I grew up always having people working. Whether it was my parents, teachers or places where my family went to find entertainment. Even with this, I never came to comprehend the hardships that go through in someone’s workplace, and the lessons that could be learned. This was until I started working at Wendy’s, a fast food restaurant, one day before I turned 15. Though I may not have had the best experience overall, working there taught me many valuable lessons. 

1. Patience is key.

Like everything in life, one has to have tolerance of things that are outside of their control. During my time at Wendy’s, I was placed in less-than-ideal situations, such as having to train unengaged new employees, keeping order in the store and having to deal with impolite customers, to say the least. I had to deal with all of these, and more, as a 15-year-old that had essentially no authority over others and could face consequences when trying to speak my mind and or even just stand up for myself. I learned that when being patient with either employees, circumstances and/or customers would provide me peace-of-mind, and if I tried to deal with it all at once I would only overwork myself. 

1. You have to focus on yourself.

When working, I learned that I had to focus on only what I had to do, as some people may not be there to assist you and/or you end up doing too much for others. One prime example of this is the morning-shift/night-shift employee dispute. In my experience, the morning shift was a better experience in terms of orderliness and management, for the most part. Even if we did everything we were supposed to and left our areas stocked and the store clean, when we got there in the morning we saw that our generosity and responsibility was not reciprocated. From these experiences, I began focusing on only working on myself and my skills, and those who helped me. 

1. Not everyone has worked in fast food.

When working in fast food, though the treatment from customers was frustrating to say the least, I had to learn to accept that not everyone had gone through what I did. Some people never had to work long hours on their feet, dealt with not only rude customers but sometimes management and still have to have a smiling face. I learned to gain a lot of respect for fast food workers that were there to do their job, and gained more empathy for those working in what some people may think are “easy” jobs. The truth is that every job has its challenges, and some people may not be the most respectful when it comes to fast food due to them never having experienced its challenges. 

Even through the tough times, I feel that I became a lot more self aware of my treatment towards people. Though I don’t wish some of the things that occurred during my time working fast food on anyone, I believe that everyone should have a similar job, and believe that it could really change their perspective.