Some of my friends on here might have known that I've been hoping to get a job outside of school. Which at first glance might seem a bit odd since its unlike most people my age who attend school. However I've always wanted more money to spend and work experience since there's a good chance I might have to move out of the house when starting university and having work experience would be extremely helpful when that time comes.

I've only had two jobs in the past, one of them was an unpaid 2 week job I got as part of a school project where I didn't actually have to do much and the other was a 1 month summer job that I got through a government program.  My original plan has been to apply for McDonalds/Burger King next year when they'll be looking for new workers for the summer. Now it turns I probably won't need to. Saturday, last week my mom was at a bar/restaurant that's at the same street we live.  We've been there a lot of times so she knows the owner pretty well at this point. He needed a dish washer for the evening because their last one quit. Apparently she had been trying to get a job there for almost a month only to work a single day and quit. He knew about me and heard I was doing well in school so he asked if she thought I would be interested and so she called me, I ended up working a 6 hour shift in the evening.

It was completely packed because it was right around the time most people got their salaries and it was the day after black friday (which is apparently a thing in Sweden now). It was even more difficult because it was my first time ever doing something like that and on top of that a pipe was leaking that made the floor wet. All of this considered, it made it difficult for me to keep up and I thought I had made a bad impression. However when I went to get paid the next day he seemed impressed with my work ethic (I had stayed after closing time and finished doing all the dishes even though they told me I was free to leave several times). I was even paid extra and the other workers gave me the old dishwashers part of the tip. So I ended up giving out my phone number. Today I was asked if I could work this friday and saturday and I agreed, so it seems like this will turn into a regular thing. I might get more opportunities to work during the summer as well, though it's at another restaurant (they own two and the one I've worked at is their largest one which I hadn't been to before).

I'm quite happy about it since I've wanted a job for a long time and it being within the restaurant business is even better since my family, in particular one of my older brothers has a lot of experience (worked as a waiter/bartender at all kinds of restaurants/bars and even managed one himself for quite some time). It's a pretty stressful and not exactly fun job and it's not a full employment (since I'm under 18) but I feel it's a good start.

Not one to  make threads about my personal life very often but since this is probably the biggest achievement I've accomplished (until I start university anyway) besides maintaining good grades I felt like sharing it (and what better place to do that than on Vizzed? ). Might also help explain why I've been slightly less active on the forums lately so there's that too (hoping to fix that though).

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thing1 :

Been meaning to do a sort of general update on this so I guess I'll take the time now. It's going well, I have more or less a full job now. It isn't official since technically it goes against the labor laws here which states that I can't work past a certain hour and only for a certain amount of time ina single day so even if they wanted to they can't make it an official job. But I'm pretty much the main guy they call for whenever they need a dishwasher (on weekdays they more or less handle it themselves). Since Christmas break started though it's been relatively calm meaning I haven't been working in a while now. I expect it'll start picking up again soon.

yoshirulez! : I got this last year too and since my birthday is in December, I was still 16 when I got it On a serious note I wouldn't worry too much about it. The fact that I was able to get this job was in large part due to luck and my mom knowing the guy running the restaurant as you can tell from my story. Though having made a good first impression ended up being the determinering factor in terms of turning it into a job. With that said I would definitely encourage you to try getting a job if you think you can handle it. It's great life experience even if the job ends up being temporary since it teaches you about wortk ethic and resource management among other things. While the situation is probably different where you live, I'm sure there will be job opportunities too if you're persistent and can make a good first impression.

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thing1 : Pretty much except "emergencies" happen all the time. It's more during any day when there's a lot of reservations or there's some other event. In other words during most weekends. Otherwise they don't have someone to specifically be the dishwasher. It fits pretty well considering I have school at the same time and whatnot.

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Ghostbear1111 : I ended up quitting the job in early February actually, it was wholly my own decision. About half the reason I took the job in the first place was because I wanted work during the summer and winter breaks when I'm not preoccupied with school. In stead it turned out those were the times they barely needed me, and they wanted me to work the most when I have the most to do in school which felt like it was starting to take its toll on me. The other reason was the experience. Therefore I decided to quit the job and focus on school for the time being until I can find something more appropriate. I'm current applying for a summer job program.

In the end I would say it was still a worthwhile and rewarding experience. I learned how to be a dishwasher going from thinking I'd never manage to being fairly proficient at the job and becoming more confident in my own capabilities. I feel like it's good preparation for when I'm in university. I was a bit torn up about the decision at first but now I'm feeling more secure about it. I'm doing well in school and I should be able to apply at a lot of different places to be a dishwasher once I turn 18 later this year and with my experience I hopefully won't have too much difficulty getting a new job.

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