"My Job" Profile for September
No summer sleep-ins for this teen.
School was out for the summer. It was time for friends, vacations, parties -
and a full-time job?
For one York teen, that couldn't have been more true.
Dover Area High School junior Bobbie Mellott, 16, worked at Strine Printing
in Manchester Township.
Her mother, Lynn, works there in the packing plant and helped her land a
position in the hand-bindery department.
Bobbie said the job is different from most summer jobs because it is full
time, whereas most teens work just a few days per week for three or four hours a
day.
"I work eight hours a day, from 7 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., every weekday," Bobbie
said. She admits that, while the hours were long and strenuous, she appreciated
the experience because it "will prepare me for a full-time job after college,
where I'm working year round."
Bobbie's day began at 5:15 a.m. She said that climbing out of bed that early
during the summer was, at times, a little tough because "most kids are off
during the summer months and sleep until noon."
When she arrived at Strine with her mother, she clocked in and then reported
to her boss, Angie Pritz, to find out what job she'd be working on for the
day.
"There are thousands of jobs that come through from customers every week,
and they are each assigned a work order number," Bobbie said. "I ask Angie which
of them I'm working on today and then go punch in under that number so they know
who was assigned to what job and for how long."
Bobbie said Strine uses temp agencies for extra labor in the factory. At
times, she said, it's difficult to work alongside the mostly Spanish-speaking
temporary workers because there's often a language barrier.
Overall, Bobbie said working at Strine is "a very easy job to get paid
for."
She said, however, that not every job has been a walk in the park.
"This one job I did for IBM computers was horrible. I had to fold a flat
piece of cardboard into a 3D shape to make a fake computer mold, and I had to
put out like 60 an hour." Bobbie said. "I never made my count, and it was just
stressful and overwhelming."
Bobbie's job as a hand bindery-worker gave her motivation to continue her
education after high school, she said.
"I don't want to be working here in 10 years," she said. "My job is a good
summer job for a teen who wants extra money, but as far as making a career out
of it, no way." --- By ALEX PETERSON, Central York High School
