If you live in the Midwest, you are probably very familiar with the name 'QuikTrip.' The convenience store chain was founded in 1958, and since then, the company has grown to be worth more than $11 billion. Currently, QuikTrip owns over 700 stores across 11 different states, and it, honestly, doesn't look like the growth is stopping anytime soon.

Sitting pretty on Fortune's list of Best Companies to Work For many years now, QuikTrip has firmly established itself in surrounding communities as a very reputable employment opportunity, despite the stereotype gas station jobs usually carry with them. Because of this, people began asking me if it was all it was cracked up to be the moment I got a job working in their stores. Now that I've moved on from the company, I thought I'd take a moment to open up and share what it's REALLY like to work for QT.

To apply to work at a QT store, you have to submit more than just an application. When I went for my interview at the corporate offices, I was asked to take a series of tests to ensure that I had the appropriate skills to work for them, including a math test. One thing I didn't know before working for the company is the fact that every time a QT employee gives you back change, they are counting it in their head. (Yes, you read that correctly.) There is literally no dollar or change amount on the screen for what they are required to give back. The only amount the employee is given is the total. The employee counts up from the total to the amount you've given them to pay with. This is why change is always counted back to the customer. It ensures that the change has been counted twice.

Now, before you freak out and feel like you've been duped, I have to vouch for the fact that the QT register counts were so good that no one was ever required to sign onto the registers. Unlike other retailers who require employees to login in, Quiktrip lets its employees hop from register to register. However, for my own peace of mind, I've since taken up the habit of double-checking my change every time I leave QT (which we should honestly do everywhere), and to my surprise, I've never gotten back incorrect change. The truth is, when you work for QuikTrip, you become really fast and really good at the registers. The amount of volume that comes through the stores daily is insane! Since I began working for the company, I've seen a tremendous jump in how fast I can process basic math inside my head, and even though I no longer work for the company, I still count back change the same way!

As some of you may know, I worked for Walt Disney World prior to working for QuikTrip. One thing I truly admired was the fact that QuikTrip really tried to incorporate some of the same methods used by the Walt Disney Company. For me, the Walt Disney Company has continued to be unmatched by any other company I have worked for, but in a lot of ways, QuikTrip came pretty close.

At orientation, new hires are required to watch videos on the history of QuikTrip. They are also told over and over (just as Disney did) how incredible the opportunity to work for them really is. QT actually claims that only 5% of applicants make it past the interviews, orientation, and the first week of training. And while I thought this was bogus during my orientation, the first week of training confirmed this statistic for me.

Training to work at QT is what I imagine an army bootcamp is like. I remember feeling like I was thrown into the flames and had to figure out how to come out alive all by myself. My trainer, Candice, was the biggest sweetheart, ensuring me over and over that I'd pass. She'd praise me when I did well, and when I didn't do something right, she took the time to make sure I knew how to next time. I remember I was very impressed at the system QuikTrip had in place to ensure that we went over everything I needed to know. Unfortunately, about mid-way through my training, she told me that she was being moved to another store and that I was getting a new trainer. The gentleman who came in and helped me finish my training was hardly helpful at all, and he even made me teach new tasks I had learned the day before to a 16-year-old boy on his first day of training. (It was trash, and I'm assuming he just didn't want to do it.) One day, I even tried to make conversation with him and show interest in getting to know him, and he told me, "You can stop talking. I'm not here to make friends. I really don't care." At that point I was like, "DANG, I'm in for it."

Working at QT is no joke. I had no idea, previously, that a QT clerk literally does EVERYTHING. No one is assigned to work the register or to stock the products or fill the fridges or even work in the kitchens. That meant that I could be preparing someone's food one minute and then taking the garbage out the next. I could clean a bathroom disaster right before ringing someone up at the register, swiping their card, and watching them walk out the door with a donut in their hand. Now, everyone was really good at washing their hands and wearing gloves, and usually those who were in the kitchen spent several hours in there, but still... that bothered me. In fact, one of the biggest reasons why I dreaded going to work was simply because of how nasty I got. Even when I got engaged, I refused to wear my ring to work because the work was honestly too dirty. Eventually, I even quit trying to remove the stains from my khaki pants I was required to wear. Those khakis became my "QuikTrip pants," and I proudly wore all the stains on them to work. There was no point in keeping them clean when they always got dirty anyways. I was constantly sweating at work, even in the winter, and I went home after every shift, smelling like reheated food, garbage, gas and harsh cleaners. Combined, these smells formulated what I liked to call "the QuikTrip smell." Every day, I'd come home in my QuikTrip pants, reeking of that QuikTrip smell, and immediately, I'd jump into a cold shower followed by a warm epsom salt bath to alleviate my aching muscles. It was the best part of the day.

Before working at QT, I, honestly, never realized what kind of work goes into to running a gas station, and I cannot praise the systems QT had in place enough! Everything was pretty much worked down to a science, and operations were constantly undergoing revision. Additionally, those who worked higher up were even required to spend time in the stores. I met so many people that were new hires for upper level, corporate positions that would spend a week in store with us, learning the ropes. At the end of the week, they were thankful they didn't have our jobs, but they were also thankful they got to experience QuikTrip from our standpoint. I chuckle thinking about the pairs of khakis they most likely ruined and the QuikTrip smell they got the chance to bring home to their families. I bet their spouses LOVED that. (P.S. - Why are we still waiting on a font for sarcasm? This should've been solved years ago.)

