10:12 p.m. | 2005-02-16 Life In The Fast Lane. My first job as a teenager was a dishwashing gig at a local, swanky restaurant. Not glamorous, I�ll admit but not without merit. I learned a lot at my first job. I was told, by the owners, that I had to operate equipment that I wasn�t legally old enough to operate, I was berated constantly by the head waitress � who, as a former Madam of a Bordello, was quite succinct � and was sexually harassed (in a blatant ass-grabbing kind of way). I persevered. However, I was rather perplexed when it was time for me to quit and my father told me that I had to not only give notice � that�s a given in my world � I also had to write an official letter of resignation. That was probably the first �official� workplace document that I ever wrote. With my father�s coaching, I wrote a very professional resignation. He assured me that it was important to do just that in order to gain future references. He was correct. However, the place went out of business within a couple of years so I�m pretty sure no one ever checked that particular reference. Still, it was good practice. Later at 18, I landed my first job in fast food. I know that a lot of people don�t consider that a real job, but let me just reassure you, it is. They keep dumbing it down of course, but back in the day such a job included manning a manual register, cooking with stove tops and/or vats and operating equipment with age limitations. And, lots and lots of manual labor. Slinging around 50lb boxes of produce and washing the windows every day isn�t fun or easy work. In fact, that part led me straight to college. I didn�t know what I wanted to do back then, but I did know what I didn�t want to do. Lots of difficult and physically tasking work for minimum wage? Yeah, not so much. But, I learned tons. Most of all I gained excellent customer service skills. (By the way, customer service skills are people skills. That�s a great thing to have no matter what you do in life.) Remember, this was back in the day. My managers all subscribed to the theory that the �customer is always right�. And, I wholeheartedly agree with that theory. In practice, it�s a bit tough. Especially when you know the customer is wrong but you have to just suck it up and cope. With a smile, pleasant tone and sometimes, well� coupons. Whether they�re the customer or your boss, you just have to deal. You know? Maybe you don�t know that. Not you personally, I mean �you� in that universal sense. Folks nowadays are quite ready to tell you, the customer, that you�re wrong. Really, really wrong in some circumstances. Then you, the customer, has to deal. See, what goes around comes around. That makes great customer service skills quite handy. And if you think you�re �too good� to work in a fast food joint? Think again. Likewise if you think you�re too good to answer a phone or dig a ditch. It�s not so much what you do; it�s how you do it. If you do have potential to do something more tasking, then do it. Just don�t forget that you get where you are from where you�ve been. your thoughts? seed flower