Outside of working at the family business, my first job was at Tops Supermarket in my hometown of Lancaster, NY.
I was 15 when I started and it is a job I have fond memories of…making the 10 minute bike ride to work for what usually was a 4 hour shift as a cashier.
"Paper or plastic?"
"Any coupons?"
"Were you able to find everything you were looking for today?"
Between working at the family business, this experience at Tops, and later working at Famous Footwear, I had 3 retail jobs in high school.
And for those of you that have worked in retail (yes, pharmacy, but beyond as well) you know well the teacher that it can be.
At 15 years old, this experience at Tops as a cashier taught me the basics on what it meant to show up on time, to receive feedback, to communicate effectively, the connection between work and money, and to be accountable to something and someone other than myself.
And, as a bonus, from this experience I can impress my boys from time to time with a random produce code I still have memorized 😀
The “you have your whole life to work” saying has good intentions but is missing the mark.
Yes, with too much work one can miss out on other formative experiences but let’s not take that too far…the right dose of work is incredibly valuable for a teenager.
No class in high school came close to teaching me as much as I learned from those 3 jobs.
What was your first job and what did you learn from that experience? Comment below ⬇
