In the eighteen years I have been on this planet there are a few important things I have learned. One of the most important things I have learned is that jobs are not for me, at least not at this point in my life. Many different employers have employed me and I have had a taste of what the job world is all about, but I don’t want any part of it. Every job I have had has had people above me who were not always the most intelligent people around.
There is nothing I hate more than unintelligent people telling me what to do. I have worked at a grocery store, a trailer campground, a beach and a pool, all of which I have had mentally inferior superiors. But of the jobs I have listed, the one place that is the worst to work at is a grocery store. The tasks one is asked to do as an employee of a grocery store are unimaginable. I think that being employed, especially to a grocery store, is not a good idea for teenagers because there are usually unintelligent people running them, it infringes on teenage lives, and some aspects of most jobs are disgusting. Bosses are probably the most difficult part of being employed to me.
At the grocery store that I worked at for a short period of time, I remember being constantly pulled aside and being told that I wasn’t bagging the groceries properly. The strange part was that when my boss would tell me these things he would always take me to isle seven to yell and scream at me. Why couldn’t he take me into his office where it would be private? Instead he would make a big scene in front of all the old women shopping for those lovely canned foods and completely embarrass me. I never understood that.
There was another reason why I knew my boss wasn’t the brightest candle on the cake. I always had to remind him that I only worked on Mondays and Wednesdays, but he could never grasp the concept. For some reason he was convinced that I worked everyday. Two days out of the five days I didn’t work I would get a call from good old Bob asking ? why aren’t you here yet?’ I would always say ? Bob, don’t you remember, I only work two days a week, and this isn’t one of them.
? Then he would say ? Oh yea, sorry kid, see ya’ tomorrow?. So that was a frequent thing for Bob. Over all I would say that most bosses are strange people to deal with, and hard people to work for, and there is enough confusion in a teenager’s life without someone like Bob to add a little more. Being in high school is a busy time of one’s life, and having a job makes it even busier.
For myself, I think that having a boss that wasn’t that bright made things even harder. One time I can recall where my job really interfered with my life was when I had tickets to go see a concert. Unfortunately I had to work that day. I did not see any big problem with this; I would just take the day off. Not with Bob around.
To someone like him, groceries are life and they should be for everyone, especially me. Well little did he know that this little situation would end my employment with that wonderful shopping facility. I told him I wanted to see this show and he pulled out the big gun; he said ‘son, I don’t want to be a jerk but if you’re going to miss work for some concert, I’ll have to ask you to leave, for good. ? I told him I understood and needless to say I left. Come on, how many times does your favorite band come to town? I think it was well worth it.
I am only a teenager once and I will work the rest of my life. Jobs and teens do not mix. The worst part of employment is the nasty little tasks one must perform while on duty. Every job I have had has had such tasks. The grossest one I can think of was when the same guy who would yell at me in isle seven clogged the employee bathroom and made me unclog it. Of course he tried to make it look like he didn’t do it, but I could see through that.
So, there was the job, I knew I either had to do it, or find a reason I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t think of a good excuse not to do it so I headed for the bathroom and grabbed the plunger. This experience scarred me permanently. Not only did I think he was a moron, I thought he was a very smelly moron. Every job has things like that that must be done. But it is a safe bet to say I will never do anything like that again.
These are the reasons that being employed is no fun, especially at a grocery store. It is important to understand that all the things I talked about apply in many other jobs a high school student could have. My theory is that I will work when I grow up so why work now. I have had enough bad experiences to know that working is not for me at all. For now I will stay home and travel the world on my couch with the remote in my hand, that is enough experience for me.
