me, and tho’my first love went to our brother school, we worked together at Mickie’s and that is how we met.
The worst was probably the couple of summers I spent working for the IL Dept of Transportation testing rocks. I spent my beautiful summer days locked away in a room with no windows with an 80-yr old man who had yet to retire placing rocks in molds like puzzle pieces. Once cast, we had to scrub the extra cement away with wire bristle brushes then test them endlessly while I recorded numbers which would eventually tell us which materials offered the best traction, etc. But, I was paid $9/hr, and minimum wage was less than $4, I believe.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:34 +0000

My worst job was as a maid (now a “housekeeping engineer”) at a Howard Johnson’s motel off the interstate. We had to be there at 6:00 am. I remember working with Frances with no teeth and Flossie in the laundry room. Less than 2 years before I had stayed at the Greenbriar in luxury. I remember watching the wedding of Princess Di and Charles during breaks. It was VERY humbling.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:47:06 +0000

What about Parks & Rec? They usually have many summer jobs. Not sure if they are already filled, but may be worth a shot.

My worst job was reading meters for the electric company. Pouring rain, running house to house. Or in the heat. Or going down into some yucky boxer short-clad guy’s basement. Definitely some interesting situations.

By: kc

kc — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:52:20 +0000

Is he 18 yet? If so, have him apply for the temp pools at UVa. They hire people for short term assignments and it probably pays more than he’d get at McD’s.

Probably.

By: Jen on the Edge

Jen on the Edge — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:10:20 +0000

Early in my professional career, I was hired to be a fundraising assistant to a director of development who gave me nothing to do. He was on autopilot and didn’t do much himself, so why he thought he needed to hire me is unknown. I knew the first week that the job was a bad fit, but I stuck with it for a year before I started interviewing and left a couple months after that.

By: Wistar

Wistar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:46:28 +0000

I got sucked into the Cutco knife scam too! I came home and told my mom that I’d gotten a really great job selling knives that could slice pennies and she had to tell me that No, it was not a great job. I did not report for work.

By: Dwight Wannabe

Dwight Wannabe — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:44:35 +0000

My first job was at McDonalds. For 2 years. At a “training store” where new managers were taught cooking and cleaning procedures as if Jesus Christ himself had preached them to the crowds at Galilee. They didn’t want workers with any previous work experience because folks who had worked elsewhere knew that food service really shouldn’t be so military.

Every job I’ve ever had since was colored by those years at McDonalds.

“You got time to lean, you got time to clean!”

“It’s a towel, not a rag!”

“Every customer has the right to an appetizing looking product.”

“Moving a mop across the floor does not equate to mopping!

I did a year as a lumber dog in a now-defunct Big Box hardware store to put myself through Grad School. That was hell. I still shudder at the smell of a hardware store when I enter. I think about all my friends going to Forest Park for a picknik and snogging on a beautiful spring day while I was walking through the doors of the lumber yard, knowing I had a long ten hours of sawdust and loading bags of concrete ahead of me.

But head-to-head? McDonalds had a greater impact on me. McDonalds is that really REALLY hard job I remember most.