One of the most popular yearly summer jobs for teens and young adults to acquire is being a summer camp counselor. It's the perfect summer job to be local, spend time with your co-workers and campers outside in the nice sunny weather, and make money for doing so. With being a camp counselor, you come to learn that summer will fly by even faster. You have almost a routine each day and you see Friday faster by the week. When the last day of the last week arrives, "You leave camp, but camp never leaves you." You create a lot of memories that you'll always remember each summer whether you return the next summer or not.
You Know You're a Summer Camp Counselor When...
1. You love your job.
When people ask, "Why would you want to be a camp counselor for a summer job?" our answer is "Why wouldn't we?" Being a summer camp counselor is the best job... you get to hang out with kids all day, spend time with your co-workers (who become your close friends), get tan, get some exercise in, and get paid for doing it all.
2. Your tan-lines are awful.
Shorts tan. Sock tan. Farmers tan. Sunglasses tan. All inevitable, and they get darker by the week.
3. Your hands hurt at the end of the day from working on gimp for your campers.
Being that you were probably once a camper yourself, you are considered 'experienced' and get asked every hour on the dot to start a gimp "box" for your camper... and finish the whole thing, too.
4. You collect your "STAFF" shirts to try and get each color.
You have a complete drawer dedicated to your STAFF shirts. You get a new color each summer you come back.
5. You still look forward to snack time or lunch time even though you eat the same things all summer long.
You may have the same granola bars at breakfast time and a PB&J for lunch everyday, but it never seems to get old no matter how many times you have it in the summer.
6. Your co-counselors become your only friends all summer.
They may be your only friends all summer, but they also become people you stay connected with while you are out of summer. Some even become your closest friends.
7. You try to even your tan-lines out when the campers are in the pool.
In the hopes of having not as awful of tan lines, you roll up your shorts a bit, take off your sunglasses, and roll up your sleeves to try to even out your tan lines.
8. You are up early in the morning while your non-camp counselor friends are still asleep.
Rise and shine, Camp Counselor! You've got a day to start, even though all your friends who aren't camp counselors are probably still snug in bed still sleeping.
9. You have a greater appreciation for when it thunderstorms. (Out early and paid!)
Your campers may not enjoy them, as they are probably screaming, but at least you get to go home early (and get paid for it)!
10. You own an absurd amount of tie dye things shirts.
You'll have at least two tie dye days at camp, and each summer, you manage to have many tie dyed shirts (and bed sheets, and pillowcases, etc).
11. Your "love-life" gets questioned more than ever in the summertime.
*Talks to a boy*: "Is that your boyfriend?" "Are you two in love?" "_____ and ______, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Every summer, your campers never fail to misunderstand that your co-workers are your friends. In the summer, you get questioned every question in the book, as your campers wonder your relationship status each day.
12. You are more competitive than the campers are.
You're the one fighting for the highest seed in four square. You are the counselor, you officiate the rules.
13. Your side job is babysitting.
If you do a job well done as a camp counselor, there is a very strong chance you're the babysitter of your campers as well. Nothing beats that!
14. You have an overgrowing collection of drawings, bracelets, and handmade cards from all of your campers.
Every day, either a new camper or the same typical camper, come up to you with a new note, a new card, a new bracelet, a keychain, or a new necklace. You manage to savor each thing from your campers and reminisce on them when you find them in the depths of your room.
15. You realize how much you miss your cell phone by the end of the day.
You are pretty disconnected from the outside world from start to finish of your work day. As soon as it's 'clock-out', you're probably taking your phone out of your backpack with a sigh of relief.
16. You wonder what the next excuse of the parent that is late for pick-up time is.
Same. Parent. Every. Single. Day. What's the excuse, today?
17. You get asked for a piggyback ride by every camper.
"Can I have a piggy back ride?" asks one camper. "Can I have a piggy back ride?" asks every single other camper (even if they aren't in your group).
18. You don't arrive to work without Starbucks and an egg sandwich from deli.
Coffee? Check! Egg sandwich? Duh!
19. Come end of summer, you are going to miss your campers.
You'll even miss the little sticklers. Your campers become your family during the summer. For some, they become like your own kids or siblings. You'll miss them and fight for a babysitting job for them (if not asked already), so you can continue to see them.
20. You look back and always wonder how time went by because just yesterday... you were once a camper, too.
This is the job that makes you feel 'old' early on in your life. You look back at old pictures recalling your camp memories. Then you think to yourself about how time surely flies so fast, because just yesterday, you were a camper as well, dreaming of being a camp counselor someday. Now you're living that dream...
