Only ever worked in retail, no clue what I want to do.
I'm 22 and I've only ever worked in retail. My first job was at a Food Lion as a cashier. I moved and quit after I got married, dropped out of community college in 2020, and my second job was at TJ Maxx, as a cashier. I quit that dreadful, awful job and started working at Walmart, which has surprisingly been okay. I was hired for cashiering, and after about a year, I was asked if I was interested in moving to customer service for full time. Before then, I had only ever been part time at all three jobs.
I like this job a lot more. Coworkers play a part in me enjoying my job, but I don't dread my actual job almost at all. I do the opposite of cashiering, I do returns. I also work at the money center, it's where people can pay their bills, get money orders, cash checks, send money, receive money, load or unload money from cards. Even though we're handling a lot of cash sometimes, it's all counted by hand, and it can be up to $3-4,000 for bigger transactions, but it's rare.
Anyways, I was talking to a team lead and he asked if I was in school. Nope. He asked if I was interested in going back to school. Not at the moment, I still have no clue what I want to do. Then he asked if I had ever thought about moving up, getting into management at Walmart. Which was also a no, I see the shit they have to deal with, and I don't know if that's something I could handle. It made me think though. I still don't know what I actually want to do. I don't think I want to get stuck in Walmart for forever. My husband gets out of the military in less than six months, we're moving back home after, and I'll have to quit this job and find another.
All I have is a HS diploma, some college (I finished the first year), and a few years of retail experience.
I've considered what I could possibly want to do, and I don't know. I thought about teaching, but I think I like the idea of teaching, but getting down into actually standing in front of a classroom full of children. Maybe not. That was the plan when I was still in school, but now I don't think it's for me.
I like working in the money center, the money handling, every transaction is pretty much prompted for me. Ask questions, get info, get IDs, small talk here and there, I give or get the money, they take or give the money, here's the receipt, have a good day. And returns aren't so bad, but when it does get bad... it's bad. Irate customers, nitpicky store managers, constantly having rules changed and not finding out until a coworker tells me days later. It'll wear anyone down, constantly dealing with people and situations like that.
I like working there, it's okay. I'm moving in less than six months, eventually I'll leave, other coworkers that make it bearable will leave, and I think I want to find something better, but I don't know what. Or where to look. I'm completely lost, so any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.
Posted Nov 2, 2023, 1:27 AM UTC