Minimum wage jobs can teach valuable life lessons

A couple summers ago, my sister worked at a chocolate shop. While she usually enjoyed her… A couple summers ago, my sister worked at a chocolate shop. While she usually enjoyed her job, there was one thing that never ceased to annoy her. The shop featured a chocolatey drink that was made in a similar manner as a milkshake. However, because of inadequate equipment, the chocolate always splattered and dripped onto the floor when poured into the cup.

This was especially irritating when it was almost closing time because it meant that that area needed to be cleaned again. I can recall several times when my sister had to stay a little later because someone would order the drink only minutes before the store was scheduled to close. But rather than blatantly express her frustration, she put on a happy face for the sake of the customer.

Learning to feign enthusiasm and how to simply suck it up may be some of the most valuable skills that minimum wage jobs give us. It’s likely that no one is thrilled about spending an eight hour shift flipping hamburgers and deep-frying french fries, and I highly doubt anyone looks forward to going to work only to spend their time cleaning up after spoiled little kids who think the ground and table are better places for their food than their mouths.

But just because our jobs may suck and we’d rather be spending our time any other way, that doesn’t give us the right to get mad at customers. We’ve all had the experience of seeming to annoy certain employees, especially in the food industry.

For example, on more then one occasion I’ve gone into an ice cream store with a friend when it was close to its closing time. This particular friend loves milkshakes. And since milkshakes, like the chocolate drink my sister had to deal with, require extra time and effort, when he dropped the bomb on the employee that he wanted a milkshake instead of the simple ice cream cone order she was expecting, she rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated, and quite exaggerated, sigh.

I understand that she was probably tired and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but she didn’t need to take it out on us. Did she expect us to feel bad for inconveniencing her? Did she expect us to feel bad for making her do the job she was hired and getting paid to do?

Instead, my friend claims that the sour response only makes him want to keep going back to do the same thing to the same employee. Her behavior was particularly insulting because most of us can relate. It’s not as though she’s the only 20-year-old who was working a crappy job.

The key to surviving these jobs is learning to fake that you care even if you don’t. Luckily, such a skill will continue to come in handy for the rest of our lives. No matter how high we climb on the ladder, there’s always going to be someone above us, someone to answer to. If we don’t have to satisfy customers, we’ll have to satisfy clients or patients. Either way, if we don’t learn now how to conceal frustration at the workplace, we’re going to have a much harder time doing so in jobs that actually matter to us.

I’ve also noticed that, as an employee, it’s better for us if we’re pleasant to other people. If we’re nice to customers, they’re usually nice back. They may make small talk with us, tell us how their day is going or, if we’re really lucky, make us laugh. Such interactions, no matter how trite or trivial, pass the time and possibly make our jobs seem a little less tortuous.

While being nice to customers should be expected, going above and beyond the call of duty can be especially rewarding. While working at the chocolate shop, my sister met a man who, after a couple conversations, seemed to be lonely. He once asked her to proofread a letter he had written to his young niece. She did and gave some suggestions. He was so moved that she took time out of her day to help him, he gave her a small gift as a token of his appreciation. All he wanted was someone to talk to and perhaps her friendliness made him a little less lonely. I’d also guess that for her, helping him was more rewarding than any paycheck she received.

I think most people would agree that work can definitely suck. But it’s not going to get easier. We’re going to be working for most of our lives and we’ve only just begun. And we’re going to get really annoyed, whether it’s because we have to take one last order, see one more patient, meet with one more client or make one last milkshake after we’ve cleaned the machine. But we need to learn to somehow channel our frustration and not take it out on other people, especially the kid who just wants a milkshake after a hard day.

E-mail Anjali your work horror stories at amn17@pitt.edu.