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The only issue I have with working at a minimum wage job (that's a lie because I hate it when I'm scheduled to close and then have early morning open the next day basically 5hrs between shifts and not counting that it takes about an hour to get home, but I digress) is when someone decides that I'm being paid to be degraded by them. It's annoying when I'm actually having a good day and someone comes in and tells me that I'm not really happy or that finding a small piece of happiness during my day isn't allowed for a minimum wage worker.
Throughout my retail years I've encountered these attitudes from a good amount of people. I don't really let it get to me when they are from another country (different culture and all that), but when it's regulars, I tend to get down on myself. It's almost a trigger for depression for me when I'm in a depressive state of mind while I'm just trying to keep my head above water. The fault lies with me because I need to stop empathizing with people so much. That sounds weird, but it's true in my case. Being hyper-empathetic wears me down because at minimum wage jobs I'm in contact with a lot of people, and it feels like I take on all of their emotions as well as my coworkers. That's why I value my alone time.
There is a stigma about working at minimum wage jobs that I don't understand. Some people will get in line with their premade judgements about the workers and assume that because we work there, we're just mindless drones. I've worked with people who were attending college and needed money for expenses. Then there are the folks who are retail sales professionals. Their career is in retail and they usually work their way up from the sales floor to store management. Then there's people like me who is trying to get my life together (emotional issues amongst other things) who doesn't mind working retail why I'm getting my life sorted out.
Being overly sensitive sucks; however, I'm very observant because of it. Whether that matters in the long run or not, it has to mean something.
Throughout my retail years I've encountered these attitudes from a good amount of people. I don't really let it get to me when they are from another country (different culture and all that), but when it's regulars, I tend to get down on myself. It's almost a trigger for depression for me when I'm in a depressive state of mind while I'm just trying to keep my head above water. The fault lies with me because I need to stop empathizing with people so much. That sounds weird, but it's true in my case. Being hyper-empathetic wears me down because at minimum wage jobs I'm in contact with a lot of people, and it feels like I take on all of their emotions as well as my coworkers. That's why I value my alone time.
There is a stigma about working at minimum wage jobs that I don't understand. Some people will get in line with their premade judgements about the workers and assume that because we work there, we're just mindless drones. I've worked with people who were attending college and needed money for expenses. Then there are the folks who are retail sales professionals. Their career is in retail and they usually work their way up from the sales floor to store management. Then there's people like me who is trying to get my life together (emotional issues amongst other things) who doesn't mind working retail why I'm getting my life sorted out.
Being overly sensitive sucks; however, I'm very observant because of it. Whether that matters in the long run or not, it has to mean something.
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