[Rio_]

Over the summer I worked at the local supermarket before starting university, and although I said I'd come back in the summer I'm already finding myself really dreading it. Yes, there were some good things about the job:

- Seeing old friends, friends' parents and teachers

- The friendly customers

- The money

But there was also:

- The unpredictable tills (items refusing to scan or scanning twice - if they scanned twice I had to get a supervisor to void them, as we weren't allowed; conveyor belts jamming; till drawers refusing to open; cheques not printing)

- Missing barcodes, bakery products I couldn't identify

- Questions I couldn't answer - I'd only been shown round the store very quickly on my first day, so I didn't know where anything was

- Alcohol! My worst enemy while I was there - I had to ask a member of staff who was over 18 for permission to sell any customer alcohol...they said it was because I was under 18, but I didn't see anyone else being told to do the same thing. I hated it, and I'm sure it annoyed the other staff just as much as me, if not more! Now that I'm 18, though, I'm assuming I wouldn't have to do that any more, which in a way would be worse as I'd have to make the decision myself and live with the knowledge that I'd face a huge fine if I made a mistake

- Never being able to leave on time, as I had to wait for another member of staff to let me off my till before I was allowed to go (same with breaks)

- Saturday shifts - so busy, so tiring and so much alcohol!

- The awkwardness of serving people from school

- Having to be polite and friendly to everyone no matter how I was feeling (there was one occasion where I got caught serving alcohol to a customer (who must have been in his 40s at least) without asking first and got told off by my supervisor in front of a queue of people, and then had to continue as normal while I was busy fighting off a panic attack because I was scared I was going to lose my job)

I really really really don't want to go back... But I don't see what choice I have! Even if I worked somewhere else, there would be similar problems. Is it actually possible to enjoy your job, or should I have made the most of school while I was there?

[EJ711]

Rio,

How about finding another job for the summer?

EJ

[Rio_]

Believe me, I'd love to. Thing is, though, I can't think of any job that I would actually like doing - any retail job is going to have similar problems to my last job; office work (I was considering a job in data entry) would involve reception duties, and I hate phones...anything else would probably require a level of experience that I don't have. Plus, I live in a small town and driving scares me (possibly because I only recently passed my test), so I don't have many options! I did email Ford a couple of months ago asking about their summer placements in South-East Michigan (I'm doing a mechanical design engineering degree, so it would be relevant), but I never heard back from them. I'm tempted to try again, but now my parents have booked us a family holiday that would be right in the middle of the placement if I did get it (which is unlikely - it's probable they don't take international students), so I'm not sure they'd be too keen.

Maybe I'm just too fussy.

[Perna]

Can you get an internship of some sort with an engineering firm since you will have actually completed a year? Does your school have any placement assistance?

Can you get a job at the Uni? Schools function all year nowadays; I'd try to find a school job or a job in a library/music store, something "fun" that you would like if you weren't going to school? How about music lessons? Could you work in a music shop and give lessons? I'm sure there are little girls out there that would love a sensitive, young teacher to idolize :-)

[BBT7]

It's tough when you're in school full time. No one really wants to hire you if you're only around for breaks. I worked at a chain drug store from my senior year of high school to my senior year of college. For the most part, it sucked. But they always gave me hours, so I sucked it up.
I tried babysitting, tutoring, and a few other random things, but retail really is a steady job.
I was a shift supervisor, so I lived for the days that I was the only one in charge. Then I'd sit in the office, read magazines, call my boyfriend, paint my nails, etc. But when the manager or other shift supervisors were there, it was quite miserable!
I had an eating disorder most of the years that I worked there. It was quite handy to have diet things and splurge foods at my disposal 30 hours a week. Not healthy at all, but handy at the time.
Bottom-line- it's tough to hold down a job when you have other issues filling your mind.
For me, I said, "I need the money. The day will come when I will actually like my job. For now, I will suck it up."
I don't know what it's like in your head, but I guess you just gotta decide if the torture is worth the money. Decide if you can live without a cash flow for a bit of time.
Good luck!

[EJ711]

How about Toyota?

[Perna]

Rio, check these out:

http://www.gecareers.com/GECAREERS/h..._in_engin.html

I found it through a job offered by VetcoGray http://www.vetcogray.com in Aberdeenshire for a mechanical engineer (oil and gas not your field but still, I'm sure the GE people have other subsidiaries, etc. in different fields?)

Find other companies looking through these ads:

http://www.ukjobsnet.co.uk/job-searc...-scotland.html

Then send them resumes or letters inquiring about summer jobs? If they're US companies, go to their site and look for things like you did for Ford (and I found for GE).

[Rio_]

Wow, thanks for those, Perna! I don't have time to go through all of them (a lot of them seem to ask for a degree?), but when I get the chance I'll investigate further. As far as the university offering placement assistance, there was an internship fair recently...that I didn't manage to go to, unfortunately, but looking on the website I couldn't see anything interesting there. Not a lot of it was engineering-related, it was a general fair for the entire university.

The uni that I'm at now would be a nightmare of a commute if I was working here in the summer (we get kicked out of halls at the end of term, so I'd have to come in from home), but there's a uni closer to where I live that's a possibility - hadn't actually thought of that before! Like music lessons, though, it'd still involve customer service, and with any customer service job I always get worried about the possibility of difficult customers...the supermarket job wasn't my idea, it was my dad's. Thanks, though!

[Rio_]

Thanks, BBT7. That's exactly my problem, plus lack of experience - the supermarket was my first and only job, not counting a week's work experience in high school when I was 16. In theory, I could live without the cash - I get a student loan, and my parents are giving me a bit of money on top of that. It's the experience I need...and unfortunately the experience I need most is that of working with others, which is the part I find hardest! And that's what's worrying me, because 99% of jobs involve other people, and I doubt my parents would let me get one that didn't. If I could get a job that's relevant to my course then that might make it worth putting up with the bad stuff, but that's going to be hard to find...although maybe a bit less so once I've finished my first year.

[Rio_]

Thanks for the suggestion, EJ711 - I'd tried Toyota before and had no luck, but I'm getting a few results now (hadn't thought to use the search the first time, I guess! )...although they all seem to be asking for experience, unfortunately. Still, might be worth an email when I'm a bit more awake!

[BBT7]

Employers always want you to have experience, but where are you supposed to get experience if no one will hire you without it?! What a conundrum.

[Rio_]

It is indeed! Oh, and I emailed Toyota about internships and they only take US citizens, so that's out. Had a look at the Audi website as well, but the careers page is in German...I can understand why, but I only took German to Higher Level at school and that was two years ago, so I'm finding it quite hard to understand! From what I can understand it does sound quite good, though, there's just a bit of a language barrier! And I can't tell if you need to be in your final year or not.