I am the type of person where I need either an experience or an explanation to how things work. As I have grown up, I have begun getting more curious about what adulthood is actually like, and how difficult it is in retrospect. In general, I really enjoy writing about my experiences, especially when it is something like this. Over the summer I had a part-time job at Subway, (read about it here) which was my first job ever, and those who know me know that Subway will always have a special spot in my heart. But, over winter break I was offered a temporary full-time position at the car dealership my dad works at, I accepted. My position was arranging and rearranging their filing cabinets until everything fit a certain way. I worked 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday. Here are some things I have learned from having this job:

1. Workplaces that hold careers are interesting.

My old workplace never fully held the career aspect the way the car dealership I worked at does. Although the money they make there is like the old job I worked at, these people are working careers instead of a job. Every day in the break room I see the number of sales increase for every salesperson, and it makes me happy to see the numbers increase, that is how they get paid. Similar to any other workplace, there are many different people and groups of people. For example, some of the nicest people you will meet if you are in a storage room where all the keys to the cars on the lot are (like I was) are the people who have to move the cars so the lot can be plowed. They may not be enjoying the freezing temperatures, but after seeing them multiple times conversations and jokes begin and you see how nice they are.

2. Waking up at 6 every morning is not as bad as you may think.

This is also a biased bullet point because I am an early bird. Something about getting up early in the morning and doing something with my life really motivates me, and I am not sure why. Plus studies have shown that it is better for you to wake up at the same time every day, so set that 6 AM alarm and go make some cash!

3. Working in filing is not hard, but near the end of the day, it can be mentally challenging.

All the filing I had to do was all numbers, and in general, I am more of a letters type of gal (I say this but it is easier for someone to tell me to put something in numerical order). I usually am doing alright until it is around 2:30 and my brain decides it no longer wants to read the numbers correctly. There have been multiple instances also where I have completely forgotten to sort half of a pile of numbers. Yes, I would file away half of the pile in the cabinets then find the other half with 30 minutes left in my shift and want to scream.

4. Breaks are hard.

I am the type of person where I was told “the minimum lunch break you can take is 30 minutes” so I punch out, set a timer for exactly 30 minutes on my phone, nearly shove my sandwich down my throat, then clock in RIGHT as my timer is about to go off. I am a college student, I think we all know I am not actually filing because I want to file paperwork.

5. Working full time is a different type of tired than school tired.

At the end of the day, I do not feel stressed out because filing is not a very stressful job. I come home, eat dinner and then the day more or less catches up to me around 8:30PM. The tired I get from school is a “I have been sitting in this lecture for 3 freaking hours, and I am ready to leave, I have homework to do, I have a test tomorrow, I want to scream” proceeding to me going back to my dorm feeling energized after the walk back. School tiredness more or less can ware off, when work tiredness gets you from the behind when you are not expecting it.

At the end of the day, I am very happy I was offered my position at my dad’s work. This opportunity gave me experience working full time, surrounding myself with people who have careers, and a new skill of being able to file!