I saw this prompt from the silver blogger community while browsing the ecency platform to read some posts and I decided to give it a shot. The prompt is about sharing your experience about your first job and lessons learned along the way. So, I thought I would share my story too even though this is my first time joining in the Silver blogger community writing initiative.
It will be funny to know that I earned my first paycheck at the age of 10 years old and by age 15, I can confidently say I had worked in multiple different jobs and already have experience in financial management. Life has a way of throwing you into something you least prepared for and that's exactly what happened to me that made me start working at that age.
I was in primary school class 5 at the time and during the holidays I was visiting my elder brother who was working in the city as an accountant in a facility where they sell all sorts of drinks in crates and cartons for retailers to buy from. My brother asked me to follow him to work one day during the holidays and that was where my first job opportunity came about.
On that day, at noon, a truck arrived carrying a large shipment of beer in rubber crates and they needed to offload it quickly into the warehouse because they were expecting another truck later in the day. Somehow, their usual workforce for loading and offloading was less in number that day, so I volunteered to join them since I wasn't doing anything at that moment.
That decision to help out turned out to be my real first time doing a job for pay. I joined the boys though they were actually much older and stronger than me and I struggled to keep up with their pace but I was enjoying the work like every curious young boy would do given the chance to do something new.
The work took us about three to four hours to complete and at the end I was paid along with the other boys. I wasn't expecting the payment, I was only doing something for my brother to be proud of me but as I received the money I felt proud of myself for earning my own money by working like other people do.
That night, I couldn't sleep because of pain all over my body because of the work, but I couldn't tell my brother how I feel because I wanted to continue working with them until the holiday ends and I can have enough money to buy things for myself when returning to my parents and siblings in the village.
So, I endure the pain, and continue to work with them for the rest of the holidays. Although it was not everyday they got to offload trucks, I managed to find other jobs in the warehouse like stacking shelves and organizing goods whenever people came to buy beverages. By the time the holiday ended I had saved a good amount of money which I used to buy gifts for my younger ones and school things for myself.
This experience taught me the value of owing your own money and the importance of hard work. It also opened my heart to embracing opportunities because from that time onward my holidays as a child became more productive as I had to find ways to earn money to support myself. That's my first job experience, and I hope my story doesn't bore you too much and it's not off prompt.
Thank you for reading.
