MY FIRST JOB

Saturday, September 01, 2007

My first job, for which I got paid, was working in a small grocery store. It was at Mac’s Grocery that I learned to deal with the public—the politics of saying and doing the right thing. Man, was I ever ignorant of the ways of the world in my early teens. But Mac was patient with me and taught me that the customer is always right. That was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. Or I should say, “For me to accept.” I knew that some of the idiotic things the customers were saying and doing were not right. But I had to let them be right. I even had to do it with a smile.

I learned a lot in that little grocery store and I continued to learn as I moved on to a bigger store. Now, I’m not saying that all the things I learned were valuable lesson for life. I learned some things that I didn’t need to know. At one time I thought I knew more dirty jokes than any kid my age. Of course, I probably didn’t, but it seemed that way.

The things I learned helped me a lot when I went on to work with the church—even the jokes (I’ll explain that to you sometime). I will always be grateful to my brother for making me take my first job. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

How about you-- any stories to tell about your first job?