Towards the end of senior year, I accidentally applied to a local grocery store (I thought I didn't submit the application, but it turns out I did) and decided to take the job as a checker several days later after an interview. So three days after graduation, I took the job and stuck with it for the entire summer...
Before this, I had volunteered at several places including elementary schools and a hospital, but this was my first -real- job since I barely started working for Voices in The Reading Eagle before we moved to Washington back in 2012. This job demanded a lot of hours. It started off easy with about 20-25 hours per week, but that quickly grew into 30-ish hours per week as I gained more experience and co-workers went on vacation leave.
I spent most of my summer looking down the cereal aisle and pointing people to the direction of the restroom ("It's in the far back corner, down aisle seventeen!"). In several ways, I do regret this decision mostly due to the fact that I didn't know how much of a time commitment it would be. Of course, the paychecks looked nice (which I all dutifully spent on burgers and underwear), but I found myself having lost precious time that I could have spent with my family or 'friends'.
Although I wish I had more time this summer to read books, watch movies, and hang out at home, I did learn a few things from my 4-month experience peering down the shelves full of grocery food. With a job like this, I was able to meet all sorts of people (everybody's gotta eat, after all!) and personalities. And to me, that's invaluable.
