My first job, imagine the deep excitement. I finally have a job, halfway between 16 and 17, and I’m going to get paid!!! I walk in the first day, my uniform hanging on a pole, the new girl jitters setting in. They were swamped. All girls on deck, everyone up front taking orders, making sandwiches, and ringing people out. It was chaos, and that when the slight jitters turned into real nerves.

One of the girls grabbed me and pulled me to the front and started having me wrap sandwiches, pretty simple, and I did that for the remainder of the rush. The rest of the night went by smooth, I was closing with two girls I knew from school and they both showed me how to do everything. I went home that night feeling confident, but oh how I wish I knew what was in store for me.

I was about four months in, doing very well, and I finally knew what I was doing. The manager began putting me on as a lead closers, basically meaning that I would manage money and take inventory. My first time was quite a shock, someone had quit and I needed to take their shift. I had never been taught how to close down the store before and now I would have to do it with two other girls who didn’t know what they were doing either. We were given a list of things that had to be done to close and the morning shift girls were off. After having that night be a disaster, leaving late, trying to figure out the computer, and making sure all bains were stocked, we were all completely done. I thought, it can’t get worse than this, but I was wrong.

Coming up to my last month or so at the store, I was exhausted all the time. I was working five plus days a week, sometimes two eight hour shifts in one weekend. It was too much for a high schooler, and although I had asked for less hours, I was not given them. I was leading close every night I worked at this point, and while I had gotten a lot better, it was still very stressful.

I ended my job exactly six months after I began, and yes, I mean Exactly six months. I felt like I was going to pass out every night at work because of the amount of stress that had piled up from working almost every day, having school work that I didn’t have time to do, and not being able to sleep in the process. The store was always very busy and we always had so much to do. There is more work to be done in the back than people think: cutting vegetables, prepping the different chickens, restocking the bains, doing dishes, sweeping, mopping, and many other things. We had no wiggle room to work on anything else.

However, there were things I enjoyed about my job. I had one specific girl I closed with almost every time and we sang after close, quoted vines, bonded over our love of the cookies, and just made closing a little easier. I will miss being the pickiest person ever about my sandwich, getting all the broken cookies, and the girls I worked with. Even though the job itself was a bust, those girls made things a little nicer. They were all friendly and we all agreed that the job was terrible.

Working as a teenager has taught me that you cannot focus all your time and energy into working all the time. You need nights to relax and nights to do your school work. There must be a balance and I just wasn’t getting that. I learned that when you’re at a fast food restaurant you should treat the employees with more respect than they are usually given. When something goes wrong for you it is not always their fault, and if it is then it is much more appropriate to approach them calmly. Trust me, coming up to them screaming about how something is wrong will not make them want to help you, but if you come in explaining what happened, we will be more than happy to help you out.

The point is this: jobs are going to suck at some point whether or not you want them too. I am happy to have had this experience, but I am glad it’s all over now. Sometimes the most important thing to learn is that you must do what is best for yourself. I enjoyed the massive money coming in at the end of every two weeks, but it wasn’t worth the stress I went through to get it. Keep yourself together before you worry about anything else, because you are the most important thing.