MY FIRST EVER JOB - Guess What It Was !!!

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(Edited)

The first job I ever took was a couple months after the pandemic. I was forced to take it because staying at home for that long had begun to tamper with my mental health just a little bit. I needed something to keep my mind off the fact that I was stuck at home, with the rest world of course. My school was on strike so I couldn’t go to school either.

The job was a sales girl position, in the market. For a mental image, picture Nigerian markets like Korean ones. Everyone kind of has their little shop or stall, they are lined up, one by one, in rows and columns. In each row was a combination of shops that sold a variety of things. It was arranged in a way that whatever you wanted to buy would definitely be found in a row. I’m using past tense because the market has been demolished as at 10 months ago.

                                              ABOUT THE JOB

23 Road market was the name of the market. My boss was a very kind old Yoruba woman who was in her late sixties. She sold baking materials. My job was to help sell her products to customers. I was actually hired as an assistant sales attendant. She already had a main sales person, a young newly-wedded lady in her late twenties. Evidently the workload was too much for just one person.

My job required me to work 9-6, Mondays through Saturdays, every week. That means 54 hours a week, I spent working. Before I took the job, I was devastated and, quite frankly, scared. How was I expected to transition from being a couch potato for 6 months to working 54 hours a week so quickly? This was my first ever job and I already hated it. I had to take the job because it wasn’t like I had a lot of options.


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If you think that working as a sales attendant was a walk in the park then you’re sorely mistaken. As I mentioned earlier, my boss sold baking materials, so everything ranging from flour, butter and sugar to cookie cutters and balloons too.

I want to focus specifically on the flour and sugar though because selling these two was where manual labor got involved. At all times, there were 50kg sacks of three different brands of flour, and one sack of sugar available. There were also, at least, seven to eight 10kg buckets of butter, of various brands, on stand-by. We had to have all these various brands because different customers had different tastes. It is not guaranteed that if a brand works for one baker, it would work for another.

Now in the case that a customer wanted to purchase some flour or sugar, we had different graded cups and containers that we would use to measure it and scoop it out from the large sack into doubled nylon bags.

More often than not, customers would buy in large quantity; sometimes they would buy one-quarter bag (12.5kg), and sometimes half a bag (25kg). In these cases we would have to bring in the big scale. We would quadruple up nylons – layer on four large sized nylons – then scoop and pour from the sack into the nylon on the scale. And measure it till it was just right. Then proceed to package it up for the customer to take home.

Usually these customers would buy a plethora of materials and items and we would have to package them up, and calculate the prices. This process usually took forever!

Every Saturday my boss would go to the market where she got her products and, quite literally, fill up a whole van with materials. Then bring them down to our shop. On these days, we would be tasked with the job of off-loading the van and storing the items away in our mini warehouse. As you can imagine, it was very stressful. Doing this every other day took a toll on my back and arms. It involved a lot of heavy-lifting. I’m talking sacks of flour and sugar, buckets of butter, cartons/boxes containing icing sugar, flavorings and what not. It was A LOT.

In the first three weeks, I had to learn the ropes, familiarize myself with the different items we sold and where they were kept. By the end of the third week, I knew my way around handling items and attending to customers. I also developed good relationships both with the lady I worked with, Mrs. Mary, and my boss.

During the first month, there were a lot of times where I wanted to quit and stay at home seeing as I didn’t necessarily need the job. The stress was beginning to tell on my physical health; I usually felt overall body pain, I was in a constant state of weakness and I was useless when I eventually retired for the day.

But a wee bit into the second month, I had gotten the hang of things. It was almost comparable to working out. The first week or two, it feels like punishment, but eventually, if you push through, it becomes a piece of cake.

I worked the job for three months, October to December. In January, my school opened back up so I had to quit.

                                            LESSONS I LEARNT

The job was not the best but it definitely taught me a lot things. I learnt;
1.How to deal with people.
2.How to be disciplined enough to show up every day, even when you don’t feel your best.
3.The ways of the market.
4.How to sell and improve sales.

All images where designed by me using canva

I would love to know your thoughts in the comments below.



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24 comments
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Good for you! Even though you didn't like your job, you pushed through! Plus you made friends with your boss and Mrs. Mary. Not many would have stuck it out if they didn't have to. But I'm sure you learned a lot by doing that job and that if you have to, you can!

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I definitely can if I have to🙂
Thank you for engaging with the most and commenting.
It means a lot
Do have a good day.

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I don't envy you at all as I know what it means to work in a similar environment, I did it myself. However, the good thing is you've been able to turn it into a positive experience and look at it as a workout. However, for heavy lifting, the lady should have hired a guy.

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Sometimes she brought in guys to help with the really heavy stuff.
And other times, we had to do it ourselves.
I mean what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right?

Thank you for reading and caring to engage😊
Have a wonderful day.

What was the job that you did?

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That's quite some physical work there. I hope you didn't push yourself too far.
The job stretched you but you pulled through - and that's a good thing.

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The job pushed me to a great extent but I got through it
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and commenting.
It really means a lot.
Do have an amazing day.

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You learnt something new, and you becane more resilient. That's the most important new.
You're welcome.
Have a great day too.

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Wow... Life of a salesgirl, so in-depth.

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Thank you
How you doing now, how's your journey going??
Have you written a post yet?

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Not yet dear. Still navigating and learn stuffs

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Yea The pandemic changed everything my company let me go after a few months I used to work at a school giving lunch for kinds. Good thing I was about to retire I had one more month left. Keep up the good work.
!ALIVE

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Wow, thank God you were all retiring.
Imagine the fate of people that didn't have a second option, Lord!

Thanks for taking time out to engage

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You'll never forget your first job 😜 so cherish all those memories. !PIZZA

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The job may not be that great but I bet you learned a deal of marketing skills and you also improved your interpersonal skills. 😊
!1UP

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This is actually one of the toughest.job.. it's hard to please customers with different attitudes..and standing for long period is tough as well.
Grata to your first job ,😊

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I can imagine, turning from a couch potato to a 54hrs weekly worker, it's not easy, the body pains just showed you how you've transitioned your body from it's resting state to actual labour, it's a good thing you pulled through, even got more comfortable with your boss and co-worker, it might seem useless now, but you actually got a real life, lifetime experience that might help you in future.

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