I never lasted long at any of the "bad" jobs that I had. The longest I stayed in one position was six months, and this was before I found the right job for me. I used to be ashamed of this; but now, I feel like they were simply learning experiences.

There was something I learned, either about myself or about working part-time retail jobs, from each one of the three jobs I held within one year.

First, I want to start out by saying that I had really bad social anxiety when I was 18, so I believe one of the best things I gained out of working these jobs was the experience. The experience working with people face-to-face in stressful situations forced me to work through the anxieties and learn to become more social.

I will admit this: I was horrible at confrontation. For example, when customers got angry, they would generally take their anger out on the employees. I was so insecure with myself that I got so nervous talking to customers.

I never really had trouble making friends within the workplace, and I typically got along really well with some of my bosses, but I did dislike some coworkers here and there and I definitely learned how to deal with it in a mature manner. So, the experience was something that helped toughen me up and pushed me to grow as a person.

I am going to keep the names of the places I've worked at confidential, in order to avoid harming the integrity of the company.

My very first job ever was as a hostess at a bowling alley with a bar area.

Duration: One month

What It Taught Me: The managers and staff at this place were horrible for the most part. I befriended a few of the workers there in my short time there, but I always got a bad vibe from a lot of the other employees, mostly the waitstaff.

I was so young and naive that I couldn't see that these people were just taking out their bad mood on me. I was younger than they were looking for (I was 17 and they wanted 18+ because of the bar) so I got some people here and there looking down on me because they thought they were better than me.

They were also probably annoyed at the small amount of tips they received during slow hours and also our customers complained a lot. (To be honest, their food wasn't that great, their bowling lanes would break down a lot, and they were super overpriced, so I don't blame them.)

Fired or Quit?: I got fired but I do not wish to disclose why (kind of embarrassing). What I can say is, though, I would get written up a lot for pissing off the customers. Waitresses would do things like tell me to go remind a customer that their time on the lane was almost up when they had already done so so that the customer would get mad at me for reminding them again and not being patient. (People in my town can be very touchy. That's anywhere you work, though.)

If this were me today, I would have either told the server it was their job to do that, or I would have checked with the manager on duty first. I was only a bowling hostess, I wasn't supposed to do anything besides book lanes, check customers in and give them shoes (if they were there to bowl), and fix the lanes when they broke down.

It was simply a catty workplace and those are for people who need to work there. Either way, it was good experience for me overall because I basically got fired for being naive, which taught me to never be naive again.

My second job was at a very, very popular pizza franchise and no, it's not Domino's.

Duration: Three months

What It Taught Me: This place wasn't too bad to work at, but I was too sensitive to the smells and couldn't really breathe inside the small shop. But, if I'm being completely honest here, answering the phones and dealing with customers was the absolute worst. The people who worked here were all very awesome, caring people, but it just wasn't the job for me.

Since I already struggled with anxiety and a lack of social skills, I wasn't capable of dealing with customers. People would get really mean on the phone, and some wouldn't hold back in person. They were always in a hurry and they always had issues with the turnout of the pizza, such as, "This slice looks partially burnt...I demand a comped pizza," especially when it was delivery.

I kind of liked answering the phones, but it became draining when I had to deal with angry or confused customers on end. I had people call in and take so long to decide on their extremely lengthy and specific order and then be like, "Oh, you guys don't have Mac and Cheese? Nevermind, cancel my order. Bye."

Some people would be drunk. Some would try to hit on me. A few of them were pleasant. And some were vicious. After a while, as soon as they would start to explain that they called to complain about something or as soon as I'd hear their tone of voice, I would immediately ask them if they would like to speak to the manager and I'd pass the phone over as quick as I could.

They wanted us to try to see if we could resolve the issue before letting the customer speak to the manager, but they were just much better at dealing with it than I was. I would start stuttering over the phone, or if it was in person I'd turn red and forget how to speak. I was just not mentally or emotionally capable of handling this kind of job.

