MY PART-TIME JOBS
...ut never during the school year. Another similarity is that they were all basically entry-level, unskilled positions. One might think that being a math tutor was a more highly skilled job, but actually I was given all the assignments and detailed directions for how to teach math points by the school. Still, I think the differences between these jobs are much more striking than the similarities. The first big difference between them was the amount of mental and physical work involved. My two jobs as a strawberry picker and as a hotel maid involved a lot of heavy lifting, and in both of them I walked many miles everyday. I remember crying after my second day in the strawberry field because my back muscles were so sore. The office cleaning job involved some physical work, such as moving chairs and waste baskets, but it was very easy in comparison. For my receptionist, tutor, and salesperson jobs, I worked in air-conditioned comfort and never lifted anything heavier than a pencil or a dress. Second, there was a great difference in the amount of independence I had. Picking strawberries, I could go as slowly or as quickly as I wanted; when I picked more strawberries, I got a lot of money. As a salesperson, I was also paid a commission on the amount I sold, so I had a lot of independence. In my other four jobs, I was told exactly what to do and when to do it. However, the biggest difference, in my opinion, was whether the work involved people or objects. When you are picking fruit and cleaning offices or hotel rooms, you really don’t need to talk with people much. Sometimes a whole day could go by in those jobs when I hardly said anything to anyone, but as a receptionist, salesperson, or tutor, esta...