What you can learn from high school​​ jobs

Working in high school… what a fun time. Sometimes I wonder how I went to school for 8 hours a day and then worked a 5-hour shift, but hey I needed money. I had a wide array of jobs in high school. I worked with customers, worked in the food industry, working in an office, working for myself. Honestly, one of the only jobs I didn’t do was work in retail, which I’m 100% okay with.

Read below to learn about the amazing places I got to say I worked at in high school and what they taught me.

Papa Murphys- Nothing is more typical then working in the food industry. Shockingly, I actually enjoyed my time here. I got great deals, free pizza, and amazing co-workers. One of my best friends and I worked together, and let me tell you something, it’s as amazing as it sounds. I did have to deal with a lot of customers’ BS, but it taught me to be patient and have respect. I learned how other food industry people felt and tried not to do to them but annoying customers would do to me. Nothing is worse than a customer coming in literally 2 minutes before closing time.

Hilton Garden Inn- Here, I worked as a breakfast hostess. Honestly, I had a love hate relationship with this one. I got free breakfast every time I worked and let me say one thing, they have the BEST breakfast ever! Also, most of the people I worked with were fun and caring, but some people weren’t. It can be hard to work with those people that think they’re better than you or act like you’re stupid, but it happens. Since working here, I have work with other people just like that. I learned to never stoop down to their level no matter what. There were countless times that I wanted to scream at them and say “I’m not an idiot like you think I am”, but I can’t do that. To keep my job I need to show respect and this job showed me how to stay calm and not explode around workers that annoyed me. I talk calmly to them about how they are treating me, and if nothing changes, that is when talking to a higher up comes into play.

Mom’s office- This job was the definition of doing busy work. I have had many jobs after this one that had me doing boring busywork, but this taught me about it. My mom works for a hotel company so you can probably image how much paperwork they have. My job was to scan old documents and organize them on the computer. Yup, I did that for a whole summer for 8 hours a day. It was boring, I hated it, but it still taught me a lot. I learned that you may not always like what you do, but a job is a job. One summer was enough for me, but doing that job showed me how much respect I have for the company as a whole. They had all paperwork work because of the successful business they run. They needed me to keep that success going and I’m glad I was there to help them.