Relevance to What Lies Ahead

How do I feel my position at Publix is relevant to my life and work experience I will have after high school? Well, my job at Publix is my first form of employment; therefore this is my first real work experience outside of little jobs I’ve done for my dad. I’ll use it as a reference when applying for future jobs and internships, but most of all the experiences themselves will be with me for the rest of my life. I’ve learned many things that will help me throughout my life in the work force. Whether it be how to keep a smile on my face in the presence of an extremely rude customer, or how to say not a problem when someone breaks a glass jar of tomato sauce all over the ground. I’ve learned to stay calm and level headed in the face of frustrating and annoying people; because that’s the way someone like me who is performing a service should act.

How Does This Program Benefit Me?

How does doing this program benefit me as both a student and an employee? Well, as a student there is one thing in particular. I get a high school credit. I like that. I am trying to graduate by May, and have to get a total of ten credits by then. This is a credit I can squeeze in to help out in the race, so it is very helpful. But how could it benefit me as an employee? Well, it will make me a little more accountable and help me improve my work, because there will be more evaluations. More evaluations would mean more opportunities to find out what is tripping me up and how I can get better at what I do at work. I don’t know for sure, but there is also the possibility of more evaluations meaning that there could be more opportunities for raises. Of course, that is the thing that I look forward to the very most.

My Behavior at Home and Work

Do I act differently at home than I do at work? I do indeed. At home I have no problem telling people when I think they are being irrational, rude, obsessive, ungrateful, annoying and so on. If this offends someone it doesn’t really bother me, because they’ll get over it, and if they don’t it’s their problem, and I don’t care if they want nothing to do with me. At work, if I say something that offends a customer, I can get in a lot of trouble. At home I walk around wearing an undershirt and a grungy, black, fleece robe. At work I have to wear a uniform that was designed by Publix. Ever since I was a baby I have looked out from under my eyebrows, which makes people who don’t know me well think that I am angry or agitated, but in actuality I just hold myself that way. At work I concentrate on keeping my head raised and looking happy.

Unusual Work Experience

There is one unusual experience that happened to me this week. On Saturday at around 7 p.m., I was coming back inside the store from bringing in carts. As I came toward the customer service counter, the Assistant Store Manager of our store approached me with a small piece of paper in hand. I immediately assumed the worst and started trying to remember if I had forgotten a certain chore that I had been told to do. I tried to remember if I had accidentally ignored a customer that I should have helped. Then he handed me the piece of paper. He then proceeded to tell me that a customer had called. “What did I do?” I thought to myself. He then told me that the customer called to let management know how helpful she thought I was, and how much she appreciated my service. The piece of paper was my reward, which entitled me to a free meal from the deli.

Changes in Myself

What changes have I seen in myself since I started working? One thing is that I have become much more objective oriented. As I said in my earlier post, when I started working I was saving for a car. I have started making and working toward goals much more than I used to. I have also gained much better initiative. I used to simply wait for people to tell me what needed to be done. Now I look for things that need to be done. When I can’t find anything to do I ask what I should do so that I’m not just standing idle. These two things have essentially caused me to be much more motivated.

Spending my Money

Do I feel differently about how I spend my money now that I have a job? To an extent, I don’t, and to an extent, I do. I say I don’t because of a decision I made when I was eleven. I used to buy anything that looked interesting without a second thought. Any two dollar toy that was somewhat appealing, would be bought with the first two dollars I could scrounge up. When I was eleven I decided to stop spending and start saving. I was sick of not having money when I truly wanted it, and I was sick of being surrounded by junk.

I say yes because my reason for saving changed. I was sixteen when I got my job, and there was something specific I was going to save for; a car. After saving around half my paychecks for around twelve months, I had saved enough. I bought my car with my own money that I had worked and saved for.