It's The Small Things That Matter

My First Job Experience

By Mikwam Thomas

When we first get a job, we don’t notice any of the small things that contribute to job happiness. We are too involved in learning the new, more major aspects of the job. But once we get into routines and get comfortable with our surrounding and the people we work with, that’s when the small things start to make their presence felt and make a good situation into a bad one.

My first job was at a grocery store working as a bagger and the job started out great. I liked the people I worked with, and the job wasn’t too demanding because all I had to do was put groceries in a paper or plastic bag. When I started to show solid working skills they moved me to cashier, the start of a long hatred.

As a cashier, my main job was obviously to check out people’s food and household goods. The job got to be very repetitive because at the register I would stand in the same two places for my whole shift. I stood either at the front of the register to wait for customers who were ready to buy their items, or at the register in front of the computer screen.

The repetitive aspects didn’t stop there. The conversations, after about a month, became so common I basically knew what they were going to say next. It’s always about the weather, the biggest national or international news story, or about the local sports teams. Also, I made the same movements all day from the front of the register, to the computer screen to check out the items. Then the same conversation I’ve had 20 times today to finally saying, “have a nice day.” All of this to just move on and start it all over again with the next customer.

After working as a cashier I noticed how nice people were when you were carrying out their groceries, compared to when you are taking their money. I got a lot more complaints about the pricing of the food and I got a lot more disrespect because they felt I was to blame for the inaccuracies. “I just ring the food up,” became my official slogan for when customers wanted me to solve a problem that was out of my hands.

The repetitive nature of the job and the attitude of customers toward me made for long and boring days. All of this I could handle, but that is when the management started to show their true side. Employees got treated as peons and I was no different. I never felt as though I had a secure job because I saw so many employees either leave or get fired over the smallest things. A co-worker who had been employed for four years with the company got fired for eating a donut that was to be thrown away because it had been sitting out for the whole day.

Management also became very hypocritical. We weren’t allowed to talk to one another while standing at the register because it took away our attention from the customers. This is understandable, but when a manager sits down with a friend who doesn’t even work at the store then starts to have a conversation while the “peons” are working, isn’t leading by example.

The feeling of being a “peon” went even further when after 3 years of working, I wasn’t granted a raise. In order to get that raise that I deserved, I applied at several different companies which got my then current managers to give me a raise. I began to see the down-side of my job and management and looked deeper and realized that even though I liked the people I worked with, I had to leave.

This job was an eye opener for me. I have since looked past just the main aspects of any job I am applying for, and haven’t had a similar experience. Yes, no job is completely perfect and there are always going to be some problems, but I found that it is the small things that make every day bearable or unbearable.