假日兼职的非凡收获

By Stephen Moss

I was at university in the 1970s， when people were less likely to have a holiday job. I remember signing on but never got offered any work. Reading about the summer jobs makes me feel I missed out—I could have done with a few of those lifeenhancing experiences rather than lying on the sofa watching cricket on TV or idly flicking through textbooks on Anglo-Saxon history.1 Even if you hate your holiday job， its still worth doing because， as one student who is about to embark on2 his second vacation job told me recently， “Holiday jobs might not be good at showing you what you want to do in life， but they can be brilliant at showing you what you dont want to do.” As some of the writers below discovered.

Jess Phillips

Every summer while at school and university， I worked in local pubs. I collected glasses， and worked in kitchens and behind the bar. Those work taught me to hold my own in a masculine environment and not to take any crap from people who deemed me inferior.3 In one pub， there was a huge mirror behind the bar， and I would constantly get caught out by it as I turned away from customers who I was placating4 with fake laughter， only to pull a face or roll my eyes as soon as my back was turned.

Working in the pub was where I fell in love with my husband， who was also a seasoned barman.5 We dream of buying a little pub and going back to one of the best jobs we ever had.

David Lammy

My dad left when I was young， leaving my mother on a very low income to support the family. Understandably， she was constantly fretting6 about money. So from about the age of 12， I was aware that I had to work every holiday. I did so many different jobs that its easy to lose track.

One of my longest-lasting jobs was the paper round7. I delivered newspapers for several years. My mother and sister would muck in8 when necessary. I was paid by the batch9， so it was vital to deliver every paper. Another summer job was at KFC. As well as showing me how to fry chicken， Bibi Pillay， my brilliant West Indian boss， taught me how to be nice to people， even when I wasnt in the mood.

It was the people I worked with who made my summer jobs worthwhile. Missing a father figure， I sometimes looked to them for guidance. In summer 1988， I worked at a clothing company. My role involved boxing and stacking10 clothes， which sounds repetitive， but for me it was a fascinating job. This was mostly because of the brilliant conversations I had with my supervisor， Simon， who was three or four years older， and had a cool demeanour.11

Later， in my university holidays， I worked night shifts as a security guard on the construction site on Fleet Street.12 Most of the men I worked with were first-generation immigrants in their late 40s. As a young student， I surely stood out. But they were not afraid to share their rich stories. They taught me so much about the world. My summer jobs made me an adult.

Magid Magid

For about 10 weeks in 2009， I worked 12-hour shifts at the Next distribution centre in Wath-upon-Dearne， just outside Sheffield. I used to get the bus to the station， the train to Swinton， then another bus to the warehouse13. It was the year before I went to university and I needed money to do some travelling.

The job involved the most mundane14 tasks—picking the orders out and putting them in boxes. What was great about it was the people： I worked with quite a lot of Indian international students who I bonded with15. And I got a 20% discount. The canteen was really good， too—dinner was the main event.

You used to be able to listen to music while you worked. I would transport myself to a different world in my head and fantasise16 about my travels， what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. It used to carry me through. Then they banned headphones—a lot of people were kicking off.

It gave me discipline. I always think that if I want something， then Im willing to really graft17 for it. It also gave me the skill of dealing with really boring stuff， of just getting on with things. That helps now when Ive got lots of emails that need responding to—sometimes people ask the same questions again and again， but I know it needs to get done.

Tamal Ray

I did my six years of medical school in London， which basically ended up as six years of financial struggle. My student loan was only enough to cover my rent for the year and， as my parents couldnt afford to help support me， it meant that all my living money came from my summer and part-time work. During term time， I worked evenings in a clothing shop on Oxford Street18. But during the summer， I worked as an office temp19 for a big mobile phone company.

The work was the usual office spreadsheet juggling，20 but the people I worked with were a lot of fun. The company had a real ethos21 of treating its staff well and was always putting on after-work drinks. It was also sponsoring a big reality show at the time， so we would get visits to the office from some of the contestants.

Working in the corporate world of mobile phones hasnt got much in common with what I do now as an anaesthetist in the NHS.22 But that summer job still has an impact on how I think about work. It showed me what a large organisation can do when it has the resources； striving for efficiency in the NHS is pretty meaningless when you dont even have functioning IT. It also taught me that poor work conditions and low morale arent things that should be allowed to perpetuate； they harm the individual and the organisation.23

Im so grateful to have had the job. I met some amazing people and the money was a life-saver. Am I a more rounded24 person， though， for having worked during my summer holidays？ I have no idea. Would I have learned as much if Id spent my summers vomiting cocktails up on a moonlit Thai beach？25

1. 瀏览暑假兼职的信息让我感到自己错过了些什么——我本该参加一些丰富人生阅历的社会实践，而不是躺在沙发上看电视上的板球比赛，或是随意翻阅几下关于盎格鲁-撒克逊历史的课本。life-enhancing： 增加生活乐趣的，改善生活的；cricket： 板球；idly： 漫不经心地，悠闲地；Anglo-Saxon： 盎格鲁-撒克逊人（或其语言、文化）的。盎格鲁-撒克逊人指自公元5世纪起至诺曼人征服时止移居并统治英格兰的日耳曼民族。

2. embark on： 从事，开始（新的、重要的或艰难的事情）。

3. 那些工作教会我在充满男性的环境中毫不逊色，而且绝不受那些低看我的人的气。hold ones own： 与……相匹敌，毫不逊色；masculine： 男性的，男子气概的；not take crap from sb.：不容许某人侮辱自己（或对自己不公平）；deem： 认为，视为；inferior：（地位、等级等）低下的。

4. placate： 安抚，使息怒。

5. seasoned： 有经验的，老练的；barman： 酒吧男招待。

6. fret： 烦恼，发愁。

7. paper round： 送报工作，挨户送报。

8. muck in： 一起干活。

9. batch： 一批。

10. stack： 整齐地堆起。

11. supervisor： 主管，指导者；demeanour： 举止，行为。

12. night shift： 夜班；Fleet Street：（英国伦敦的）舰队街，曾以报馆集中著称。

13. warehouse： 仓库，货仓。

14. mundane： 乏味的，平凡的。

15. bond with： （与某人）培养一种特殊的关系。

16. fantasise： 想象，幻想。

17. graft： 努力地工作。

18. Oxford Street： 牛津街，是伦敦著名的购物街。

19. temp： 临时雇员。

20. spreadsheet： （计算机的）空白表格程序；juggle： 同时处理（多项工作）。

21. ethos： （某团体的）精神特质。

22. anaesthetist： 麻醉师；NHS： 即National Health Service，国民保健署，英国政府管理下的综合性公共卫生机构，根据1946年国民保健署法及以后的立法而建立。

23. 这一实践经历还使我认识到，简陋的工作环境和低落的精神状态都应该尽快得到改善，这两者无论对个人还是集体而言都有极大的损害。morale：士气，精神面貌；perpetuate： 使继续，使长久（尤指不好的事物）。

24. rounded： 发展全面的，完美的。

25. vomit： 呕吐；moonlit： 月光照耀的；Thai： 泰国的。