At first, I was used to the structure and\nrules of school. I still thought you had to ask to go to the bathroom. So, I\nwould be waiting for my boss or the manager to walk by, to ask to go to the\nbathroom. Most of the time, they just said \u201cyes\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Male,](\"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/selfie-e1564157626798.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\nUntil one day, one of them said, \u201cYou\u2019re an adult now, you don\u2019t need permission, just go\u201d. \n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
That sentence kind of blew my mind, because\neven though in the rest of the world this was true: I don\u2019t need permission to\ngo to the bathroom in my own house (most of the time), or at Target, but when\nsurrounded by authority figures, in a routine structure, I thought you always\nneeded permission no matter how old you are. However, that is not the case and\nyou don\u2019t need permission to do every little thing at work. In fact, your boss\nisn\u2019t going to be around you most of the time to even do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Figuring It Out on My Own<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\nIn school, you get a schedule on when your\nclasses would be, where, and a syllabus of what you will be doing in those\nclasses. Everything you have to do is chosen for you down to the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which got me completely lost on what I should do first in the job. Should I be counting the receipts right now? Should I be arranging menus? Should I be taking orders? Do I give these people beverages now, or wait for their waiter? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I knew a handful of the things I should be\ndoing but got lost on the order of when I should do them. And when there was\nnothing left to do, with no customers, I felt guilty for standing there waiting\nfor something to do. Every minute should be spent working, but I didn\u2019t know\nwhat to do except wait for the next phone call or customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is very similar to school actually,\nexcept nobody teaches you, you have to just know it. Usually, at school you are\ntaught information that will be on the test, you study for it, and see what\ngrade you get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At work, if you work in a restaurant, you need\nto memorize the entire menu, and \u201ctable numbers\u201d in a week. You just have to\ntake the menu with you, as well as the outline of tables with numbers, to study\nfor it yourself. I was particularly bad at this, because I couldn\u2019t memorize\neverything in 7 days, and my mind worked differently from paper to tables. On\npaper I knew where the numbers were for each table, but in 3D I got a lot of\nthings backwards, or just outright wrong, or forgotten altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And at work, you don\u2019t get a bad grade, you\njust get fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unexpected Triggers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAt school, you\u2019re not allowed to use the\nphones at all. Teachers had to call others; nurses called your parents if\nsomething was wrong. Although I did have a cell phone, I prefer texting than\ncalling because I feel like I communicate better at writing than speaking. So,\nI had no idea that I had phone anxiety. Until my first job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking up the phone was something I did as a\ncashier a LOT, to fill in pick up orders most of the time. It also meant I had\nto know all the meals in a snap. The pressure of talking to a stranger, while\ntrying to remember the menu, and putting in an order on this weird computer\nwhile I barely knew how to work a regular one at the time, put me in a lot of\nanxiety. There were people who would yell at me through the phone, or I would\nget the flavor of the chicken wrong, just all kinds of things. My main concern\na lot of the times was fearing a customer was going to hit me if they got mad,\nbut that never happened. It just made answering the phone a lot harder, and\nkeeping up with conversation without wanting to shut down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a cashier, you would think I know how to\nhandle money. Only a tiny bit. To this day, I don\u2019t quite know how to count\nmoney. \u201cWhy would you put yourself down to be a cashier then?\u201d You ask. Because\nI was told to apply for any jobs available, regardless if I thought I could do\nthem or not. Here is my advice on that: DON\u2019T do that. Apply to jobs you know\nyou can do, or at least learn quickly how to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically, I actually didn\u2019t have to do much\nmoney exchange being a cashier, my job mostly consisted of answering the phone,\nfilling in pick up orders, counting receipts, and filling beverages. However,\nthe little money exchange I did do, was difficult for me to the point my boss\nasked me a math question on the spot and scoffed when I couldn\u2019t say the answer\nright away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Advice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nLearn from my mistakes, boys and girls:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Apply for jobs you *know* you can\ndo<\/li>
- Go to the bathroom whenever you\nneed to go<\/li>
- Do your work routine in whatever\nway is most productive for you<\/li>
- Answer your cell phone more often<\/li>
- And be sure to study and memorize\nthings just like in school <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
About Harmony<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nHarmony is a YO! Volunteer at the Dayle\nMcIntosh Center (DMC) in Anaheim. Harmony shows his passion for disability\nrights and the youth voice by co-facilitating DMC\u2019s Youth Connect Advocacy\ngroup and participates in the Youth Advisory Committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Harmony Tarrant They say school is supposed to prepare you for life, even for a job. But going to school, and going to a job, are different ballparks. I got my first job as a cashier at Rice Lovers right out of high school. Not Like High School At first, I was used to the structure and rules of school. I still thought you had to ask to go to the bathroom. So, I would be waiting for my boss or the manager to walk by, to ask to go to the bathroom. Most of the time, they just said \u201cyes\u201d. Until one day, one of them said, \u201cYou\u2019re an adult now, you don\u2019t need permission, just go\u201d. That sentence kind of blew my mind, because even though in the rest of the world this was true: I don\u2019t need permission to go to the bathroom in my own house (most of the time), or at Target, but when surrounded by authority figures, in a routine structure, I thought you always needed permission no matter how old you are. However, that is not the case and you don\u2019t need permission to do every little thing at work. In fact, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[26,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4nl.bfd.mywebsitetransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
At school, you\u2019re not allowed to use the\nphones at all. Teachers had to call others; nurses called your parents if\nsomething was wrong. Although I did have a cell phone, I prefer texting than\ncalling because I feel like I communicate better at writing than speaking. So,\nI had no idea that I had phone anxiety. Until my first job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking up the phone was something I did as a\ncashier a LOT, to fill in pick up orders most of the time. It also meant I had\nto know all the meals in a snap. The pressure of talking to a stranger, while\ntrying to remember the menu, and putting in an order on this weird computer\nwhile I barely knew how to work a regular one at the time, put me in a lot of\nanxiety. There were people who would yell at me through the phone, or I would\nget the flavor of the chicken wrong, just all kinds of things. My main concern\na lot of the times was fearing a customer was going to hit me if they got mad,\nbut that never happened. It just made answering the phone a lot harder, and\nkeeping up with conversation without wanting to shut down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a cashier, you would think I know how to\nhandle money. Only a tiny bit. To this day, I don\u2019t quite know how to count\nmoney. \u201cWhy would you put yourself down to be a cashier then?\u201d You ask. Because\nI was told to apply for any jobs available, regardless if I thought I could do\nthem or not. Here is my advice on that: DON\u2019T do that. Apply to jobs you know\nyou can do, or at least learn quickly how to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically, I actually didn\u2019t have to do much\nmoney exchange being a cashier, my job mostly consisted of answering the phone,\nfilling in pick up orders, counting receipts, and filling beverages. However,\nthe little money exchange I did do, was difficult for me to the point my boss\nasked me a math question on the spot and scoffed when I couldn\u2019t say the answer\nright away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n