#1: Warehouse One
My current job is as a sales associate at a clothing store called Warehouse One. It’s a very basic university student job, but it has had a huge impact on me. For starters, it’s the first customer service job I’ve ever had that I’ve actually liked, which is saying something because I’ve worked in customer service since I was 15 (nearly 10 years!). It’s not that selling overpriced jeans is somehow my calling. The job itself is more or less the same as every other retail job I’ve had. It’s the people I work with, and the environment our manager creates. She treats us with respect and kindness, and hires people based primarily on how well she feels they will fit in with the rest of us. In a place with a small number of staff (there are only 6 of us in total), this has created an environment where we all know and like each other, and work together well. And when there’s a problem, we feel comfortable talking to our manager. This store has really set the standard for me for what a good, healthy work environment looks like, and I’ll be looking for a similar feeling in schools.
#2: Revelstoke Museum & Archives
This is definitely the job that has had the biggest influence on my decision to become a teacher. It’s a job that I took on a whim based on a desire to get out of town for the summer after a bad breakup, but it ended up completely changing the entire course of my life. I was hired by the Revelstoke Museum to be the Children’s Program Coordinator for the summer. I ran 2 programs: one went for an hour and half and was for kids ages 4-8, and the other was two hours and was for kids ages 9-12. Both classes ran twice a week. I was in charge of all planning, organizing, and running of the programs. I was even the one who created, printed, and posted flyers around town, and sent out emails to families each week. It was A LOT of work, but it was also a lot of fun, and made me realize that I wanted to work with kids as a career.
#3: Sticky’s Candy
If Warehouse One was the job that set the standard for a good work environment, and the Revelstoke Museum inspired my career choice, Sticky’s Candy did the exact opposite of that. It was the first full-time job I got right after I finished high school. On the one hand, I did really enjoy some parts of it. I would open the store at 11am, run the store alone all day, and then close it at 7pm. It was a lot of responsibility and it really helped me grow up, and I kind of liked working alone and getting to make all of the decisions. However, the management there was terrible. I was constantly covering shifts because my boss wanted to take vacations, arguing with him about selling expired candy (yes, really), and having to clean up the store after he would leave it a mess over the weekend. That being said, that job quickly made me realize that I did not want to work in retail forever, and after almost 2 years, I quit and enrolled at TRU.