I’m Glad I Hated My First Job
Hindsight is both your enemy and your friend.
“Max, you’re working tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said meekly. “That’s fine.”
Internally, I was screaming. Every week was the same. Despite saying I couldn’t work on Sundays, my first manager would give me my Sunday shift the day before, denying me the opportunity to play football.
I hated my first job. It wasn’t much. All I did was serve sausage rolls and coffee, but now I twitch whenever I smell some pastry (not that it stops me from eating it, of course).
Looking back, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. It meant I was able to play football once again, and I was happy. But hindsight is a funny thing.
Hating my first job and the next few after taught me some valuable lessons I started learning seven years later.
Here they are.
Resentment builds drive
A job is a job, right? So I didn’t judge my manager on his position. Instead, I projected his life into a future version of mine.
Suffice to say; I didn’t like what I saw.
This was my first job in the hospitality/retail sector. Over the ensuing six years, I’d go on to work in a pub, clothes and health stores. Those experiences led me to vow to never work in that industry again.
With all due respect to my manager, I didn’t want to deny a 16-year-old the chance to play football on a Sunday. Nor did I want to work in a pastry shop. Instead, that experience ignited a drive in me which I still use to this day.
When you experience something you genuinely detest, you do everything in your power to ensure it never happens again. So, a first job is an excellent place for that to start. You learn the importance of knowing what you want from the outset, potentially saving yourself a great deal of heartache in the future.
Quitting becomes easier
As a teen, I played sports nearly every day of the week. I was staunchly against quitting — I’d even fight my stomach to finish the plate even if I was ready to burst. So when I realised it was time to leave, I was terrified.
