What was your first job? My very first job (does not include babysitting) was as a store clerk. I was 16 years old and worked at a department store for the summer between my junior and senior year in high school.

This was not easy for me to do. You see, I was very shy as a kid and teenager, and working in a store meant that I had to interact with people (oh, no – you mean TALK to them?!?). The only time I usually opened my mouth before having this job was to answer questions in a classroom (very rare) and to sing (choir, glee club, musicals).

So here I am, a quiet and shy teenager whose first task at this job was to bag items at the checkout, which soon resulted in me becoming a cashier. This meant I had to talk to customers (horrors!). I did well enough that they finally upgraded me to working as a clerk in Housewares. I memorized every item in that department, was always cleaning and arranging the shelves, and knew my stuff.

Do you know what I also had to do? (Remember, I was very shy.) If I heard the words “price check in Housewares” over the loudspeakers, I had to go to the cashier to find out what needed a price check, go back to my department to find the item, and then ANNOUNCE OVER THE LOUDSPEAKER THE PRICE OF THE ITEM! *GASP*

Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal to someone else. But to me, it was a HUGE deal. One day my mother was in the store and heard me on the loudspeaker. I remember her telling me later that, when she realized it was my voice, she thought to herself, “Oh my gosh, that’s KATHI!” Yup. Even my mom couldn’t believe I had the courage to do that.

I’m grateful that I had this job. It gave me much-needed confidence and took me out of my shell just a bit. I believe that was its true purpose for me (aside from learning how to count change 😉).