The thing about working is that it does not matter what kind of job it is, it is why you're doing it that matters. Some people just need money, like me,or support their families. A job is a job, no matter what education you had or have not had.
Mirabelli defined service jobs as, "any kind of work which fundamentally involves face-to-face
or voice-to-voice interactions and conscious manipulation of self-presentation." (pg.144) That is pretty much any job, unless it is an office job that makes you sit on a computer all day long. Every job requires some kind of interaction with another human being and what makes each job different are wages/salary.
Wages are one of the main things why people degrade regular service jobs that do not require a degree. If you are making only minimum wage at a burger shop, for example, the instant judging happens and people do not realize that you chose to get that job at your current age.
Another thing is that people sometimes take it more seriously than you do and there's no really point because you could always find a better job if you wanted to. Skills that were learnt in that job will continue to be with you to the next job or benefit you in your life.
Take Starbucks baristas for example. They probably know how to make a bunch of drinks at home without even having to pay Starbucks pricing. It takes a lot of skill to remember how to make a bunch of drinks and for me, they do contribute a lot to society because they help me stay up all night if I need to for an assignment. The coffee drinks they make probably help everyone wake up in the morning a lot, even the people who believe that low paying jobs are low-skilled.
I also work at these "low skilled jobs," as a cashier at Home Depot. It actually took a lot of effort because I had to learn new terms and figure where some things are, especially when some random customer brings me an item without a bar code. I had to know where everything is on the register and on top of that quickly ring up a customer, while having a huge line behind them.
So no matter what kind of job it is, it does not matter because you learn something from their every time. For me, it was being a bit more social, outgoing, and more brave to go do something random.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
blog #7: the mushier the better?
So recently (kind of) I started my first ever job at Home Depot working as a cashier. I applied on a whim, since I had nothing better to do, I needed to save up for a car and just gain experience in something.
I honestly did not know what to expect at all, considering it is my first job, and I was pretty shy when it comes to people. Sometimes it is easier to push my shyness away when it's one to one interaction with a person and not a whole huge group presentation. (I also had to show the manager that I was really outgoing during the interview =') lol)
During my "training" after I got hired, I became a nervous wreck on the inside because I felt that I would mess up a lot. They would go over how the register looked, where everything is and online computer training (which is really useless tbh). I did not get to see how other cashiers ring up customers, until they actually assigned a "coach." I was suppose to get 3 sessions of coaching and actual practice with real customers but of course, since it is retail, there's never anyone there for stuff like that, so I only got one. I was later put on a register and just had to ask questions when I needed help.
I basically had to create my own image based on that one session and adapt to it, again pushing my shyness and introvertness (if that is a word haha) aside, if I wanted a paycheck. While working on the register alone, after that session, I would essentially study how the other cashiers in the other registers would greet customers and how they would scan items. I had to watch how they dressed every day so that I would not be over or under dressed and I had to learn quickly how to look up items that did not have a bar code. (the worst thing that a customer can do)
As I eased myself into the world of cashiering, I got the hang of it and became faster. It became a routine of mushfaking kindness and pretending that I knew what I was doing. It became a repeating process of greeting the customer, grabbing their stuff, scanning their stuff, and asking if it was debit or credit. I sort of seemed like a robot doing it even though it was exactly what the other cashiers are doing and the only time it was different is if the customer had a cute baby or dog with them.
After I mushfaked, even now, I molded myself into actually being a cashier and the 4 hour shifts seemed like only 1 hour. I was able to be more of myself with the other cashiers because we would all relate to times we dealt with weird customers and I am able to start my shift without screwing up every 10 sec. So mushfaking into this job worked pretty well, considering I am still working there and have not been yelled at by anyone yet, even though all of the head cashiers are still pretty cool. I still get pretty scared when a customer asks me a really random question or where something is and I guess I use mushfaking to act like I know or just end up asking someone else.
I honestly did not know what to expect at all, considering it is my first job, and I was pretty shy when it comes to people. Sometimes it is easier to push my shyness away when it's one to one interaction with a person and not a whole huge group presentation. (I also had to show the manager that I was really outgoing during the interview =') lol)
During my "training" after I got hired, I became a nervous wreck on the inside because I felt that I would mess up a lot. They would go over how the register looked, where everything is and online computer training (which is really useless tbh). I did not get to see how other cashiers ring up customers, until they actually assigned a "coach." I was suppose to get 3 sessions of coaching and actual practice with real customers but of course, since it is retail, there's never anyone there for stuff like that, so I only got one. I was later put on a register and just had to ask questions when I needed help.
I basically had to create my own image based on that one session and adapt to it, again pushing my shyness and introvertness (if that is a word haha) aside, if I wanted a paycheck. While working on the register alone, after that session, I would essentially study how the other cashiers in the other registers would greet customers and how they would scan items. I had to watch how they dressed every day so that I would not be over or under dressed and I had to learn quickly how to look up items that did not have a bar code. (the worst thing that a customer can do)
As I eased myself into the world of cashiering, I got the hang of it and became faster. It became a routine of mushfaking kindness and pretending that I knew what I was doing. It became a repeating process of greeting the customer, grabbing their stuff, scanning their stuff, and asking if it was debit or credit. I sort of seemed like a robot doing it even though it was exactly what the other cashiers are doing and the only time it was different is if the customer had a cute baby or dog with them.
