15 Reasons Your Summer Job Was The Best Job You’ll Ever Have

Sometimes you forget just how good you had it. If only you could go back to when things were simple. Youth is wasted on the young, indeed.

1. You didn't care about getting fired all that much.

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If you got fired, then whatever! You knew you could just as easily get a job somewhere else. It really didn't matter, like, at all.

2. The hours were the ~*perfect fit*~ for your schedule.

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Heck, you could even choose your own hours if you were lucky enough! Feel like taking the day off? Get a shift covered! Feel like making some extra cash? Cover someone else's shift!

3. Your paychecks felt HUGE.

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And they WERE. A couple hundred bucks to an 18-year-old is basically the equivalent of a million dollars.

4. Your co-workers were your best friends.

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Only they truly understood you, and they actually made you excited to get up for work in the morning. Imagine!

5. DISCOUNTS.

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YOU get a discount! And YOU get a discount! And YOU get a discount!

6. Shift meal!

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Free meals had the power to turn an otherwise horrible shift into something magical -- which just goes to show that food is therefore magical.

7. Your work didn't go home with you.

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Emails? HAHAHAHA, NAH SON. When you clocked out, you were DONE.

8. Two words: Work. Crush.

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Every week you'd feverishly check the schedule to see if your shifts would overlap. Oh man, those butterflies you'd get in your stomach when you saw your work crush...

9. Kissing your co-workers wasn't that controversial.

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Oh, and dating? Nobody cared! Your summer job probably didn't even have an HR department.

10. It was a solid excuse to use your parents' car.

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"Mom, I have work tonight, can I borrow your car?"

11. You could work stoned.

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Work always started at 4:20. *Wink wink*

Good luck trying that now with an "adult" job.

12. Your friends always stopped by to visit you.

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Your buddies walking through the door made you feel so loved. These days your boss isn't so excited about them showing up.

13. Mistake food.

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If you worked in a restaurant, it was always a pleasant little bonus when someone's meal got screwed up because it meant you could chow down.

14. Tips, baby, tips!

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There's nothing quite like stuffing $200 into your pocket after six to eight hours of hard labor. Well, maybe if you're stuffing $300 into your pocket...

15. Work could actually be fun.

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Despite the rude customers, messy children, and demanding bosses, you somehow found yourself...enjoying work.

Relive your best summer job memories and watch Red Oaks, a new Amazon Original Series. Stream all episodes now.

Courtesy of Amazon Studios