As promised, I'm going to write about my working experience. Probably expired now. I feel life has been super busy for the whole year, one hella roller coaster ride in juggling between a student, photographer, traveler (yeah right) and also a fast food chain worker. I'll be talking about the last one. In case you need me to point it out, I'll be talking about the full stop. No I'm kidding.
Thank You - through working at this fast food chain (let's call it the James Bond restaurant (JBR), just because.), I realised how little we say thank you to one another. I mean, don't get me wrong, while working there, saying thank you has played such a crucial part in my everyday life. For example when a colleague asks for one large fries, or maybe asked for one random burger, we had to response with "thank you" to acknowledge the call. Then there's the customer-worker interaction. Slowly, saying thank you has become a very awesome habit of mine. Being genuinely thankful for every little things is now a prominent part of my life. I like to over-thank people for the most minor of things. If we don't thank one another enough, how is the other person going to know how much we appreciate their effort?
I'm sorry - Need I say more? Putting other people ahead of us is one of the basic duty of a fast food chain worker. Right or wrong, we still need to put our customers ahead. Although many fast food workers are not keen of this, you gotta admit that it actually gives you a great sense of responsibility. Just like saying thank you, how often do we tell each other "I'm sorry"? or has the phrase become something overrated and meaningless, making it just two pieces of words?
Teamwork - This may sound a little cliche, but teamwork is important. All the way from the cashier, to the kitchen and back to the customer, it all requires teamwork... and understanding. Without all that, everything falls apart, even saying "thank you" or "I'm sorry" would be meaningless. Teamwork is like a bridge, without the bridge... You can't cross from one point to another.... unless there's a tight rope and you're a tight rope expert.
Listening - Listening well, good communication skills basically, is as important as anything else. Listening is like the level 1 bridge, to get to the level 2 (teamwork) bridge.
Perseverance - I had to admit, working at a fast food chain is easy. Very tough at times, it even have the ability to push me off the edge of emotional breakdown, and many times, I actually fell off. Whether it be work place bullies, or some things you screwed up with... But it takes perseverance to stand up against your bullies, it takes perseverance to fix your mistake, it takes perseverance to even get through the day. I'm thankful that I usually have a strong heart, I'm thankful that I have role models and people with great leadership to look up to.
Love and Friendship - sending in my resignation letter was tough, it is especially tough keeping it a secret. I have a strong sense of attachment with many many things there. Goodbye was painful. I was thankful to be blessed with such amazing team, people who taught me leadership, people who became my workplace father figure, people who taught me the importance of time and speed, people who taught me how much a smile means to a person, and people who help me see the way I see the world today.
That's just the things I learnt and gained while being in that working environment. Aside from the many back aches, butt muscle pain from the many many squats we had to do while reaching for bread, foot sores... I've gain so many important knowledge. I also get to improve my chinese speaking skills, I just realised how there are still so many parts of the language I still have yet to learn.
