First Job Ever

Last Wednesday was the first time I had worked for a real paycheck EVER!

Yeah I bet you think it sounds a bit pathetic how I've never worked before. I'm already in college, 18 years old, and I can't even drive yet. But my parents wouldn't let me work during high school because they told me to study instead everyday..... And in college, I had my own thing going on and the tutoring job I wanted isn't available to freshmen. But that doesn't mean that I'm not hard-working or that I'm a fat ass who just feeds off of her parents!

And let me tell you something about myself before I go on. So I've always wanted to work in a clothing store that I liked. I would get the discount, I would be one of the first ones to know the latest designs, I get to meet and greet customers and make them happy by helping them pick pretty clothes, and I just get to be in the pretty store that I love all day! Or even work in a restaurant and be like one of those pretty waitresses that old ladies go "Oh look at that pretty unnie working!" and get free food. Mmmmm :)

I can imagine cutesy workers being all perky here *daydreams*

But at the same time, many people, including my mom that I trust every word that comes out of her mouth, they all told me that I would absolutely HATE my first job... *bad things are coming to me* The good thing that would come out of this first experience is that for one, I get job experience, and for another, I can REALLY appreciate the value of money. I would realize how hard it is to earn money. And that's really good for me because I still can't fully decide on what I want to do for a career and after fully understanding how hard work can get, it can help me decide on my career path! Maybe I'd like this kind of work and want to go in that path. Maybe I'll absolutely hate it and want a more office type work. Whatever the case, the more experience I get, the better decision I can make right?

Okay, this isn't a clothing store, but Etude House stores are so pretty and clean that I wouldn't mind to work there either  and buy some of their cute products! What girl doesn't want to be in a cute store like that?!?!

So I actually had a few stores that I wanted to apply to, but I didn't because the stores that I wanted to work in required previous work experience in retail - which I had none. But I mean, I LOVE clothes! I dress well, I'm friendly, and I get my work done... Isn't that good enough? My inexperience is blatantly showing how naive I am, but hey! Back in the days if you needed a job, you just got it. Today, especially with the shit economy is, it's pretty hard getting a job without any experience... WHICH SUCKS FOR ME! And on top of that, summer is very competitive, as millions of poor college students are out of school looking for experience for their future and high school students just want some extra cash.

And talking to many people, I learned that it's also extremely hard to get internships too since I'm a noobie freshmen that knows nothing. I applied to an online clothing website internship position, but I get rejected because they apparently only wanted SENIORS in FILM majors when the ad clearly said they were looking for all years and any majors although they prefer majors that related to retail stuff, which I was... But I'll try again next year because if I had gotten the internship position I would be researching new clothing styles and attending to photoshoots, cool right? We'll see how that goes next time!

I eventually went around my home town and some stores in malls and I actually only applied to two other places. I heard back from one a week after I applied!

Anyway, where am I working exactly? I shall tell you and you shall be amazed! -not.

I would love to work in a small, clean, yet cute/modern looking clothing or mini booth store thing like this store in Korea's Doota department store.

And I now work in......

Forever XXI, or how most people recognize it, Forever 21! Although I'm only working for the summer, this sounds like an awesome time, right?

Well.... hmm... How can I answer that?

First of all.... Why did I want to apply there? Remember how I said that people told me that I would hate my first job? Well I wanted to work in a place that I would end up "hating". And I thought, I want to "hate" this store. I mean, I generally like the clothes that Forever 21 has because a lot of their clothes match my style and I can see some clothes that resemble the Korean style that I so love. But I seriously shop there too much. I want to "hate" it because I don't want to spend any more money than I have before. I want to get so sick of their stuff that I would end of saving money and save it up for better things, like a trip to Korea. It's not that I want to hate clothing in general, it's just that, because Forever 21 has so much cheap clothing, I ALWAYS end up buying more things than I think and end up spending more money than I would in a more pricey store.

What do I do exactly? Well I'm sure you've been in a Forever 21 store, so I bet you can answer the question to that yourself since... It's pretty self-explanatory I bet. But trust me, I'm friendlier than most employees I've seen in my shopping experiences in the past lol. Oh and I don't do the cashier stuff.... yet... I'm going to kill myself if I have to because I HATE touching money! I know weird, but I really hate handling cash. It feels weird.

Maybe I was better off applying to a nice coffee shop or something... that doesn't exist in most of America..
*sigh*

So I would hit a few birds with one stone with this job too. I end up "hating" the store, I save money, I earn money from working, I gain experience in retail and customer service ( I just wish I was allowed to talk about that.... ughhhhhh ), I learn the latest styles that the store will release, and I can virtually lose weight as I won't be lazy and bored and eat for no reason.

 But working at Forever 21 is... not what I expected, yet exactly what I expected.

I'm not really allowed to talk about my work here if it can change the store's reputation, but my blog isn't super popular so I won't be killed or anything, and I'm not going to say extremely bad things or anything... But  I think you guys can understand where I'm going with this... I'm just not used to constant physical labor... I mean... my first day of work was..... A DISASTER, and it wasn't my fault... (!!!!!!!!) I actually got sick after my third day of working. Maybe I deserve that because I had never worked in my life before unlike most high school and college kids?

Either way, this is still my first job and it is, nonetheless, an experience that I will never forget. And like I said, I can find better and better jobs that will help me find my right career path. And frankly, I'm happy that this is my first job because it's much better than working in a Stop&Shop grocery like almost every high school kid from my hometown works in (muahahaha).

I just want my first paycheck... NOW!! :)

Wooo I'm soooo excited to grow up.... woooo... You can just sense my excitement lol

Next job might really be a simple and small cafe!