My mom had wanted me to work in the nearby shopping centre for the past few summers. Everytime she got back from errands, she would say, “Look! I saw a girl/guy working at ${some_store} and they were your age!” My grandma especially liked the little grocery store in that centre. She would go a couple of times per week and get a bit of things each time, maybe a few mushrooms, a bag of mini-peppers, two carrots, etc. And I didn’t know what made me apply to this little grocery store. Maybe I was too easily influenced and it was merely a subconscious reflection of my family’s ideas.
The little grocery itself was a small-family owned chain by a man named “Kim”. Sometimes his wife would even come to our store and meticulously eye the employees to see if they’re doing a good job. The store was small, but carried over 150 types of fruits and vegetables, all neatly stacked like little sand piles. Its garage-like doors would be lifted every morning, and fruits and vegetables would be orderly placed on tables outside under small green umbrellas.
I met some interesting people over the course of a month. The nice and down-to-earth uncle who would always bring snacks for us to eat, and always shared his own experiences and struggles. The sweet older women who told me to take my time in doing things and carried the boxes herself. The meaner older women who said I couldn’t have lunch until the other cashier did. The weird college graduate guy who was a bit rounder with a high pitch who always seemed to be silently laughing or judging me even though he graduated college and was working at a grocery store full time. The new highschool kid who memorized all the codes almost perfectly, the list goes on.
The little grocery store had no chance of competition besides the bigger and cheaper FRESCO chain. So all of its sales pressure were put on us, and everyone had to do their part in the promotional system. Say hi to the people, ask them to taste the fruits, blah, blah. Yes we really had to encourage people to buy some fruits and vegetables. Come buy these carbohydrates and vitamin containing things to survive.
That was probably the worst part of the job —the promoting. Saying hello to random people and asking about their day which was good as always and mine which was obviously good as well, even when I had a headache and was burning up in 27 degrees weather, they’d say: “how are you doing?”
p>Not good but I guess I have to say I’m doing good.
But the cashier part wasn’t any better. I’d stand at the same spot for the entire shift of 8 hours and had to input codes into the cash register/monitor for whatever vegetable was bought. Yes I had to memorize over 150 codes for all the different fruits and veggies.
Also the store was heavily micromanaged. The management people from the central office would come and sit in the Subway across our store to spy on us while we weren’t watching -- were the displays nice enough, were the employees greeting the customers? Sometimes they’d sneaky into the store like regular customers, and then later call out employees who weren’t promoting enough. Then you and your manager would get in trouble.
Despite all the bad, it did teach me some things:
Earning money is hard. I would stand for 7+ hours in a day, and get home with my feet all hurt and my throat super dry, and earn ~100 bucks. It made me realize how lucky I am to be in college and working towards a degree where I could use my skills to gain access to better and more comfortable jobs.
Also, with this job experience in mind, I think I will treasure my time at university more. It’s really the only time in my life where I won’t have to worry about financially supporting myself, but I can focus on learning/developing my personal skills, hobbies, etc. It’s really a huge feat of challenges but I will be free from financial or family responsibilities.
Good leaders encourage. I remembered my manager scolded me for not promoting enough and telling me that they “don’t pay me to stand here and to nothing”. On the other hand, the assistant manager tells me that I’m the reason why our store is going to get the most sells today. The assistant manager’s words definitely led to me working harder, while the manager probably had the opposite effect.
Taking criticism. I’ve been a good student for all my life, and a pretty good daughter too, so I can count the few times I’ve been scolded by teachers or parents. But it’ll be different later in life, so as to you can’t take to heart people’s judgements, criticisms or just mean comments. How was I supposed to build up my immunity without having been exposed to those piercing words or situations?
So I had a mean manager who would always say that I was being slow or not doing work (okay maybe I was not doing work that one time), but the way she said it really seemed like she was looking down on you. I remember when I quit and she said: “Oh no, but I really expected it anyways. Too hard? You’re a good girl but I think it’s too hard for you.”
Ha. You’re totally the all-seeing omniscient god you think you are. The job’s too boring and taking too much of my time that’s really why I’m quitting. Plus I have a good job elsewhere that I enjoy a lot. Honestly, I wished I said that out loud.
But dealing with mean bosses is such a real thing that it’s become this archetype in modern media and television. So I really learned not to take the things she said personally unless I really believed the criticism was just, and just accept that she’s a snarky middle-aged women who might have other situations going on, or maybe she doesn’t like her job either.
Sweeping/mopping floors/tidying. This is an unexpected one. Sometimes, when there would be no traffic in the little grocery store, you would still be expected to produce some kind of value since they’re paying you after all. So you would sweep the floors, or tidy up some boxes or displays. And afterwards I thought, I’m cleaning at their little grocery store, why am I not cleaning the nice spaces in our home? Since then, I’ve gotten into the habit of vacuuming or mopping the floors once every week, and tidying my room whenever I have a tad bit of time.
Overall, I have ambivalent feelings toward this job. Maybe what I learned was useful, but the job was also very time-consuming. If there were one thing I could tell my gr 10/11/12 self, it would be to get a job sooner and gain some experience. Also, can I just say that it is the best feeling in the world to be using your own hard earned money?
