What Did Your First Job Teach You? | brokeGIRLrich
I could not wait to get my first job. I cat sitted and, on very rare occasions, baby sat before I turned 16, but I wanted a steady paycheck and real work experience.
I was clearly nuts.
That aside, my first job did teach me a lot of lessons that it was better to learn at 16 as opposed to 30.
My first job was as a Walgreens cashier. There was another girl from my high school working there and the stock boy was from my school too. Other than that, all the other employees seemed alarmingly older to me.
Lesson #1: Knowing where you don’t want to wind up is very valuable.
I don’t mean it to sound judge-y (but it’s probably going to happen). Some of these women were bootstrapping themselves up out of bad relationships or trying to support their kids alone on their Walgreens cashier salary. Man, I cannot imagine how crappy that must be and good for them for doing what they had to do.
Some of the folks were actually retirees who were bored and happy to take on a part time job.
BUT a lot of them were shiftless townies with no real goals or ambitions who were also extremely bitter to be working there. Those were the ones I paid the most attention to.
The ones who claimed it was too difficult to work and go to school (which my 16 year old ears were endlessly puzzled by because that was what I was doing, along with playing on sports teams and performing in 5 different school bands) made me realize that the person who often puts the most limitations on us is ourselves.
Lesson #2: You don’t have to be super passionate about your job, but it sure is nice to not utterly despise it.
There were really three types of people working at Walgreens – people in high school like me who were just happy to have a job and make some money, folks who hated every second of being there and resented the life they’d built that put them in that situation, and the managers who seemed largely content with their position but rarely ever particularly passionate about it.
Personally, even though I was happy to have the job, it wasn’t long before the prospect of “facing” the shelves (which means tidying them up), made me want to jam a fork in my eye. I’m also not much of a people person, so customer service has never been the best fit for me.
Lesson #3: Situations can be what you make of them.
It was interesting to me to see the different ways that people approached their job. While the bitter, shiftless townies would moan and complain when they were at the till across from me, the older retirees who were on their feet just as long, doing the exact same job, often managed to find a lot more silver linings.
They were often nicer to the customers, which meant the customers were nicer to them (often… not always… sometimes customer service jobs just suck). Rather than standing there bored, when there was no line, they would tidy up the area around them, making it a nicer environment in general.
So largely I learned to make good life choices so I didn’t wind up trying to support three kids alone at 22 or addict to any drugs that would totally eff up my life. I learned that being mean and bitter about something doesn’t fix anything, and I learned that a good attitude and staying busy make the time pass faster, even if you’re doing something you’d rather not be doing.
I did a lot of babysitting, but I think my real first job was a summer camp counselor. I learned that I’m not particularly fond of children. haha
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My first job was a paper route–anyone remember those? This was in Nebraska, and I learned that a) I’m not good at manual labor and b) working outside in Nebraska in winter is not my idea of a good time. Overall I liked the route because I like walks and bike rides, and it was a nice taste of independence at an early age.
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My first job was working in the cafeteria at college as a work-study student (though I had baby-sat before). Man, I learned quickly that I didn’t want to work in food service! The only time I enjoyed food-service type work after that was when I worked in the cafe at Borders (man, I miss Borders!).
I did wish I had gotten a part-time job in high school so I could have saved up some money, but my parents told me I should focus on school and my extra-curricular activities (probably so I could get some scholarships for college?). I’m thinking ahead, trying to imagine how I can help my daughter to make some money (from someone other than her parents – ha!) so she can start saving and budgeting young.
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My dad was not fond of me having an after school job, there were a lot of rules about not letting my grades slip and not being able to quit the things I was already doing, but I was pretty set on being able to not ask him for money anymore. I think from a pretty early age it felt sort of demeaning to have to ask for money to get ice cream or go to the movies with friends.
In my first job, outside of the farm, I learned not to slam my journeyman’s hand in the van door. In other words, don’t rush. Be aware of your surroundings.
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Woah. Yup. Good lesson.
I actually did a ton of babysitting, starting at age 12 but really picking up through high school; that’s how I made most of my money as a teenager. But the first time I got a proper paycheck was a job spring of senior year of high school selling season ticket packages for a theater company over the phone (cold-calling former subscribers and people who’d bought single tickets before.) I was really good at it, but I learned that I definitely did not want to sell people things for a living; I’ve never had another sales job, even one, like that, where I didn’t think the product was bad. I didn’t like that I was so good at talking people into stuff! I also learned a lot about people by listening to my (all older) co-workers while we were on breaks or whatever, but that’s another story 🙂
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Paper route was my first job. It taught me that some people are just rude and mean, even to 14 years olds when money is involved. I heard all kinds of excuses why people couldn’t pay their bill when I came around to collect each week. It was like $2.50 a week people.
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Yikes, I would not want to be responsible for trying to collect money from folks at 14.
I found myself stifling a “heck yeah!” when I read the lessons you learned because it was the same for me! I worked an an Express for Men at the mall. I loved the paycheck, too, and meeting clueless guys and telling them what to wear was so much fun. But boy, I was the youngest one there and I immediately knew who I didn’t want to be when I “grew up.”
And then we annexed the women’s side and I learned women are bitchy and don’t want help shopping for clothes and I quit because the customers were so mean! Hahaha! I guess I learned a lot of lessons there 🙂
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If you don’t count babysitting, my first job was as a receptionist in a hair salon. Picked up some good tips about what will help you get the haircut you want. (Hint: A picture is the best way to go.) It also taught me good phone etiquette, and that it’s important to follow up with your customers.
Mainly, it just taught me how exciting it is to get a paycheck.
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I try to stay at jobs for at least 6 months to a year, whether I am fully enjoying it or not. There was one time I could no manage a job longer than a month, it was just too much stress. That was a serving job for a sports bar… Ahh. I don’t know how servers deal with people everyday.
My first job taught me that if I wanted a boss that cared about treating me fairly, I had to become my own boss. Hated that place and their politics. But I needed to learn that early and it’s served me very well. I am now my own boss and my boss loves me! Lol.
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Haha, great lesson. A few jobs ago I had a job I really didn’t enjoy that convinced me I want to be in a position to be my own boss and not have to work for anyone I don’t want to.
I love this post! I did learn many of the same lessons you mention here. My first job was at McDonalds though, so it was the same though I smelled like food (ick!).
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My first job was in a bagel store working the 6am to 2pm shift, so it taught me the importance of smiling as a form of customer service. The best way to combat cranky people who haven’t had their coffee in the morning is definitely to smile.
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