It was staring at my bank account on my phone and the number read close to 0 dollars, I was going to be 16 in a year and needed to save up for a car so it was that moment I decided to start looking for a job. I started out applying to subway and mcdonalds but got denied at each of them due to me only being 16 years old. I didn’t know it at the time but it was a good thing that I did not get a job at mcdonalds or subway. I wanted to work in a restaurant since it would be awesome to work with people and food so I chose to apply to the restaraunt since it’s one of my favorite restaurants in clarkston. The first interview i’ve ever had was stressful to say the least but I was confident and and it seemed to go very well but I didn’t think they would give me a call back since I was only fifteen years old. So when my phone rang on a Saturday afternoon you can imagine my surprise when I found out that I got the job.

The first days of working in my life took some getting used to, with very long hours after school and lots of trepidatiously tedious work. I’ll never forget when I walked in for the first day and say the lively bar feeding all of the drunk patrons, the dim lighting casting a glow on the food and drinks, and all of the waiters rushing around the restaurant. I felt like a fish in a very large pond, I was considered the new guy at work and everyone judged me being the youngest person to work at the restaurant and at first I felt anxious and wanting to prove myself.
“Hi i’m Steve, i’m looking for a manager. it’s my first day on the job” I stated nervously.

“Alright i’m Miranda. What did you get hired as?”

“A busboy” I replied
“Well you seem kind of young to work here” she said

“I’m 15 years old” I assured, but I could not help but feel offended, well that was definitely one of my first awkward work conversations. But after working there a couple months the managers and employees alike realized that I was one of the best bus boys at the restaraunt and my tips showed it. They started to schedule me much more and some weeks I would work forty plus hours. I never really complained about the massive amount of hours I was working because when you’re making fifteen dollars an hour at age fifteen you don’t really care regardless of the public wanting to raise minimum wage. There were definitely downsides to working in a busy restaurant which i soon realized. Some nights you’d get scheduled for a 4:00-10:00 shift and you wouldn’t get home until 12:00 because people would stay later. And then there’s the indistinguishable smell that comes with working in a restaurant, you get to come home everyday smelling like you just took a bath in fryer grease and thousand island dressing.  But the restaurant was always alive and I got to make friends with some real characters, it taught me so many valuable lessons in my life although some days were the best and others were the worst. One of the lessons I learned from working at the restauraunt is how to deal with management and people. I had three managers always barking orders at me while I worked at the restaurant and I learned not to complain and to just work to the best of my ability. Also I got to perfect my skills of interpersonal communication by being able to deal with customer requests and complaints. Having such a difficult job for a first job also taught me to keep a good attitude and have a good work ethic. All of these things were learned while working at the restaraunt and i’m sure I will never forget the memories in my lifetime.

Although I had long grueling hours of work, I will appreciate the skills that working at the restaraunt taught me. It was a perfect first job and I learned to have a hard work ethic, always be ready to adjust my mindset to new things, and how to properly communicate with customers and management. Everytime I drive by the restauraunt in my car that working there helped me buy, I will reminisce on all the lessons i’ve learned from there.