Ah , the summer job! It's that important moment in your life when you learn how hard it is to earn a living. But it's not only that. It can be a great "training" before you dive into the real life and a motivation to study harder . In the end , you not only get money , but you become more mature. Keep in mind though - the summer job is not an experience for everyone. If you want to know if it might be beneficial for you here are the pros and cons down here , they'll help you make up your mind :
Pros
- Independence
Have you ever lived on your own for more than two weeks? Well , the summer job is your chance! You're going to learn how to wash , dry and iron your own clothes . It might be a bit arduous if you're a boy , but hey , mommy won't wash your ass all life! You'll also have a lot of money at your disposal and no idea what to do with them. In case you waste them in less than 24 hours and your parents tell you that " you're big enough to take care of yourself " and deny to send you more , then you'll learn something known as " budget management" . Budget management is basically a method to spend your personal money in a prudent and reasonable way. Another more obnoxious way to learn budget management is when you're out of both toilet paper and money.
- Freedom
Every teenager has dreamed for unconstrained freedom and lack of any parental control . Well , that's one of the main pros of your summer job. You'll be literally hundred kilometers away from your parents . You can go to discos whenever you have time , you can buy everything , taste everything and try everything. The money you're going to earn are going to give you enough freedom to have many new experiences. Last summer I tasted every type of cake in a sweet shop. Why? I don't know. I just wanted to. There are other stories about people who tried all kinds of other , largely illegal stuff. If you really want to completely have the advantage of freedom that a summer job gives you , you'd better dump your girlfriend/boyfriend. Long distance relationship is usually painful especially when you're a guy who just hit on a winsome foreign girl and cannot do anything with her because conscience is a b*tch.
- You can practice foreign languages
Nearly 90% of the tourists in the Bulgarian black sea resorts are foreign. Whichever widely-known language you're studying , you're probably going to find people to practice it with. It is preferable to know Russian if you're guy (for obvious reasons) and German if you're girl. As my dad says "A foreign language is best learned in the bed/on the beach " . I can certify that this is true! Especially for the words "yes" and "more" in every language you encounter.
- "Personnel-exclusive" prices and perks
If you can certify that you're working somewhere at Sunny Beach and/or Nessebar , you could get some special discounts. For example , you can get into discos like Lazur and Grand De Luxe without an entrance fee. No joke! You'll also be able to buy cheaper food at some places. This happens because the personnel working at Sunny Beach is greatly outnumbered by tourists. We're a small group and we try to support each other as best as we can. A chef who is working in an all-inclusive restaurant is giving out the leftovers from the buffet to the personnel not only from his restaurant , but also to everyone else who works nearby.
Cons
- Payment to work ratio
Summer jobs are jobs that can usually be worked by everyone. This means you're easily replaceable and consequently your salary isn't big enough to motivate you to work . I get paid 1.56lv/hour (a dollar per hour) for being a bartender in an all-inclusive bar. I work 8 hours every day (no days off). If you want to get paid more , you have to take up more responsibility. Jobs that involve working with money /waiter , cashier/ start up at 450leva monthly or at a percent of the income. Keep in mind that Sunny Beach is crowded with tourists , you'll hardly ever have time to have a break while working.
- Obnoxious lodging
Lodging , especially if provided by the employer , isn't 5-star quality . You'll most likely be on the top floor of some house where the temperatures at noon are boiling hot or crammed with 3 other people in a small room. Or both.Or why not a basement lodging? One of my room mates told some appaling stories of the lodgings he had to reside in. In one of the lodgings the humidity was so high that his laptop broke down and his cell phone started malfunctioning. There are really freaky places to reside in out there , so watch out!
- People you will regret meeting
As I previously mentioned , the summer job is a job that is worked by easily replaceable people. It's a job worked by "the masses". Don't expect to meet people who are prospective students at Harvard . In fact, don't expect to meet any kind of people who you will be proud to know. This negative side of the summer job can actually be slightly positive because :
When you come back , you'll be more motivated to study.
Have you ever met a person who has slacked at school all the time? Well, I've met one. No , not one. I've met around ten. And I met them while I was working in the summer. They're all dumb as a pile of bricks. Their views about life are deluded and grotesquely skewed. I was so appalled by their philistine behaviour that I promised myself that I would to all I could to avoid them. One of the most successful ways to avoid stupid people is by studying and meeting their counterparts - intelligent people. Still , it's genuinely interesting to meet these low-lives and subtly deride their their outrageous stupidity. You're going to see how these simple people think - something that's very important if you want to specialize in a managerial job.
That's the summer job in a nutshell. After you gain some experience , you can actually start enjoying it. It's much better than a jejune summer in your hometown (in my case - Yambol) . The party in Sunny Beach never stops. You'll meet many new people and have exciting experiences. So it's not that bad, really!
P.S
I decided to give my laptop to my parents so they can bring it back to my hometown . This will cease my access to the internet and , consequently , cease my access to the blog. I'll probably going to write again when I get back on 29th of July. But after that I'm going to pay a visit to my cousin in Italy , so this might be one of my last posts. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. If not ..well ,then I'm hopeless at writing. :)
Hristo Georgiev's summer 2012 blog
