Senior Maria Vanderford was at work as a lifeguard watching the pool. One day, a kid with a backpack on fell in the pool and didn’t know how to swim.
“I jumped in and got him out. He was scared so he ran away, but he came back and thanked me later,” Vanderford said.
Saving lives is part of Vanderford’s summer job at a recreation area called The Farm in Chapel Hill. Other students have jobs at many different places in and around Pittsboro.
During the school year, some students work a few days during the week after school. Others who are involved in after school activities and sports work on weekends or during the summer.
Senior Gaby Mehringer, an employee at Oakleaf restaurant in Chatham Marketplace, works on Saturdays as a hostess.
“I bus tables when people are done; I sit people at their tables, I get them water and bread… It’s mainly bussing tables and seating people,” Mehringer said.
Balancing schoolwork and a job during the week is hard for most students to adjust to. In the workplace, student shifts can be difficult to deal with because they can be stressful and create a work overload. Senior Jordyn Maynor worked at Town and Country Hardware for about two months before she quit her job.
“They scheduled me to work every weekend from 7:45 in the morning until six in the afternoon. I didn’t like that because I didn’t have any free time,” Maynor said.
Starting a job can be a new experience for most teenagers. Junior Devonte Sellars had an interesting experience when he first started working at Food Lion.
“When I first started working [at Food Lion], there was this one guy that had a huge attitude with me because I was new and I didn’t know what I was doing,” Sellars said.
Another grocery store employee, junior Spencer Roberson, has worked at Harris Teeter for about two months and has already had an unusual experience on the job.
“An employee backed up into a fire extinguisher and it fell and exploded in the bathroom; there was a huge cloud of dust; it was everywhere, it was hilarious,” Roberson said.
With a job comes the long awaited paycheck; everyone has different spending and saving habits.
“Most of the time I’ll put 75 percent of it in the bank because I know if I keep it and cash it then it will be gone just like that,” Vanderford said.
As a teen employee, there is always a boss or manager that is in charge of the business. Allison Stokley, who is a senior and an employee at Hollister, enjoys working with her manager.
“[My boss] came from Boston to be a manager at our store; he’s really passionate about his job,” Stokley said. “I kind of look up to him. Not only is he my boss, but my friend too. I can always talk to him about anything.”
Junior Evan Seagroves, a new employee at Allen and Son Bar-B-Que, says he likes his boss as well.
“I’ve known him since I was a kid. He is really polite to everyone and treats everyone with a lot of respect,” Seagroves said.
Other employees who students have to cooperate with might be difficult or easy to work with. The employees could range from teens to older adults, so there is a wide variety.
“I’m the youngest there, [other employees] call me baby and stuff like that, they’re all really nice. We all just laugh about anything,” Mehringer said.
Vanderford enjoys working with her other co-workers as well.
“That’s probably my favorite part of my job because most of [my coworkers] are older than I am and they come back from college during the summer,” she said. “The relationships that you form with them is what makes the job fun because sitting in a chair all day would not be fun if it wasn’t for the people that I’m working with.”
— By Taylor Maloch