Jewells of Thought

As I drove into the Wal-Mart parking lot this morning lots of thoughts hit me. There have been numerous times I thought I lived in that store. Now I tend to stay in the car. When I am in the store for longer than 30 minutes I can feel the pressure of the cement floor so I rather stay away from the store.

Twenty years ago this job was brand new to me. Mowing was the only job I had had before this. When I started I was the first in my family to work for this store and the chain in general. It’s kind of funny now. I was the one to start the line of my aunts and cousins a brother and uncle into this world of working at Wal-Mart.

I have worked there off and on through college and in between carpal tunnel surgeries. Yet it wasn’t my hands that concluded my time there it was my foot.

It’s still funny to think of how many ended up applying and getting positions there after my initial chunk of time working. Then Aunt Carol needed to un-retire. Not long afterwards Uncle Ted died and Aunt Linda needed a new purpose with her time. Then cross-over to the other side of my family and Grandma Rosie’s little sister got a job at the Sullivan Store.

I am not certain how long all of this was in a timeline, but I couldn’t help but laugh sometimes. One of my cousins got on down south Vincennes and then he transferred to Washington. Since then at least two different cousins on both sides of my family tree have worked there including my brother and my Uncle Tony worked while I was there for a bit. Some of our coworkers thought he was my Dad. No matter how many times I said Uncle Tony, maybe they didn’t hear I don’t know.

Gosh this makes me feel old though 20 years since I first became a cashier. It was one of the best things for me. I learned a lot of lessons and experienced so many new possibilities. I didn’t have a choice, but I threw myself into learning as much as I could. I was the shy girl all through school this was my ice breaker learning to speak to whoever came through my line. This was such a big thing for me and this job really helped me work on my speaking skills and customer service skills. Nothing has helped me more in the past 20 years than this ability to speak to customers and then my patients.

To think though I thought it would only be until I could get into College for the next semester. I was still so determined to get back into my schooling come January and I did because of this job with a healthy bank account for a student starting out again.

This was my regrouping and jumpstart into my educational future. I am grateful for all that I learned as a cashier.