I worked REALLY long and terrible hours at QuikTrip.It was the hardest, most physically demanding job I had ever had. (Although, let's be honest, that is relative to my previous experience.) On top of that, I was that one clerk that had to be at the store at 5AM to work a 10 hour shift... but that's the way I wanted it. One of the best things about QT was the flexibility. You can literally work as many or as few of hours as you want. Even if you get sick at work or you simply decide you want to be done, you can request the rest of your shift off. This is possible because QT hires relief clerks that come and take your shift for you (Disney should've done that), and for the latter half of my time working at QT, I was one of those clerks.

While the flexibility was nice, the best thing about working at QT was how fast time moved. QuikTrip meant quick shifts. I was always busy and never bored, which meant that time pretty much flew by. I really never enjoyed the type of monotonous, meaningless work I felt I did at QuikTrip, but at least it went by really fast! It made the work less gruesome.

As for my fellow employees, they really felt like my team members. You can work somewhere that calls it's employees part of a team, but until you work at QT, you've never really experienced what a true work team is like. Communication was key to ensure everyone got everything done every day. This meant that we needed to be close, we needed needed to help each other out and we needed to be flexible. Never had I ever been given a nickname at a job, but at QT, I had one. I felt like I was coming home when I was working at my base store, and I loved my co-workers dearly.

Of course, there are always the few you have to work with who throw off the dynamic. I never understood why those people who repeatedly showcased laziness or disrespectfulness weren't fired. I'm not even sure how those people got hired in the first place. (Perhaps it was that they just grew complacent.) I'm just thankful they were less prevalent at QT than other places I worked (including Disney World). Generally speaking, everyone there was a hard worker like I was.

So, why did I leave QT?

The pay was decent, and the bonuses were awesome (like seriously), and if I didn't already have a plan for a future career in education, QuikTrip would've been a great channel of career opportunities and advancement for me (or anyone for that matter).

But I knew I was capable of making that much somewhere else, and I knew that I didn't have a future career with QuikTrip, and there were a few things that bothered me too much to put up with anymore.

1. No one had assigned breaks, and no one ever sat.

I'm not even sure how QuikTrip legally gets away with this, but no one is given scheduled breaks. Breaks are to be taken at "our convenience." Food is to be eaten standing behind the counter (for real). Doing the kind of physical work QuikTrip requires and then not even being able to sit and eat on my break was frustrating to say the least. Not only did that bother me but also the fact that I was expected to interrupt my "break" and stop eating whenever people came to the register. I'd go 6 or 7 hours some days before I had a chance to eat. My manager would come in a 5am, and then he'd refuse to break to eat because it was so busy. He'd eat, eventually, at 1 or 2PM when the traffic slowed. I hated that. We all did. But no one, including my manager, ever questioned higher leaders on why no one gets scheduled breaks.

2. Some customers were a little TOO friendly.

I loved getting to know the regular customers, and I loved getting to work in slower stores where I could take more time to visit with people. Overall, however, I really felt like I was lacking meaningful interactions with customers. On top of that, some of the customers that came into my particular store were a little TOO friendly. I got hit on all the time. It was really too hot to wear pants in the summer, but I got tired of hearing random men tell me how fine my @$$ looked or how great my legs were in my shorts (which were modest, mind you). This, of course, wasn't QT's fault (obviously), but it did impact my experience working there.

3. Safety wasn't a priority.

QuikTrip is the name, and efficiency is the game. Regardless of QT's intentions, safety was never given top priority. Of course, we had safety guards in place for certain things, but it wasn't something regularly encouraged and addressed with the employees. When I became a relief clerk and worked outside of my base store, the team atmosphere dissipated. I was an outsider, and eventually, I started to see the cracks in the priority ladder. Everyone put efficiency before safety and because of it, I ended up taking a nasty fall and was immobilized and unable to work for the entirety of my Spring Break.

Ultimately, it was my back injury that led me to leave my job at QT. I didn't feel like it was a good idea to put my body under that kind of physical stress again, especially after what had happened. Despite the unfortunate turn of events, I still fill up my car (and my belly) at QT. I don't have any harsh feelings. There were so many invaluable lessons I learned while working there. It was just the kind of flexible work I needed while I was attending school, and for that, I will always be thankful. QuikTrip isn't for everyone (and I'll admit, it was a bit of a stretch for me), but for some, it can be a really great place to thrive and succeed. It was hard work, yes, and I'm proud of the time I spent working there. QuikTrip, like every other company in the world (yes, even Disney), isn't perfect, but they have a lot of things they do right, and I respect them for that. As for now, I have peace in knowing that I gave it my all, that I've voiced my concerns and that it's no longer in my hands.

If you worked at QuikTrip, let me know in the comments below! Everyone's experiences are unique. What were your favorite and least favorite things about working for QT? Why did you stay, or why did you leave?