I literally read all the comments, which came to 76 (not counting my own, and a few other, comments which were not specifically about work).
Everyone had very different specific circumstances and jobs, or 'jobs' as the case may be, but what interested me is that few seemed to be mentioned in a grudging or unsatisfied/disappointed manner. My own comment to Mrs. Bulldog was that I remember my first job fondly because of the odd circumstances which led to me getting it, but also because I remember little else about that summer, and the work itself only lasted the month of August. But we had our own room at the resort if we wanted to spend the night, and we could use the pool as long as we didn't annoy guests and were respectful.
It was also the first summer where I really learned about music and girls, which had previously never been primary interests. Girls and music do seem to go together pretty well. The girls at the resort were impressed that we had money, and that we worked. The parents still couldn't know we were interested in them, though.
Commenters mentioned roofing (something I did on a few holidays), picking fruit or vegetables (which I had to do in my mom's garden), babysitting (which I did, too), paper routes, flipping burgers, and a variety of other things which I have less experience in.
It's my view that if people let their work define them, it becomes a limiting factor. If our work is just part of who we are, we control our outcomes. We can choose to be what we want and who we want. I see a lot of that in our comments. We've all done many things and each seems to have mostly good memories of what has been done. I can only think that the young people today who complain, protest and make demands simply have not worked hard enough to know that you're happier when you produce rather than when you demand things.
