Benefits of Working At A Fast Food Restaurant
July 10, 2008 – 6:11 am
I wrote a post a while back on whether kids should work during high school. I think that working at a part time job during the school year can yield some unique benefits, and today I’d like to discuss some of the skills I obtained working at a fast food restaurant in high school.
Throughout my school years, including college, I always held at least one part-time job. I’ve worked construction, at a golf course, as a tutor, as a lab monitor, as a software developer, and as a research assistant. Throughout my high school years though, I worked as an employee of Taco Bell!
I think a lot of kids consider working at a fast food restaurant or in a retail store drudgery. But if “mom” or “dad” said they have to get a job, they did. I enjoyed my time working at Taco Bell because I made the best of it. It was close to my home, and I enjoyed the people I worked with. I had the opportunity to work with a wide range of people, including students from other high schools as well as adults. Some employees (the adults) barely had a high school education, while others worked as shift managers while pursuing bachelors and masters degrees.
During my time at Taco Bell I was able to develop the following skills:
- I further developed discipline by arriving to work on time and learning how to perform new tasks
- I learned persistence by not quitting when things got difficult or didn’t go my way
- I learned how to deal with customers
- I learned to enjoy my work
- There were some jobs within the store that I didn’t like (i.e. drive-through), but I learned how to persuade my managers to give me the assignments that I wanted.
- I learned how to do some of the more difficult jobs from the more experienced employees, so I could be assigned to those jobs
- I learned how stupid people can get after drinking (my store was near a bar and I typically worked the closing shift in the summers). I’ve seen people crash into the building with their cars, people try to pay me with burger king coupons instead of cash, and people who were almost unable to speak.
- I learned how to ask for raises, and how to ask for and negotiate for better hours
- I learned how much effort is required to earn some real money at a minimum wage job (which made me want to go to college)
- I made a few life-long friends, and got exposure to people with similar interests (which at that time included playing volleyball and weight lifting)
Some of these skills I actively sought out, but most were learned out of necessity. Most people change careers several times throughout their lives, and working at several different types of jobs, even part-time jobs, can provide experiences of value.
Image Credit: compujeramey
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4 Responses to “Benefits of Working At A Fast Food Restaurant”
Working at a restaurant in high school gave me similar experiences. I was able to see what happened when some students dropped out of school and had been working in the same position for several years. I didn’t want to be stuck at as a busboy for years. I also got to meet some managers at the hotel and find out what it took to become a manager.
By Scott @ The Passive Dad on Jul 13, 2008
I think everyone should have to work in the fast food or retail industry for at least 6 months in their life to realize how hard these people work for the little bit of pay they get. I worked in fast food for two years during HS and worked my way up to store manager at a retail chain over the course of 5 years. The experience of working at these places keeps me grounded and in the zone when visiting retail and fast food establishments.
By Bcarter on Jul 26, 2008
I have always wanted to be working at MacDonalds but I never did… so yes I think it s a very good experience.
By Jean on Dec 3, 2008