As the customer left, I felt angry with myself because I had not taken in the layout of the shop quickly enough, I felt guilty because the customer left without their goods and concerned that my boss might give me a negative comment about it. Luckily, my boss didn’t see this happen so I sighed in relief. As the hours went by I stacked shelves and mainly served customers on the till. Every time I made a little mistake I was uneasy at the thought that I would get told off. Finally lunch time arrived and I set off to find my friend who was working in a shop around the corner. We bought our lunch and sat down to eat it in the town centre. It was surreal seeing all the working people walking around and thinking that’s going to be us in a few years time. It was strange seeing lots of people and not knowing who they are and not being in the usual group of people day in and day out. As I was contemplating how life will be for the next three weeks I realised it was time for me to go back to work. We said out goodbyes and returned to our place of work. The afternoon flew by as I was busy stacking shelves. In next to no time it was time to go home. I got on the bus and thought about how my first day had been. It was fearful because of the mistakes I could have made, exciting because it made me feel like a grown-up and strange because it was a new experience.
During the three weeks I learnt how to use a till which will be useful in any shop work I choose to do. I learnt how to wrap presents which is useful because I learnt which colours complement each other. I learnt how to write in icing in chocolate which isn’t particularly useful but is a handy skill to have, I also learnt how to do stock takes which is useful because I learned about what goes on behind the scenes in a shop.
I worked with everyone in the shop because it’s a small shop, its like a little community, everyone knows everyone’s business. My manager was called Angie and she was in your face and bubbly. She was obsessed with Euro 2004 and didn’t stop talking about football. The assistant manager was called Jo and she was a bit quieter but sometimes got into fits of giggles, she worked in the office and did paperwork so I didn’t see her much. The new girl was called Michelle and she had been working there three weeks before I arrived. She was very scatty and kept forgetting things but was good to talk to. I ended up showing her how things work and what to do! The other person I worked with was called Lyndsey, she was young and energetic, always full of life, she greeted every customer who walked through the door with a smile and a hello, believe me, that’s hard to keep up!
I think work experience is valuable because it shows you an insight into the working world and gives you a taste of what its going to be like when you start work for real.
If I could have changed anything then I would have made sure there were more jobs for me to do because when there weren’t any customers it got extremely boring at times. There was sometimes nothing to do but stand in the shop.
On my last day, like my first day, I felt mixed emotions. I was happy because I didn’t have the long days anymore and I missed seeing my friends everyday but I was sad because I was going to miss the people I worked with and the freedom I had.
I would say to any person doing work experience, enjoy it while you can because when it’s gone you will miss it. Use the freedom to your advantage, go out to a different place to eat everyday and alternate your routine, this will make days less boring and repetitive. Furthermore, take notes on your first day so you don’t have to keep asking the same questions because you forget the answer.
