*Author’s Note: This piece is a true event that has happened in my personal life. Due to discretion reasons, I will not include real names and locations in this article. Thank you.

Last winter, I was hired for my first official job, ever. Throughout high school, I have only ever babysat, which pays well and I am not complaining about that at all. This job was completely different. I am talking about uniforms; I am talking about work schedules; I am talking about official paychecks with tax reductions, the whole nine yards. I worked at a local ice cream shop that was scheduled to open in the spring, so I was a part of the original employee crew.

After I had been trained and learned the ropes of the shop, that’s when the real fun began. I loved everything about working in that ice cream shop. I acquired social skills by working with my fellow co-workers and interacting with all of the customers that came into the shop. The pay was decent, $8.00/hour over the average minimum wage which is $7.50/hour. Yes, the whole $0.50 raise has made a significant difference especially to someone who pays for their own gas once every other week or so. I eventually earned a raise ($9.00/hour) and was able to start opening the shop. Best of all, between my boss, the manager, and all of the other employees, we became a family. There was never a day where I dreaded to work with anyone. When I did work, it was always a good time filled with laughs and smiles.

Summer was quickly coming to an end and me, along with the other graduating seniors, were beginning to go our separate ways and start college. Most of the other employees that were leaving for college had resigned from their positions. I, on the other hand, decided to stick around for a little while longer because I thought could still work since I was commuting, just not as much as the summer. However, I only worked for about a week into my first semester of college.

This year, I had decided to rush for a sorority. Recruitment weekend fell on Labor Day weekend. I was scheduled to work and my boss had already given 80% of the employees off so they could attend the Made in America festival which fell on the same weekend. When my boss asked me if I could work on Labor Day weekend, it was at the beginning of the summer, long before Labor Day was on anybody’s minds. Since everyone that I worked with knew that I wasn’t going to the festival, my hands were tied. I felt that I had to accept since there weren’t that many people left to choose from to work. I was in a complete pickle, to say the least. Eventually, I contacted my boss and told him about my dilemma. I told him that I chose not to come into work because I wanted to rush and see if I had the chance of getting into a sorority that would present me with millions of amazing opportunities. He was not happy with me at all. In fact, I have never seen him so disappointed in the whole four months that I had worked for him. He told me that since I am not coming in that would mean I would have to turn in my key that I had to open the shop.

After I turned in my key, four weeks had gone by and no one had contacted me to come into work and I had stopped receiving the weekly schedule. After the fifth week of not hearing from anyone, I finally contacted another coworker and asked them for the schedule. I found out that I had been permanently removed from the schedule altogether. I called my boss asking about what the heck happened. He basically told me that he no longer trusted me and I would have to earn the trust back. I was fired without officially being fired.

At first, I was furious for the fact that I was never officially fired. Also, the conversation was over the phone, not face to face. Eventually, I realized that I was not missing out on anything. It sucks being fired, but if I never joined my sorority, I would not be as happy with my life as I am today.

The moral of the story is that you should never be afraid to leave the job you have to pursue something of your interest. I knew for a fact that I was not going to spend the rest of my life working in an ice cream shop. I am in a way thankful that I was fired. Now, there are bigger and better opportunities waiting for me and I cannot wait to see what is in store for my future as a young adult.