A rollercoaster ride

You might think that it is about my experience riding rides at an amusement parks. As much as I want that to be true, this will not be about it.

This article is about the ups and downs I experienced on my first job.

Some of you may remember that I am 20 years old. I am soon to be 3rd year in college.

At the time of my first job, I just recemtly graduated high school. I was 18 years old.

I applied for a job with my 2 of my friends because we wanted to make the most out of the gap months in between graduation and the start of college classes.

We applied for a BPO company that is known for being a good start for newbies. This is also where my sister used to work at.

I failed in my first try. I was so nervous about speaking that I can barely get the words out of my mouth. I remember feeling so cold as I was recording my answers.

I received a letter telling me to come back next time. I felt sad but I expected it.

Then, my sister's bestfriend (the one we put in the referral) told me that we could go at another branch and apply there that very same day.

I wanted to make the most out of that day so I agreed. And there I applied all the things I learned.

Instead of immediately recording, I instead practiced my answer a bit before recording. I make sure to answer conscisely and clearly.

Instead of letting my voice shakes, I took a deep breath first before recording. This does a great help in stabilizing my voice.

Then I got called in an interview. I remember feeling light-headed about it because I was doubting myself at that point.

I was already thinking what if I am not good enough since one of my friends is already offered a job offer. The other one has been scheduled to take another test in the following week. I was the only one who failed.

But I managed to get past where I failed last time. I was thinking that it is okay if I failed in the interview because I am already happy that I passed the first hurdle which I failed before.

I smiled throughout the interview and just think to myself that I am talking to a friend. I stutter sometimes but I make sure to answer with good grammar to show that I have some mastery of the English language.

I was not expecting much. I was ready to go home but on the 2nd interview, I was given a choice where I want to work and I picked the one where my friends are working as well since that is closer to my home.

The feeling of waiting for the signing of job offer is surreal. I cannot believe that I failed and passed the same interview for the same job at the same day.

I remember that it rained a lot that day too. I was waiting for the JO signing while sipping a hot chocolate. The whole process was done in a day. I got home with my starting date.

Getting started

I started my work June 3. I was so nervous about it. I brought some snacks to eat for lunch and tried to make some friends.

The training was fun. I did not expect that. It felt like I was cheating the company because I was getting paid to have fun.

But there was one time where we encounter a problem. Every 2 weeks we change schedule but only a few received a notification about it so we were super late.

Still, since it is not our fault, we managed to push through without anymore problems.

I remember the "graduation". That is the last day of training before we finally go live. I remember feeling happy about receiving the certificate proving I completed the training.

I remember the first time we went live. I was so scared that I forgot almost everything we went through during training. But with the help of the other people who worked there, I managed to get the hang of it. I also learned more as I stay longer.

The goodbye

As much as I enjoyed the time spent there in training, I realized that I do not want to work there for a longer time. The happy workplace front that they put up when we were training disappeared.

Without it, I saw the workplace for what it was. Full of backstabbing and toxicity. Everyone has something to say about their other workmates.

The job is easy. But it is repetitive. It is like I was talking to the same type of people who wants to get discounts. Some even showed that they do not see us as people.

But there is one customer that stayed in my mind. He was my first customer in my first day in live. He wanted to surprise his girlfriend for a trip out of town and he reserved the wrong date.

I helped him get it right and he was so chill and thankful about it. I wish that him and his girlfriend had a nice time.

It stuck with me because he was 19 years old. I remember feeling a bit of culture shock that they can go and make reservations while I still needed to get permission to see my friends.

I wanted to stay there working since the job was easy and manageable. But the new schedule they gave me will interlap with my schedule at school. I did not want to sacrifice my grades for a job I see no future for myself in.

I saw how hard they make it for people who wants to leave the company. My friend passed her resignation letter to our team leader a lot of times already with different dates printed but it never reached the manager's desk.

That moment made me see why many BPO workers just suddenly go MIA. AWOL is what they call it. My friends and I went AWOL.

It was wrong. It was bad work ethic but I was young and naive. I just thought to myself that it might not even matter once we graduated after 4 years.

Luckily for me, someone made arrangments for my clearance so I had no problem. I also managed to get my backpay.

For my friends, they were not as lucky. Until now, they still have not gotten their clearance yet.

What I learned

What my first job taught me is to be determined and to be confident in myself. Had I lost hope immediately, I would have not been able to experience working.

I also learned to have fun with strangers. I have social anxiety which makes it hard for me to interact with others but I thankfully learned some experience when working.

I also learned that everywhere there is toxicity. Even in what looks like a happy workplace.

What I learned most importantly is that I should always know my priority. It was tempting to just not study since I am already making money.

But since I know what my priority is, I did not find it hard to decide which one to sacrifice.

This is my experiences in my first job. What was your experience the first time you had a job?