<p>I got fired from my first job.</p>
<p>Back in the day, before food courts, I worked at the “greenie weenie” food store in the mall. Yup. I got fired. </p>
<p>Brush it off! Fuggedaboutit!</p>
<p>Trust me, you’ll laugh about one day!</p>
<p>My daughter is currently spending her 5th summer scooping ice cream at the neighborhood ice cream place. MANY kids have come & gone … her boss actually tells them right from the start that it is very difficult work and not everyone is suited for it. He has them “try out” … that way, if it doesn’t work, they don’t get “fired.” They just don’t get scheduled beyond the audition period. My son worked there last summer. We are pretty sure the only reason the owner kept him is because his sister is a prize employee. Believe me, my son is a hard worker, a smart kid … it just was not a good fit for him jobwise. He let the owner off the hook this year by telling him he just didn’t think he wanted to work there this year! DO NOT FEEL BAD!!! You will definitely find work that suits you better. Personally, I loved my teen years working at Mickey D’s … too bad I can’t get my son to apply there.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for their replies, they have really made me feel a lot better about the experience and given me more confidence to try again (although I’m really not sure which jobs fit my skill set beyond hard-to-secure jobs like office work and tutoring). I know it probably isn’t the worst thing in the world but keep in mind this blow came the night before my graduation… not exactly the boost of confidence I needed for getting ready for college and finding a lifelong career. My mom is also pretty likely to be laid off within a year and so money is always a big part of my thoughts these days.</p>
<p>Although it’s very kind of people to suggest being fired had more to do with the recession, I rather doubt that given that my store is still hiring employees (has been for quite some time, perhaps preparing for summer rush?) and also because I was fired after 6-8 weeks of work ( official training is 6 weeks for everything, after that you’re supposed to be pretty efficient and familiar with all the tasks). Don’t worry about me being turned off by ice cream now; I never eat it. In fact, I really don’t know many flavors and so have made stupid mistakes like “removing vanilla contamination from coffee ice cream” when in reality I was simply throwing away a ton of chocolate with marshmallow ice cream :/.</p>
<p>This actually wasn’t my first job; I tutored about 4-6 hours a week during the school year at this very small, 3-room tutoring center and was probably o.k. at it, but considering my boss was my own tutor of 8-9 years being fired never seemed like a real threat. That’s why I considered this my first real job. Again, I’m trying to stay positive about my job prospects and such now but considering my previous bad luck at some other far simpler things (still trying to get my driver’s license :() I’m a bit worried nonetheless.</p>
<p>One last thing I want to say is I by no means think minimum wage jobs are easy; I walked into my first job assuming it was going to be a lot of back-breaking, exhausting work but assumed the “no experience necessary” part of it would mean my training would be enough to make me good at it. At least now I know better and can aim for jobs that fit my skills and passions. In the bad luck case that I don’t find a job, at least I’ will be saving some money this summer but taking a transferable community college course :).</p>
<p>When I was getting my MBA at Stanford, we frequently had presentations by CEO’s of major companies and exciting start-ups. The one thing I noticed almost every one of them had in common - having been fired from a job early in their careers. Sometimes in their field of specialty, sometimes at an entry level job such as you had.</p>
<p>Many of them thought it was the most important thing that ever happened to them and credited their success more than a little bit to having been fired. I am talking people like Charles Schwab and founders of numerous Silicon Valley tech firms.</p>
<p>So… you are not alone.</p>
<p>The one thing I would add to what has been said above: It is okay to feel DOWN about this. Allow yourself that feeling. It is normal and would be odd to feel any other way. Give yourself a bit of time to get over the shock and, yes, pain. If those feelings overwhelm you more than a couple of weeks later, well… then that is a problem.</p>
<p>But I think I can see from your last couple of sentences in the post just above is that you are already seeing some light in the tunnel.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>muzicgirl89, I’m glad to read that you are bouncing back.
Does your screen name reflect a musical talent? Could you try teaching private lessons? In my area, high school students make far more money tutoring or teaching music than they would in any food-service job.</p>
<p>actual the email address is rather ancient, I guess is reflects a love but not necessarily strong talent in music and singing. I was in musicals and participated in singing troupes when I was younger but gave those things up when high school started. If its not too late maybe I’ll get back to singing in college, at the very least chorus.</p>
<p>Thank you all again for your nice and helpful replies; you all sound like wonderful parents just based on all the good advice I’ve read on this forum :).</p>
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<p>I know at least one kid out there who doesn’t have a driver’s license, but is graduating from college in a couple of weeks and has been offered two jobs upon graduation, both of which sound pretty good (that would be one of my sons . . . 
).</p>
<p>But, do work on getting your license. It’s a helpful thing to have.</p>
<p>One night in my waitress job when I was a Phi Beta Kappa recent graduate with zero money for grad school, and waiting tables near Vanderbilt to get enough money to eat daily, I made change wrong so many times from my apron pockets(we had to keep ALL our take all night long, then pay the restaurant based on our dining tickets and keep the change as our tips)…(this was a huge drinking establishment with about 100 different specialty alcohol drink called Spats…the ubiquitous fern bar place of the era–and everyone wanted separate checks all the time to boot)
well…my turn to go in and pay the manager…he tallied up my evening dinner tickets and asked for more money than I had in my pockets. I had to write a check to leave the premises. Clearly I gave out twenties instead of ones for change or some such idiocy…my grad student husband couldn’t believe it when I came home with zero money and also had written a check for the balance of my tab so I could leave.
Every night I came home I also smelled like BBQ and smoke…this is all going to be funny some day. Hang in there.</p>
<p>When my dh was a freshman in college, he got a job as a waiter. He didn’t last the week as he was literally the worst waiter in existence. Moral of the story: don’t be hard on yourself as not everyone is meant for the service industry. Hubby is now very successful in his current career (that has nothing to do with a restaurant!!) and we laugh now when we tell our kids the story of his horrible experience as a waiter. You will be fine!</p>
<p>Hopefully your experience at the shop taught you something. Perhaps the next job will go better. I know many kids who have been fired or done poorly at their first jobs. Then have since then gone on to similar jobs and even more intense situations and been able to handle them. You learn from failures as well as successes, sometimes even more.</p>