COLUMN: Recycling blues

While I was in college, I always dreaded summer coming. It would mean I would have to stop the laidback lifestyle of being a student and have to work my butt of to raise money for tuition.

This was certainly different than being a kid and counting down the days for the school year to end which always meant a long summer of riding my bike in the desert without a care in the world.

In my hometown there were always a ton of college kids who also wanted to raise money and there were always a few "select" jobs that were perfect to for a teenager. The local mines always had summer programs and a job mowing lawns with the school district was also a highly coveted position. I was only lucky enough to get one of these jobs once, and instead had to fight with all the other kids for a job that was never very glamorous.

I remember one time feeling very confident about getting an interview at a place that made sunflower seeds. When I walked into the office, there were about 50 kids I went to school with and I knew the job probably wouldn't happen. Some were smarter, some better looking, and some most likely harder workers, I just would have to move on from the seeds job. On one occasion I responded to a classified in the paper that seemed to good to be true. What I thought would be an amazing summer job turned into them wanting me to sell vacuums across the Western United States -- and I walked out of the room as soon as I could. There was no way I was going to knock on doors and ask people if they want a vacuum. I'm sure in the 1950's that door-to-door sales people were very common, but asking people for money now at their home is not a very acceptable thing to do. I always cringe when these random teenagers show up at the door selling magazines. They are obviously not local and looked as if they are being held against there will without a shower in weeks.

I went the fast food route several times and that was never too bad, except for the fact that I probably still smell like a hamburger. Grilling about 1,000 hamburgers in a day at Wendy's is not a way to attract the ladies. This however was not the worst experience I had.

Prior to a bad experience, I was however able to get one of those good jobs. The summer before my junior year of college (or second junior year), I was able to get an incredible job helping build an addition to a gas plant. It was six to seven days a week and often times 80 to 90 hours, but it paid well. I made enough to pay for tuition and room and board and after about three weeks of shoveling 10 to 14 hours a day, I became a robot that would think about how much beer this was going to buy, I mean how many books this was going to buy.

The next summer, I thought I could get a similar job, but it didn't happen again. I registered with a temp agency and within one day they sent me on a Saturday to help with the building of a water treatment plant. I thought I had once again secured a great gig, but it was a one-day job and they instead asked me to go work at a recycling center and steel yard. This was easily the least fun I've ever had and I still cringe about it to this day.

Throughout my first few days, people would line up with aluminum cans that I would send through a crushing machine that would shoot them into the back of a semi trailer. Was it hard, no, but I'm pretty sure that nobody in Rock Springs, Wyoming knew how to drink a full soda or beer. About ten minutes into work I would be covered in this slime of old liquid and it was worse than the smell of grilling hamburgers all day. The old soda and beer would get in my hair, eyes, and mouth. It was awful.

On special days that I always looked forward too, I was allowed to go through huge piles of screen doors and other miscellaneous items and get them ready to bail. I would use a torch to cut out any metal, bail them, and get them into another semi trailer. Compared to the cans, this was better, but still not my idea of fun.

During break, everyone would sit at the table and stare at the wall. Nobody talked and it was the most unpleasant group of people I've ever dealt with.

Just when I was finally getting used to the job, I had a day that ended it really quick. I was getting help bailing some aluminum, and a co-worker slammed my foot in the bailer door. I let out a shriek and went running and screaming. Everyone stopped and looked at me for a minute, figured out I didn't lose my foot and went on with their day.

A few minutes later, I was on top of a huge stack of aluminum and while trying to avoid putting pressure on my hurt foot, lost my balance and bounced down whacking my head on every piece as I went down like it was some sort of cartoon of a bad day.

A few minutes later my boss said that they had decided to end their summer program with the temp agency. I asked if it was because of my shenanigans throughout the day, and he told me they had made the decision in the morning, just wanted me to get a full days pay. I wasn't sure if I should thank him considering it would be about a week before I could walk and my head didn't hurt.

I'm really glad these jobs helped pay for college, but hopefully won't be reminded of them anytime soon again. I guess having the sludge from my cans will always make we thankful for what I do.