My First Job | Attitude is Everything

Hey everyone! I hope you don't mind my sporadic posting as of late- don't worry I'm not leaving the blog or anything. I'm just really busy- I have big plans and dreams. Not just for the blog but for myself in general. I have a series that I am working on that is talking about something really big I'm working on in my personal life. Plus I'm having a blast making cards for my etsy store. And- the company that I work for- my actual 9-to-5 job- is doing really well so work is super busy as well.Anyway- recently the team over at The Ladders reached out to me and asked if I would share my experience regarding my first job and what I learned along the way. The question took me back a bit (in a reminiscent way)- I realized that I was now almost five years out of college. I feel like I have had a lot of 'firsts' when it comes to jobs- my first job, my first job that gave me a real paycheck, and my first job out of college/my first career job.I'm going to talk about my actual first job though- because what I learned at that job has carried me through all my other 'first' jobs.I'm going to start by saying- my parents are awesome. They had this policy that if I kept my grades A's and B's they would pay for gas to get to school and keep giving me a small allowance. They told me that while I was in high school my job was to be a student- and be an awesome one at that.During the summer though was a different story. Every summer for an entire month from the time I was thirteen until I left for college- we would head up to a little children's summer camp an hour from my hometown and work as one the staff. I worked as a volunteer, so no real pay (the camp did provide all my meals though while I was there).I worked along side about ten other teenagers. We supported the cooks before each meal and after each meal. So the majority of the time we were washing the dishes- it usually took a good two hours after each meal for us to wash every single dish, pot, pan, serving spoon, and piece of silverware that the 100+ campers and other staff used for each meal. I pretty much always ended up working at the silverware sink- hand washing every single piece (since I was one of the youngest and it was everyone's least favorite job).For the first couple years (or maybe just single year- I can't remember) doing it- it felt miserable. It was not an optional thing in my parents eyes- they deemed it "good for me." Not to make them sound like slave drivers (cause they weren't at all) in support of their own comments- they volunteered in other departments of the camp the entire time I worked on the kitchen staff.I still hated it. I still felt like it was all so unfair.Then one year- this awesome high school girl volunteered. She was different than the others- who all quietly worked and talked about high school things I knew nothing about. She laughed and joked and sang silly songs. She didn't whine about how tired she was all the time or about many dishes there were to wash. She talked about the cute, little campers. She talked about how awesome it was that we got to spend all this time in nature- and all we had to was wash some dishes to do it.She had such a positive attitude. There were things she could whine about- there were a lot of things. She didn't though. She was happy and really nice and pretty and I wanted to be like her.So I started trying to only think about the positive too... but I was still one of the younger girls in the group and way to shy to just start singing like she did. I started small. Instead whining in my head- I decided that every time someone dumped a handful of silverware in my sink I would thank them. Every single time- I made sure I clearly said thank you.It didn't make things "more fair." It didn't make me less tired from the early mornings and late nights. It didn't cut down on the number of silverware that landed in my sink. It didn't do a single thing- except change my attitude little by little. Eventually I came to mean every single 'thank you.'Then people started smiling at me when I said it and were more careful to not splash me when they dropped in the silverware (which was the most annoying thing... being splashed). Then I started to LIKE going up to that camp every summer- and made friends with the others on the kitchen staff. I even picked the silverware sink when positions were divided up.Looking back of course - I am so grateful for my parents decision, and I cringe at the teen-angst attitude I carried with me.A positive attitude doesn't change a difficult work situation- but it most certainly makes them bearable. Whenever I have hit rough patches in every job I've been at- and little forced (yes... forced to start) positive attitude always gets me through it. Sometimes it has gotten me through a short spell at an awesome job and other times it has gotten me through until I found something else that was better suited for me. Each time though it gets me through.---Check out TheLadders.com Career Advice