Fast food. It can be good when you don't want to cook dinner or just have $1 for next week and a half and all you can order is a McChicken. Fast food chains make billions of dollars a year, and thousands within a day. They need people constantly to increase productivity. Fast food chains are not the best working environment (believe me), but sometimes you have to work with what you have and be grateful, even though some days you just want to walk out and scream, "I quit!"

I have been working ever since I was a preteen on my family's farm and in a local restaurant twice a week washing dishes and busing. Once I turned 16, I was desperately trying to find a job that was not fast food. No luck, so I finally gave in and worked what turned out to be six long years of early morning weekends and late night dish washing and the catch phrase that was a part of my every day vocabulary "Thank you, and please stop in again!" At first I loathed the job just because it was my absolute last resort. I was always trying to walk in to work with a smile, and a positive attitude. But being 16-years-old and it also 6 a.m., it drove the sunshine right out of me. That was my routine for six days a week—sleep, school, work, homework, repeat for a few years.

During those few years of order taking and burger flipping, I learned the tricks of the trade, which was to learn basic accounting skills, leadership skills by showing new employees the ropes, trying to maintain exceptional customer service and making new friends whom I still talk to today! Even though it was never my ideal job and hated it some days, I realized that I had a job and was happy with what I had gained. I learned the basic skills of what it means to be a good, hard working employee, and I have carried that on to my current jobs today. I still work a few times a week helping out in in a store where I am located now.

So if you are looking for a job that offers flexibility, please try a local fast food restaurant. You may not like the work, but just think of the skills you will gain and some of the great customers and friends you will meet along the way!