JENN McKINLAY: With a nod to Lois Duncan, let's revisit the summers of our youth. I'll got first. Summer of 1985. I wore a blue and white checked POLYESTER above the knee dress with a ruffled collar and sleeves and a dark blue apron. My job? Ice cream scooper at Friendly’s on Main Street in Niantic, CT. Best summer job ever!
Why did I love it? Because every break I made myself a tall sundae with three scoops of coffee ice cream, hot fudge (Friendly’s has the BEST bar none – fight me!), marshmallow sauce, two Resee’s peanut butter cups, topped with a mountain of whipped cream and a cherry. Oh, I also had a basket of fried clam strips and fries on the side because it’s all about balance. It was glorious. I worked with my friends MaryBeth and Matt (I have no idea what happened to them) but we had an absolute blast back in the day!
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| The iconic uniform in the Museum of Springfield, Massachusetts |
How about you, Reds? What was your favorite summer job?
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: The summer between my sophomore and junior years at Ithaca I got a job as a waitress at an iconic NY resort, Scott’s Oquaga Lake House. In the southern tier, at the edge of the Catskills, it was like working in a real-life version of Dirty Dancing, except the guests were largely Quebecois instead of Jewish New Yorkers. (My French, at that time, was very good, and the guests loved when I spoke “Parisian” to them.
We lived in girls and boys dorms, and when we weren’t working, we had the run of the grounds and the lake. Some nights we would canoe across the lake to a local bar, and yes, as an adult, I realize that canoeing while drunk is a terrible idea. There were torrid hook-ups, dramatic break-ups, personal crises and skinny-dipping.
Oh, the actual work? Three meals a day. I got really good at fully loaded tray service. I wore a kind of diner waitress dress for breakfast and dinner and a dirndl - complete with scooped blouse that showed off the Alps - for dinner. The pay was good, too, despite the fact tipping was forbidden. Honestly, it was more like being at summer camp than a job.
LUCY BURDETTE: I’d have to say mine was a waitress job as well–at the Alchemist and Barrister restaurant in Princeton NJ. I was organized and efficient, but the best part was the friends I worked with. We all sat at the bar after our shifts were finished and drank way too much and had a blast. We learned that better tips came with high heels and slinky black outfits. No wonder my feet have hurt ever since! We also raided the walk-in refrigerator and ate piles of shrimp and other delicious goods until the owners figured out why their profits were evaporating…
RHYS BOWEN: The only summer job I had during my school days was working in a plant nursery. Incredibly boring work, scraping moss off pots etc, but livened up because my best friend worked with me and we created a murder mystery, assigning other workers to roles as victim, murderer etc. The owner’s son was the murderer and once we’d decided that we were rather afraid to be alone in a greenhouse with him.
No summer jobs in college. I traveled every summer, around Greece one year, summer semester in Germany twice.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I had a knock down drag out battle (sort of) with the proprietor of the Dairy Queen in Zionsville, Indiana, site of my first summer job. She told us we had to wear white uniforms, polyester, exactly, Jenn, and I absolutely refused. And I showed up in a white oxford button-down shirt and a white canvas mini-skirt. She was outraged, and wanted to send me home. I said–you told us WHITE, and this is WHITE and I am not going home. She finally relented. And Lucy, they SO watched the supplies. We were allowed 50 cents of ice cream a day, which meant we could fill a medium cup. We got really good at filling those cups.
But my BEST summer job was at the Lyric Record Store. It was in downtown Indianapolis, and I got to choose which records were played on the store’s speaker system. (I bet I sold dozens and hundreds of copies of Harry Nilsson’s Pandemonium Shadow Show and The Beatles’ Revolver.) They had little listening booths where customers could try our records privately. Remember those? I loved that job. I adored sending people home with a new record they’d enjoy..
HALLIE EPHRON: My favorite summer job was assistant to the woman (a female Lieutenant Colonel) who ran Butler Hall, a large apartment house at 119th St and Morningside Drive. It was owned by Columbia University. I spent the summer living with Jerry and my job was just up the block and around the corner from the apartment I managed to illegally sublet (from the same landlord that ran Butler Hall). I typed leases and filed and showed vacant apartments. I’m sure another life I’d have been a very happy secretary. Go figure.
Your turn, Readers, how did you make some scratch during the summers of your youth?
