Hey, Cherie!

I am a 16-year-old girl still looking for a summer job. I am having a really hard time, since there are few jobs due to the bad economy. Also, the available jobs are not the type of jobs I am interested in doing. I got a chance to work at a hamburger place as the potato girl. This place makes fresh French fries, and my position is to whack the freshly peeled potatoes through a dicer in the kitchen. You do it all day, every day. That looked like horrible work to me; I could hurt my arm.

My parents are all over my case about finding a summer job. They tell me that if the potato girl job is the only position that I can find, then I should do it and stop complaining.

I don't want to do crap work. I'd rather not make money.

What do you think?

- Potato Girl? No!

Hey, Potato!

When I read your letter to my husband, it cracked him up. For a short time one summer, he had a job that was even worse than potato girl - he was the gum guy at a shopping mall in New Jersey. What is a gum guy, you may ask? He is the guy who starts at one end of the shopping mall with a can of goo remover and a scraper, plus paper towels. His exalted job is to start at point A, work his way through the mall scraping up gum, until he gets to the other end at point B. Then he walks around the mall to point A again and starts the process once more.

My husband says he did this job for two weeks before he found a gig teaching tennis. Thank goodness, he says. His knees couldn't take much more. Still, he's glad he did it.

There are many people in America doing hard jobs that are a lot of work. It doesn't hurt to do one of those jobs for a summer; it will change your point of view on many things. You will probably meet new people, and it could possibly serve as motivation to stay in school and do well.

At the same time, Potato, plot some strategy. What skills do you have? Can you baby-sit? Can you house-sit? Can you be a shopper and do people's grocery shopping for them? Do lawn jobs?

You can use this summer to build a skill base for summer jobs for the future. Example? Take a lifesaving class so you can be a lifeguard. No matter what you do, do something.

Hey, Cherie!

What can you do to get your parents to talk to you? I was talking with my friend, Chelsey, yesterday and she says that she has a discussion with her mother about a half-hour every day, usually at dinner. I realized I hardly ever have an actual conversation with my parents, since they're both doctors and are so busy.

Do you have any good ideas?

- Talk Please

Hey, Talk!

Take Cherie's advice. Take this edition of the column to a photocopy shop. Blow it up. Then tape up one to the door of their room and one to the fridge. Expect results.

If you don't get them, write to me again. Parents want their kids to talk to them, but sometimes the important gets lost in the wash of life. Show them it matters.

Cherie Bennett is a best-selling author of books for teens and young adults. Visit her Web site at www.cheriebennett.com or write to her c/o Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190 and send a self-addressed stamped envelope for a personal reply. Or send e-mail to copleysd@copleynews.com.

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