How a Summer Job Shaped the Way I Think
In the summer of 2025, I worked for the Town of Northbridge, MA Department of Public Works, which is essentially the town department that does all of the public mowing and trimming of park and medians, as well as work on road and construction sites. I started off the summer working primarily in a graveyard, mowing the grass and trimming the grass around the gravestones. It started off to me as very repetitive work that was boring. The hot July summer was getting to me, and being outside for eight hours in the ninety-degree heat wasn’t exactly the best part of the job. I would often go to a waterspout and soak my hat so it would cool off my head when I put it back on. The only thing I would look forward to was listening to music on my Airpods as I mowed.
However, around halfway through the summer, I realized that work was starting to become interesting to me. I had a really good relationship with one of my coworkers, a retired painter. We talked a lot all day and it helped me feel excited to go to work. I still didn’t think mowing the grass was fun, but I started to take pride in the final results of the grass that I mowed. It occurred to me that after I had finished mowing a section, I would get super excited when the lines were done perfectly and when it looked very well done. I started using different mowers, including some larger mowers that cover more area, as well as trying new mowing patterns, just because it was really cool to see what results would come from it. I would leave work each day excited to go back the next day and get back on the mower because it meant I could relax, listen to music, and try to get better at what I was doing every day.