Fired or Quit?: I quit because I was in school full-time and this job took too much of an emotional toll on me. It was a really fast-paced work environment because that pizza company is extremely popular, so anyone you might ask who works there would probably say it can get stressful. I think you just definitely need to have good people skills to work here, as I definitely did not have at the time.

The third job I had, within the same year, was at a popular discount store that sells party supplies and Halloween costumes.

Duration: Six months

What It Taught Me: The work environment here was pretty friendly and the tasks were fairly easy. The only issues we had were with our general manager being very strict and harsh on everyone and, for me personally, dealing with customers.

I was still very shy and nervous when it came to customer interaction, but as I warmed up to the rest of the employees and started to get the hang of everything, I started to learn how to gain confidence in myself and become more professional.

My GM was also really picky about organization so that helped me look good at my following job. Also, though my time working at each one of these companies was short, I had built up some people skills by the time I left this place.

Fired or Quit?: I got fired from this job because another coworker had it out for me. (I know that sounds like a joke, but I'm serious.) She would blatantly state out loud how she was jealous of everyone who got more hours than her, and I was one of them.

She had been working there for a long time so I guess she expected priority, but since she couldn't get anyone to give up their hours for her, she went after me.

She actually befriended me so that I would be more laid back around her and then she could find something to have me written up for. For example, one of our managers allowed us to play music through the loudspeakers during closing time, but when he and our general manager weren't closing, I would play my music from my phone while we cleaned.

My conniving coworker then went and told the GM about this the next day, even though she had chosen and sang along to some of the songs we played that night. It was little things like this, and then it became something bigger. I won't go into detail, but she did something and made it look like it was my fault, so, I was fired. Thankfully, the GM liked me so much she said she would still be a reference and put in a good word for me, and that was how I got my next job.

Finally, after quite a bumpy road looking for the right "first" job for me, fate led me to the best "first" job I've ever had. It was at a popular discount store for big name brand clothing, accessories and jewelry as well as home goods.

Duration: Almost two years

What It Taught Me: I finally found a place to work where I could prove that I can commit to a job long-term. It was so fitting for me and I genuinely liked working with clothes, beauty supplies and home goods.

It definitely helped that most of the staff were super friendly and there was just a more welcoming vibe within the workplace. Also, I was a little better at dealing with (or hiding) my social inadequacy by the time I started there.

This job gave me the opportunity to gain skills in sales and customer service as well. I even ended up getting mentioned in compliments on customer satisfaction surveys a couple times, and other times women would go straight up to my managers to tell them how helpful I was.

I really did learn how to grow up working there because I learned how to be confident, take myself seriously, perform a job in a professional manner and work hard.

Fired or Quit?: I actually decided to resign because I felt that I needed to take some time to focus on school and get myself a job that could better prepare myself for the field I want to work in when I get out of school.

It turned out that I had excellent timing because the whole management team had been replaced (except for one manager) once the store owner retired, and let me tell you, management can make a huge difference.

The close friends I made working there complain about the management and new policy changes every time I see them, so I'm glad I got out in time so that it didn't ruin the wonderful memories I had working there.

All-in-all, I know for sure that if I went back and did all these jobs today, I would have been able to handle them a lot better, but that's because I'm more mature and experienced in dealing with customers in a professional and relaxed manner.

I don't freak out anymore or, frankly, even care. I just keep my smile on and try to find solutions for any issues that may come my way, just as I do in my daily life. However, would I ever want to do these jobs again even knowing I could now deal with everything better? Nope! (Except for the last one, if they brought back all the old managers.)

I used to be embarrassed that none of my first jobs worked out, but, at the end of the day, each one of them taught me something and prepared me for the best "first" job I ever had.

I now work as a promotional model for a marketing company, so I am glad I found my confidence throughout my job hunt because I would not be able to do this job without it.

I never had much trouble building great relationships with my managers or coworkers, but even when I got better at communication and customer service, I still never truly enjoyed working for people who think they're better than me because I'm behind a register and they're buying last last season's heavily discounted Michael Kors bag.

But, hey, maybe that's why my dream job involves me working from home!