Going to work can be one of the most dreaded parts of your day, or on the other hand, the few hours you have been looking forward to all day/week. If you are graced by the presence of wonderful, likeable co-workers though, going to work is easily exciting and you suddenly don’t mind punching in. You’re almost being paid to hangout and talk with some great people while baking cookies or slicing meat.
I have been working at a grocery store on and off for the past four years. I started in high school and go back on vacations since I’m in college now. Yes, working in the grocery store has taught me how to perfectly face an aisle (facing- pulling all product up to the edge of the shelf) or how to write “Happy Birthday Mom” on a cake with barely any space, but one of the best things working here has given me is such a broad variety of friendships.
Working there really got me out of my bubble and in contact with people not my age, from different places and backgrounds, with different stories. I began to get the actual hang of casual small talk and getting to know someone not through their Facebook pictures or Tweets, but by simply talking and listening.During countless hours on the clock when the store is barren or the checkout lines reach the aisles, you really get to know your co-workers.
It is the best feeling of going into work and not dreading it, something I never thought I would say working in a grocery store. But I would know whom I was working with that day and look forward to the conversations and laughs to be had while we were doing our separate work.
In my opinion, if you are lucky enough to be with the right people, you can make some of your best friends through work. They are outside of what would be your regular social crowd, maybe someone you wouldn’t regularly talk to or consider getting to know. You bond over complaining about the boss, or how slow the shift is going, which then maybe leads to personal conversations or what is bothering you that day.
Your work friends are out of the norm, people from the outside who may not know your personal life as well as some of your best friends would, which can often times be a the perspective you need on certain situations. When compatible, the friendships made are some of the most organic and natural bonds made because you become friends over the fact that you get along amongst other things.
Even off the clock, you keep tabs on how the others are doing. Whether it is via text, Facebook, or email. When you find people you care enough about, you do whatever it takes to keep in contact.
I feel bad for those who do not like their co-workers, or even hate them, and dread going to work. I look forward to going to work with because it is those I work with that put a smile on my face during a chaotic eight-hour shift.
