Part of the typical high school experience for senior Ethan Tilley is spending a significant amount of time working part-time jobs.

Ethan starts his fourth job coming up this week.

“So far, I’ve worked a year at Celebration Cinema,” Ethan said. “[I’ve worked at] Chick-fil-A, in construction with my family for a bit, and I’m going to work at McDonald’s next week.”

Throughout his job experiences, Ethan has learned that he prefers the social aspects of his jobs. 

“Celebration Cinema was my favorite job so far for the job aspect,” Ethan said. “However, Chick-fil-A was my favorite job socially; the employers were so much fun [to work with]. The managers were also good with understanding our limited work schedules.”

Entering his newest job at McDonald’s, Ethan hopes to be placed in the more social parts of the restaurant rather than behind the scenes.

“As for McDonald’s, I haven’t started yet,” Ethan said, “but I hope that I will be placed at a position that allows me to talk to customers since I enjoy talking to others.”

As for liking the job itself, he tends to lean more towards Celebration Cinema since he was able to do so many different things within this one job.

“At Celebration Cinema, I would usually be assigned to clean the theaters at the end of the movies,” Ethan said. “Sometimes, I was told to bring food to people [during the movie] which was fun to do since I would end up getting snacks [during my shift]. I would also occasionally sell popcorn or candy.”

At Chick-fil-A, he wasn’t able to interact with the customers as much as he did while working at Celebration Cinema.

“As for Chick-fil-A, I would make fries and assemble the burgers or put the nuggets in the boxes,” Ethan said. “I didn’t mind it most of the time, but after six hours straight, it wasn’t the best.”

After his job at Chick-fil-A, Ethan worked in construction with his family. Even though his job in construction involved almost no social interaction, it gave him a great opportunity to work with his family.

“Initially, I was forced into working for my mother since she owns a company which involves buying and selling houses,” Ethan said. “She sometimes needed mine and my brother’s help to fix up terrible houses, so I was basically hired at her company.”

Ethan didn’t love the construction work, but now he knows that it’s a lot of hard work and takes long hours outdoors to achieve the finished product.

“I typically just cut logs and [do] basic construction stuff,” Ethan said, “but seeing the entire [house] finished makes it all worth it.”

Keeping a part-time job and maintaining good grades at school isn’t the easiest thing to do, but spending the hard-earned money typically makes up for it in the long run. However, unlike many high school students, Ethan prefers to save all of his money.

It might seem preposterous to not spend all the money he makes, but Ethan has his eye on a bigger prize.

“I’m mostly saving the money I make for college and for my future,” Ethan said. “College is expensive, and I’m prepared. There are a lot of expenses that go into the college experience.” 

Ethan is fully ready for the next step of his life when it comes to the expenses that go into his college life. Through his job experiences, he has learned a lot. This will help him when it comes to future jobs and encounters with other employees.

“I now know that the customer isn’t always right,” Ethan said. “Co-workers are the most important aspect of the job, it makes the job more fun. Also, make sure to take as many sick days as possible.”