Lucy Polakova, second from left, and other students from Colombia, Serbia and the Czech Republic gather in the second floor kitchen of the boarding house in Wildwood. Below, Diana Jaramillo, 21, of Colombia. (Ed Hille/Inquirer)
Lucy Polakova, 22, a lifeguard at Morey's Piers, is part of a brigade of global workers at the Jersey Shore whose reach this summer extends even to those goth - authentically so - kids from Bulgaria who make your lattes at Starbucks. "I'm working from 7:30," says Polakova, a tall no-nonsense blonde with piercing blue eyes. "I'd rather go to sleep. That's the most biggest problem. The Serbian guys talk really, really loud."And so it goes at 328 Magnolia St., the Inquirer's Amy S. Rosenberg reports, where Polakova is one of 20 lifeguards, ride operators and food workers from Morey's who each cough up $100 a week to live together in a three-story rooming house. It's like MTV's Real World meets the Jersey Shore meets Eastern Europe, all in the shadow of the tilt-a-whirl.
Read Amy's story.
And the Inquirer's Howard Shapiro writes that You're never too old to work that cool summer job.
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