Age 14, I worked 2 hours a day, 5 days a week at the local fish market doing clean up and end of day work. Nasty stuff. I worked the summer before college at a friend of my parent's warehouse basically relabeling overstock canned goods with a white label for use in restaurants. Hot, loud, and smelly job. During my sophomore year, I thought I wanted to drop out. My dad said he could probably get me into the plumber's union, and no disrespect to plumbers (they probably make more money than I do), but the memories of that work made me go back and give college one more shot. It all worked out in the end. I graduated, found work, and am still in the industry happily three decades later, but it all could have gone the other way if not for those hard manual work summer jobs.