"On Fire" Blog

Once I started college my parents pushed me to get a job. It was everyday that my mom would nag me about looking for a job. Working when I was in high school was never an issue because I played sports. There wasn’t any extra time in my schedule to have a job, but now that I was in college my parents thought I had all the time in the world. I would get so annoyed by it that I would just tune them out whenever my parents would talk to me about it. I didn’t want a job at all because that would require extra work outside of school. I thought I had enough on my plate as it was with going to school full time. I did like the sound of having extra money to spend and that I wouldn’t have to ask my mom and dad for money anymore. I was saving a lot of money by staying at home, but I thought that maybe this whole job situation wouldn’t be so bad after all. I decided that I would apply a few places to see if I could actually get a job.

Since I was thinking about going into the medical field I thought it would be a good idea to apply at the hospital as a patient care tech. I also applied to a few small businesses in my home town. I didn’t get any feedback from anyone for weeks, so I was beginning to think that I wasn’t going to get a job anytime soon. I was actually getting used to the fact that I would be jobless forever until one day I was looking online and found something interesting. I somehow stumbled upon The Buckle website that had its own job link at the bottom. I looked at the job requirements and I thought that I may be able to do this so I applied. I was surprised to receive a phone call the next day to come in for an interview. By the next week I was hired and started orientation. This job was definitely different than what I thought it would be and I had to learn the ropes very fast.

Now that I have been at The Buckle for about a year and a half as a sales associate I started to have the same routine. I would usually work a five to close shift and in that time I was expected to get a lot done. I would arrive to work and go straight to our red planner book to see what was going on for the day and any side notes the manager would write to give us motivation and more ways to sell our products to the guest. After reading the planner I would grab my SPG card and see what projects I was given for the night. This was the part that I did not like at all. I feel like the projects that we are assigned are sometimes a little too much to handle. I would get a project like folding an entire wall of jeans. This probably doesn’t sound like a hard job, but it’s hard when you are trying to sell the product to the guest at the same time. I work on commission, so if I do not sell then I don’t get a very good paycheck. This was the biggest part of my job, selling. When I get to work I always wait to talk to anyone, because I like to see what’s new and where everything is so I can help the guest better. I then scope out the shoppers and go to help my first guest. I like this job because I can interact with other people, but it can also be the bad part of the job. Most of the time I help really nice people who will accept my help, but there are the mean people too. It never fails that I will help at least one really mean shopper every shift that I work. This is the part of the job that I hate. I’ve been treated so badly before that I almost quit this job.

At closing time we have to do all the closing duties which include trash, sensors, putting hangers away, and cleaning. This job can also become even more difficult if the people I would with are lazy. Even though this job can be very stressful, I still enjoy working there and I will continue to work there as long as I can. I like being able to help people find what they are looking for and seeing their eyes light up when they find something that fit them so well. I have also learned a lot from this job and have met a lot of really cool people along the way.