After I mushfaked, even now, I molded myself into actually being a cashier and the 4 hour shifts seemed like only 1 hour. I was able to be more of myself with the other cashiers because we would all relate to times we dealt with weird customers and I am able to start my shift without screwing up every 10 sec. So mushfaking into this job worked pretty well, considering I am still working there and have not been yelled at by anyone yet, even though all of the head cashiers are still pretty cool. I still get pretty scared when a customer asks me a really random question or where something is and I guess I use mushfaking to act like I know or just end up asking someone else.
Monday, October 3, 2016
Blog #6
College.. oh college, how it is suppose to be one of the best years of your life.
Of course it is never like that for me at all and I always end up having the direct opposite with schools and "fitting in."
I became a part of the group of kids who were expected to go to college right after high school. Especially I had to go to college or university because of my background. I am a first generation, Mexican-American, who comes from a low-income family. No one on either side of my family has ever gone to college and even more pressure to do well was given to me. (Definitely, not completely living up to that.) Basically, part of the reason I go to college is so that I do not have to deal with having no steady job in the future and sort of take care of my parents in the future because they want me to be successful. The other reason is to have a little bit of a social distance or freedom from my home life and replace it with school, that also has its side effects. Those side effects include, but not limited to, stress, depression, anxiety/nervousness, and feeling of failure/disappointment.
I am most likely not the only one dealing with that, but I have learned to sort of keep it under controlled.
When I started my first year at SDSU, it took me a long time to get used to everything that had to deal with college. New faces everywhere I went, new locations, walking everywhere, and taking tests with 100+ people. Even now, I will probably never get used to it and what made me "fit in" a but more was that I found a small group of friends that I can be around, since we were all in the same major and were taking the same classes.
It took until my second year of college to find this group of amazing people and lessen the side effects. Even though I hated taking tests, I have somewhat got used to failing some tests while doing great on some.
Between school and my family, my family never sees the difficulty I go through with school and expects me to no get Cs (forget about getting a D or F). They always ask why I am up at 1 A.M or when I am going to sleep, but they never understand that coming home from school and having to either go to work after school or start immediately on homework is emotionally draining. I try not to show that side to them because I know they work hard to provide for our family. So the least I could do is keep those side effects within and do well in school, right? Sometimes I feel a bit like a robot when I home because it is always eat, take a nap, start homework, and finally get some sleep. While at school, I can "be myself" part of the time that is not used with lectures and furiously writing notes down.
So, immersing myself in school, an academic discourse community, was a little bit harder than high school because in high school all I had to do was follow directions and at SDSU, I was on my own when it came to needing help, since my family did not know anything.
Good thing I sort of have the hang of it after stating my third year here. One more year to go after this one lol
Of course it is never like that for me at all and I always end up having the direct opposite with schools and "fitting in."
I became a part of the group of kids who were expected to go to college right after high school. Especially I had to go to college or university because of my background. I am a first generation, Mexican-American, who comes from a low-income family. No one on either side of my family has ever gone to college and even more pressure to do well was given to me. (Definitely, not completely living up to that.) Basically, part of the reason I go to college is so that I do not have to deal with having no steady job in the future and sort of take care of my parents in the future because they want me to be successful. The other reason is to have a little bit of a social distance or freedom from my home life and replace it with school, that also has its side effects. Those side effects include, but not limited to, stress, depression, anxiety/nervousness, and feeling of failure/disappointment.
I am most likely not the only one dealing with that, but I have learned to sort of keep it under controlled.
When I started my first year at SDSU, it took me a long time to get used to everything that had to deal with college. New faces everywhere I went, new locations, walking everywhere, and taking tests with 100+ people. Even now, I will probably never get used to it and what made me "fit in" a but more was that I found a small group of friends that I can be around, since we were all in the same major and were taking the same classes.
It took until my second year of college to find this group of amazing people and lessen the side effects. Even though I hated taking tests, I have somewhat got used to failing some tests while doing great on some.
Between school and my family, my family never sees the difficulty I go through with school and expects me to no get Cs (forget about getting a D or F). They always ask why I am up at 1 A.M or when I am going to sleep, but they never understand that coming home from school and having to either go to work after school or start immediately on homework is emotionally draining. I try not to show that side to them because I know they work hard to provide for our family. So the least I could do is keep those side effects within and do well in school, right? Sometimes I feel a bit like a robot when I home because it is always eat, take a nap, start homework, and finally get some sleep. While at school, I can "be myself" part of the time that is not used with lectures and furiously writing notes down.
So, immersing myself in school, an academic discourse community, was a little bit harder than high school because in high school all I had to do was follow directions and at SDSU, I was on my own when it came to needing help, since my family did not know anything.
Good thing I sort of have the hang of it after stating my third year here. One more year to go after this one lol
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