The first job…*sigh*. Something you tell your kids about as you approach 40 because you want them to get a job; the first sign of your teenage self maturing into an adult and learning what it is like to be responsible. Now, rewind to when you were just beginning to look for a job, and think about the stages of emotion you had while having to look for a first job. From my experience, there were five stages to this process.

Stage one: Annoyance. I was a sophomore in high school, and the last thing that I wanted to do during my weekends, after school and through the summer was be stuck somewhere bored out of my mind. To make matters worse, I was also one of only two of my friends who were required to get jobs at that time. While all my friends got to hang out on weekends, I was going to be stuck slaving away at some sweat shop (even though that was not the case, whatsoever).

Stage 2: Denial. At this point, I completely denied the fact that I was going to have to get a job and ultimately ignored my mother and my father when they were telling me to put in applications. I was being a brat, to be blunt. However, I didn’t have my license, and I had put the notion in my head that I wasn’t going to be needing anyspending money. I jokingly put in a few applications for high paying jobs that I knew I probably wouldn’t get, in order to keep the parents off my back, and let it be, hoping they would forget.

Stage 3: Acceptance. At this point, the consistent hounding from my parents didn’t stop, and I knew that getting a job was no longer a request. If I didn’t find myself a job soon, they were going to find one for me. I could be sure that I would end up liking the job they picked for me a lot less than one I found for myself. So, I applied to several businesses online and finally got a call from somewhere that I really wanted to work: Starbucks.

Stage 4: Excitement. I ended up going through an interview process with Starbucks and surprisingly ended up getting the job! It was the most exciting thing, because it seemed like such a fun job compared to others. I was really excited to learn how to make drinks, and even learn what the drinks really were, considering I had no clue what a ‘latte’ even was. Going through the motions of putting on the apron and learning how to do the job was such a cool task, and if this was going to be my job, I was fine with it.

Stage 5: Reality. This stage doesn’t really set in until about a month into your first job, or at least that is when it set in for me. That’s when I realized that making drinks wasn’t as fun as the baristas made it seem when I was looking for jobs. Learning the drinks is one thing, but being able to make them at a quick enough pace to keep a line running smoothly is another. There are so many behind the scene tasks that need to be completed in order for the store to run without a hiccup. That can only happen if you have enough people scheduled, and sometimes there is under scheduling. Even when things got tough though, I thought to myself that it isn’t play time. It’s a job, meaning that it’s going to be hard. Reality.

Basically, I continued to work at Starbucks for about a year until I had to quit to go to college, because I couldn’t balance soccer and working all at the same time. I learned quite a bit while working for that year, and even though there were times that I physically couldn’t talk to anyone for at least an hour after my shift, I wouldn’t have traded my first job for anything. I learned things from Starbucks that I couldn’t have learned while life guarding or nannying or babysitting. Most importantly, I learned the importance of responsibility, initiative and flexibility. It was the first time that I was getting a schedule for two weeks that I couldn’t negotiate, and I was going to have to alter my plans in order to fit in with my schedule. I was expected to be pleasant with all customers, despite their attitudes, and it was difficult at times. I had to learn to adapt to situations in which I was the only barista who could make drinks, and it was stressful, but I had to pull through. Sometimes, I would be so stressed during a shift that my head would immediately start hurting, but then I would just think, "I’m just making drinks. Calm down, it isn’t the end of the world if someone doesn’t get their Mocha."

It sounds like everything was bad about Starbucks, but it definitely wasn’t! I got to meet some amazing people that impacted my life in such a positive way, that parting ways with them broke my heart. I miss making people’s drinks in the quiet 6am mornings and watching the sun rise. I miss the free drinks you got as a partner.

My ultimate message is that my first job wasn’t easy, but what job is? There are going to be pros and cons, and the job finding is most definitely stressful. Alternatively, learning skills that will help you throughout college and accelerate your maturity are very useful and also will open several doors for you in the future. If I have any advice for kids in high school, it would be that you should try to get your first job early. You will enjoy the experience, and you will definitely enjoy all the spending money you get in return.