As a young adult hunting for a job, you’re likely to find yourself starting at a fast food chain, restaurant, or retail store as your first job. In my case, it was fast food – Chick-fil-A, to be more specific. Your friends and family all warned you about the horrors that is the fast food world, but you didn’t listen. We can all admit that working in the fast food industry isn’t the optimal job, but it really isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be. In fact, there are some lifelong lessons you can learn that’ll be beneficial.
1. Patience
Arguably the most important skill. Dealing with customers, orders, and staff requires a lot of patience. If you didn’t start off with it, you’ll learn the hard way. You’ll learn to bite your tongue when you want to answer back to a rude customer or an uncooperative team member. In the end, you’ll be able to apply this skill to relationships with people and your future career.
2. Communication
You’ll learn how essential this is. A lot of communication coming from all parts will ease any conflicts. You can’t just assume someone else saw that spill on the floor and will know to clean it. You learn to be clear and direct, or you’ll suffer the repercussions of poor communication.
3. Cooperation
This is especially true when it’s past midnight and you’re trying to finish all your closing tasks, so you can finally go home. The help of one team member goes a long way. When working together, you can finish all your tasks faster and go home sooner. On top of that, you learn to help others even when you won’t get anything in return. Which leads to:
4. Selflessness
Eventually, you’ll start helping others without even being asked to. It’s a part of cooperating and being an employee of good character.
5. Humility
Mess up on an order and you’re bound to hear the wrath of a customer. And if you’ve learned humility and respect, you’ll stay quiet and respond politely. If not, a customer will definitely put you in your place.
So don’t let anyone denounce your newest job. You’re still learning valuable skills like you would in any job. All fast food chains have their perks. Although, you may get tired of the food and never want to eat there again.