I was 16 years old when I filled out my first job application. And I got that job with my very first interview. It was at a store called Cotton Salsa at the mall where they sold alpaca fur rugs, ponchos and embroidered T-shirts. My duties were essentially hanging up T-shirts, rearranging clothing racks and shelves and running the cash register. Those were the days when you still had to put someone's credit card in that silly thing with a carbon-copy receipt and run the top of the silly thing over all of it to make an impression of the card on the receipt. Remember those?
I don't remember how long I worked there. What I do remember is that, shortly after I started that job, the store was sold to a new owner. This guy didn't give me a paycheck; he usually paid me cash from the register. One day I went to work and the lights were out, the gate still locked up tight and almost all of the merchandise was gone! He had just up and left without informing anyone that he was shutting down the store. How strange is that? But when you're 16 years old you're not exactly concerned about losing a job. There were obviously no bills to pay, no rent was due and the money I made was only earned so I could go to the movies.
I can't say that job was life-changing or that I learned anything from it except this:
Easy Come. Easy Go!
Linking up to Flashback Friday at Mylestones where the prompt this week was First Job.
