‘It was closest I’d ever come to drug dealers and homeless people’

Post reader spent one summer learning life lessons from the dead

IThe National Post invites readers to share their stories about summer jobs past. Email your stories — no more than 400 words — to summerjobs@nationalpost.com. Today, reader Andrea Skorenki shares hers.

can describe the summer between my second and third years of university in four words: coolest summer job ever.

I was a pre-med student and I managed to get hired as a junior pathology technician at the Medical Examiner’s Office.

My job was to assist in autopsies and to “check in” the recently deceased, by photographing them and cataloguing all of their belongings.

I rifled through wallets looking for identification, trying not to get distracted by photos of family members,

We could get anything from people killed by accidents to drug overdoses

the receipt from a last meal, or the list of groceries that would never be picked up. It was a fascinating job where you never knew what you would see when you came into work. It exposed me to a layer of society I’d never experienced while growing up in the suburbs.

The ME’s office handled any unexpected death, so we could get anything from people killed by accidents to drug overdoses to surprise heart attacks or even murder cases. I remember listening to the news on the radio every morning to hear what my day would be like.

It was also my first real, “adult” job, with major responsibility and significant consequences if I made a mistake. It also taught me about some of the realities of life

through the experiences of the people who ended up on our tables. It was the closest I’d ever come to drug dealers, homeless people and party animals.

The dead taught me many lessons about life that summer:

❚ Always wear your seatbelt. The windshield doesn’t evaporate when you hit something.

❚ Don’t believe everything you see on TV: serial killers are not nearly as common in real life as they are on crime shows.

❚ Take off your headphones when you’re walking on train tracks.

❚ Never try to climb out of an elevator that is stuck between floors.

❚ Skydiving is not always as fun as it looks.

❚ No matter where you hide your tattoo or piercing, someone will eventually see it.

❚ When you are on a motorcycle, wear a helmet, stay sober and don’t wear your sunglasses while riding at night.

❚ Despite what your mother told you, nobody notices if you’re wearing clean underwear when you get in a car accident.

❚ On the other hand, wearing underwear of the opposite gender does get noticed.

❚ Death is final. Life is too precious to throw away and there is no going back if you kill yourself while doing something stupid.

❚ A 90-year-old who dies of heart failure is not an unexpected death. Everyone has to die eventually and it’s OK to say goodbye when it’s time.

❚ Having supportive colleagues and a good sense of humour are some of the best ways of dealing with stressful situations.

❚ You never know when it’s going to be your last day.