Let’s face it: when you’re in high school, there are not a lot of glaring job opportunities coming your way. Of course, you can always mow your neighbor’s lawn, walk your aunt’s dog or babysit your nephew, but these jobs will only take you so far. This explains why many high school students turn to working in a fast food restaurant and while it may not always be an ideal first job, it is certainly beneficial in the long run.

While searching for my first job, I was completely against the idea of working in a fast food establishment. After all, many of my friends had worked at various restaurants, and I was consistently told horror stories of customers, managers and even rogue cheeseburgers. By my junior year, however, I was desperate to find a job that would allow me to save money for college. So, with a heavy head, I turned in an application to the nearest fast food restaurant. When I received a call from one of the managers telling me the job was mine, I was both ecstatic (hurray, my first real job!) and terrified (what’s next, rebellious chicken tenders?) but ready to work nonetheless.

And, let me tell you, it was quite the experience.

In a few short months, I was an expert at punching in orders on the cash register, proficient at cleaning the shake machine every night, and just starting to get the hang of the drive-thru. For the most part, my time at the fast food restaurant had been great, but there were also some incredibly frustrating happenings that made me consider quitting.

First, we’ll look at the positives.

There was a man who came in every Sunday for lunch and handed out peppermints to every employee. Once, while working the drive-thru, a drunk man (don’t worry, he was the passenger) told me I had “the voice of an angel” and that I sounded like “a female Morgan Freeman.” Also, I got a discount on any food item I wanted at the end of my shift.

While the positives are what really made the job worthwhile, they did not teach me lessons like the negatives did.

On one occasion, a small group of customers had stayed to eat well past our closing time. While vacuuming, one of these group members consistently shone a laser pointer in my eyes in order to get my attention. Even though this frustrated me to no end, I still served the group with a cheery tone and a smile on my face. Despite the fact that customers may not always show you respect, you still need to show them that customer service is a priority to you. Through maintaining good customer service to anyone and everyone, you will learn valuable communication skills that will help you deal with even the most unruly customers.

Then, of course, managers always come into play. Sometimes your boss will ask you to perform a task you are not particularly fond of, but you still need to show them the utmost respect. I know you don’t want to clean the toilets, but you also don’t want your manager to think you don’t respect them enough to do it anyway.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned in the fast food industry was teamwork. If a colleague needed eight chocolate shakes, but their drive-thru was backed up, you could be certain I’d give them a helping hand. However, if I needed tables cleaned while I took out the trash, I expected a coworker to give me the same assistance. No matter where you end up working, you and your coworkers will have to learn to work as a team; if you can’t manage teamwork, you won’t be able to manage your job either.

For an entire year, I came home from work smelling like cheeseburgers and ketchup. I had wonderful days at work, and I had days straight out of a horror film (I’m looking at you, annual town carnival). All in all, though, my days as a fast food employee were immensely valuable, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Although, I might trade the amount of cheeseburgers I ate while working there.