• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
College Magazine logo

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
    • Find Your College
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
Home » Latest Posts » Summer Job Horror Stories
Life

Summer Job Horror Stories

Facebook Tweet
Samantha Goldberg   May 12, 2012
 As college students with little to no real-world experience, it is often difficult to find a decent summer job. Many settle for jobs as a lifeguard or store employee. Sometimes we land jobs that make us think they’re going to be new and exciting, only for them turn out to be laborious, time consuming and basically the worst job you could possibly have. Here, three students describe jobs that really put a damper on their summers:

When Rutgers University sophomore Snehann Kapnadak got a job with Vector Marketing, a sales firm selling cutlery and knives, he thought it would be good business experience.  Little did he know what he was in for.
 
“Many times I had to drive more than an hour away to go sell knives, and a lot of the time people wouldn’t even buy them,” Kapnadak said. He noted a time he tried selling knives to a friend’s relative who lived far away and her dog bit him. “She didn’t even give me a pity buy,” he said. Basically, Kapnadak said the job was misleading. “They make it seem like you’re guaranteed payment, but you only get paid if you get people to set up appointments and actually buy stuff,” he said.
 

trending

504

10 Student Organizations Breaking the Mold at Berkeley

204

Top 10 Spots Around Emerson College to Get Inspired

173

Top 10 Ways to Spot a UT Austin Alum


Another student who faced a problem with a summer job at a marketing firm was Brandeis University sophomore David Wolkoff. He worked for Red Rover Public Relations, an agency in New York. “They completely exaggerated the level of responsibility I’d have and the type of work I’d be doing,” Wolkoff said. “When I got there, I was doing middle school level stuff that was redundant and boring.” Unlike Kapnadak, Wolkoff decided to end his misery early. “I interned their last summer for two weeks before I quit.”
 
A more common job for college students is a camp counselor, but for some, the task includes much more than they bargained for. Tufts University sophomore Shayna Schor was a “shadow counselor,” meaning she was assigned to watch one girl in a group of 15, but the other girls didn’t know this. While shadow counselors are usually assigned to campers with a disability, Schor said this girl just didn’t know how to behave.
 
“It was really hard because I had to deal with this crazy little girl plus I was basically the counselor for the bunk because the other counselors did nothing,” Schor said.  She also had to keep a journal every day to send to her parents. To top it all off, she was only tipped $20 at the end of the summer.
 
Overall, there are many summer jobs that give us false hope and we often end up doing anything from administrative work to manual labor. So, what’s one lesson we can learn from these experiences? Make sure to ask questions and know exactly what you’re doing before agreeing to a job that may just ruin your summer.
 
Photo: at http://www.toomanymornings.com/?p=1990

About Samantha Goldberg

Sophomore > Journalism > University of Maryland

The Art of the Hot Girl Walk

I Used to Outrun My Feet

What I Wish I Had Known About Mental Health So I Wouldn’t Have to Call Myself a College Dropout

Ant-Man Opens the Doors for Marvel’s New Phase

10 Boba Tea Spots for Houston College Students

10 Ways to Have Fun with Your Friends Indoors

Do You Actually Care, Or Do You Want to Look Like You Do?

unsplash.com

Top Ten Inspirational Quotes from Your Favorite Sports TV Shows

I lived with my three best friends. Here’s how it went.

Previous Post:Have No Regrets On Graduation Day
Next Post:Elton John’s Discovery: CM Interviews Tallia Storm

colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

College Magazine logo

Copyright © 2023 Powered by BizBudding