If you’ve known me at all during my last two years of high school then you’ve most likely heard me say, “I can’t. I have work.” I got my first real job a few short months after I turned 16 at Domino’s and then when I was 17, picked up a second job as a server at Steak N’ Shake. And since I’ve finally quit both jobs (after 2 and a half years at Domino’s and 1 year at SnS), I’ve compiled a list of real life lessons I’ve learned from my jobs:
1. Keep Your Calm: The customer is NOT always right, but you have to pretend they are. It does NOBODY any good to get mad or yell. Sure, there are some rude people out there and some people refuse to believe Domino’s does not and has never had stuffed crust but it makes everything easier to let it roll off your back and handle the situation calmly.
2. Nobody is Perfect: Not you, not your boss, not the customers. We all make mistakes so let it go. Don’t beat yourself up when you accidentally ring up the wrong burgers and don’t get mad when the customer accidentally tells you the wrong menu item.
3. Smile: People can tell when you’re having a bad day. Even over the phone.
4. Everyone is a Person: Sounds like an obvious lesson to learn but too often, I’d see a customer as just another customer in a long line of people I’d serve that night. And on the other hand, when you’re not at work it’s easy to see servers or workers as just that- not actual people. But every single person I met had a story and a family and that’s important to remember. It forces you to treat every person like a real person and not just as a customer or a server.
*Side story: One time I walked into McDonalds before a shift at Domino’s and the manager was mopping in the lobby. He greeted me as I walked in, “Hi, how are you doing today?” and I replied with, “I’m doing well. How are you?” He stopped what he was doing, looked at me, and said, “No one ever asks me that.” He then proceeded to pay for the meal I was about to buy and when I came in the next day for a $1 drink, told me it was on him. Moral of the story: Treat people like people.*
5. Be Patient: Probably the single most important thing a minimum wage or tip-dependent job can teach you. It’s necessary for your sanity surviving. Patience with your co-workers when they’re upset and taking it out on you. Patience with your boss when they don’t give you the days you need off (like my own graduation…). And ESPECIALLY patience with customers who are rude or yelling at you.
Did work suck a lot of the time? Yes. But so many good things came out of those long hours, and not just having a good amount of spending money (or mostly, being able to save so much money for this trip). So many good conversations over the Domino’s make-line and jokes behind the service station and Steak N’ Shake also resulted from my long hours at work. And the lessons I’ve learned are things you can’t just be told and absorbed. It really pays to work in high school- in so many bad and good ways.
