The phrase “summer job” often conjures up images of young workers flipping burgers, stocking store shelves or cutting lawns. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with these gigs, some summer jobs spawn unique adventures in addition to paychecks.
Just ask Tasha Arnold, who has worked at Darien Lake for the past few summers.
“Not many people can say they come to an amusement park and work every day,” Arnold said. “It’s really something different. And I feel like a lot of (people), even students, don’t get to say they have fun at their job.”
Although Arnold has worked as a ride operator and is currently a marketing intern, her duties have never been limited to ensuring the safety of shrieking riders on the park’s roller coasters. In some ways, her job has also been a crash course in international relations.
“One of my favorite things that I’ve gotten to do was get to know and train some of the international employees,” Arnold said. “You can’t really say that about many other summer jobs. I’ve created friendships and bonds with people across the world, and I’ve been able to learn about their cultures.”
Lucas Wanamaker also has an intriguing job. He works at Northern Whitetail Farms, an Akron business that sells deer and antlers. His main task is to feed the herd, but it was through tagging the creatures that he met a special friend.
“The first year that I tagged…a fawn, he was a male,” Wanamaker recalled. “He was like a dog. I was able to scratch his head between his antlers and scratch his belly and his back. It was pretty cool, because there was no other deer that came up to me like that. He was like my own buddy at work. His name was Cruiser.”
Amanda Saeli landed a marketing internship at a small technology start-up company based in Northern California. Here’s the tricky part: Saeli is spending the summer at home in Orchard Park, about 2,700 miles from the office. She’s part of a growing workplace trend called distance working.
“I actually found it on Intern Match,” Saeli said. “You basically go on and search through. It’s like online dating for internships. I submitted my resume. They looked like a really great company, and it turns out they are.”
She communicates with associates, who run the automated child support payment platform, through email, conference calls and Skype. She realizes she might never meet her coworkers face-to-face.
Unlike Saeli, Gabrielle Catalano has plenty of one-on-one encounters with her customers – including many four-legged clients. She works at Pawprints by Penny, a Buffalo business that offers doggie daycare, grooming and boarding, not to mention bathing. Catalano frequently washes, dries and brushes the pooches. She said she really enjoys her job, even though there are some occasional struggles with dogs who aren’t fond of bathing rituals.
“There are some that like it,” Catalano said. “They’re fine. And then there are others that try and jump out of the tub. Then you have to keep them there, finish them and dry them. They’ll sometimes scratch you on your arms, but that’s usually how it is when you’re working with them. That will always happen.”
True, not all summer jobs produce offbeat adventures. But with some creative searching and a little luck, it’s possible to find a gig that serves up interesting experiences along with a paycheck.
