A growing number of stressed-out professionals are dropping their careers for lighthearted summer jobs. Getting to punch in and punch out is the ultimate fantasy for our workaholic times. “People are looking around to see what gives them peace,” says Po Bronson, whose book “What Should I Do With My Life?” will be published next year by Random House. “And they’re looking back at the summer jobs that made them happy.”
As a partner in the fashion label Tuleh, Josh Patner, 40, had misplaced his happiness amid his worries, his cigarettes and his endless hours. “I was tired of dreaming about over the rainbow. I wanted to go over the rainbow,” he says. So he escaped his Manhattan life three months ago and found his personal pot of gold–a job preparing gourmet salads at Angel Foods in Provincetown, Mass. Benefits include riding his bike to work, wearing a cowboy hat, getting a new nickname (Cowboy) and spending every afternoon on the beach.
The summer gig is temporary for most people, but they do get to keep their newfound understanding of what’s important in life. Bobinsky’s going to try to fit in a course on culinary arts this fall. Patner says he’ll return to civilization when the days grow shorter, but expects that things will be different. “Whatever I go back to, I’ll be in a much better frame of mind to do it.” But he adds, “Part of the great thing about being here is not thinking about the future.” It’s still summer, after all.
