What was your first job?

My first job was as a waitress at a local restaurant when I was eighteen years old. I never worked as a high school student as, honestly, I was not very responsible and didn't care much about anything except for having fun with my friends. However, when I graduated high school and started college, I decided I should look for a proper job, especially since my father had retired and I had decided I should do more to pull my own weight with my expenses.

I got my first job thanks to my big sister. She had been working at a restaurant and got promoted to manager. However, because her shop did not need a new manager, she got promoted to work at another location in a different city. Her space was, however, left open and since I was looking for a job, she asked the manager of the restaurant she was currently working at to hire me in her position. I was very grateful for her help, but I was actually a little nervous because my sister was a very good employee, and I knew the same would be expected of me.

My big sister and I are like water and oil, so I was really nervous about whether I could fill her shoes. I especially did not want to let her down because I did not want to make her look bad for getting me the job. I knew it would especially be difficult for me because my sister is a very sociable person who gets along with everyone immediately and I've always been quieter.

On my first day I was nervous, but her coworkers were excited to meet me. I slowly got accustomed to the job and could do it as well as my sister but, as expected, I wasn't as good with customers as she was. This was especially obvious in the number of tips we received. Since she was friendly and warm and often made friends with customers, she would always get a lot of money in tips at the end of the night, but my tips were always just average. The position paid minimum wage, so I was not relying on tips, but it was still a blow to my self-esteem.

Also, as expected, my relationship with our coworkers was very different. She was friends with everyone, but I didn't talk to them any more than I had to. They would often also comment on how different she and I were.

However, there was one coworker who I actually ended up really liking. She was a woman the same age as my sister, ten years older than me, and she and I had a lot of the same interests and even though I didn't really like talking to my other coworkers, I liked talking to her a lot and always looked forward to our shifts together. During our shifts, especially if it was early in the morning when business was slow, we could talk and goof around a lot. She liked the same movies and music as I do and outside of work, dressed similarly, so we always had a lot to talk about. Also, because she was older than me, she had lived a lot more than I had and she would often tell me stories about going to concerts or seeing movie premiers that I missed.

As far as the job went, I didn't really like it. The customers were often unreasonable. It was also physically demanding, especially during rush hours. During less busy times, we also had to do things like wipe down tables or take out the trash, which I didn't like doing. I worked there for two years and left when I couldn't take it anymore. Overall, I would say it was not a good experience except for the time I could spend with my favorite coworker. She and I have actually remained friends till this day. We keep in touch often and still like talking about the same things. She was even one of my references for my job in Japan. The restaurant industry, however, is definitely not for me and I am glad I found my interest in teaching.

Dolores

Vocabulary

pull one's own weight (idiom) - to work as hard as everyone else in a job, an activity, etc.

like water and oil (idiom) - a comparison of two things which are completely different

fill one's shoes (idiom) - to meet the quality of someone else when replacing them

blow to one's self-esteem (idiom) - to take damage to one's ego

goof around (idiom) - to act in a silly manner