There were two things I couldn’t wait to do when I turned 16; work and drive. As luck would have it, I couldn’t really have one without the other. So, the day after I turned 16, I went to my local Clerk’s Office, and applied for my first set of working papers.

To me, working meant money, and money meant freedom. Freedom to buy what I wanted, freedom to save up for my future, and freedom to get a car. I imagined never having to rely on anyone for a ride every again, I could go anywhere. (Yeah, right)!

Looking back, I have to laugh at my naive self. I was in such a hurry to prove myself, to be an adult. And the really funny thing was that I never understood how much freedom I actually had as a teenager that DIDN’T have a job. My nights and weekends were my own. Sure, I was broke, but so were all my friends. We got creative with our down time. Hanging out at the mall, loiter downtown, or stealing our parent’s booze and getting wasted on the jungle gym at the park.

But I thought I knew what I wanted, and once I started working, I never looked back. The longest gap in my job history is the 3 months I took off for maternity leave after having my son. He was NOT an easy baby. I was glad to go back.

I got my introduction into the working world with my first job as a cashier at the now defunct Fay’s Drugs. Two times a week and on weekends, I would hand ring in purchases from a variety of interesting people. Interesting being a nice way of saying creepy, nasty, impatient people. Don’t get me wrong, some of the clients were nice. Mostly the little old ladies that came to fill prescriptions and stop to pick up shortbread cookies. But this drug store was not in the best location, and the majority of people that came through the door were “interesting”.

I soon discovered that not only did I loath running a cash register, I was also not very good at it. I sucked making change, I had a hard time figuring out what department an item belonged to, and I got easily distracted. In the end, I usually just hit the “grocery” key for every item purchased. I apologize to the State if they missed any tax revenue because of me.

During the week I typically worked from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. On the weekends it was 9 to 5. What little money I did make from this job (I think minimum wage was $3.25 back then) I socked away for “someday”.

At 16, I was the youngest person working at the store. My assistant manager was a middle aged woman named Kay. She was all business. The store manager was an overweight younger guy that always looked sweaty. He was obnoxious and unprofessional, and said things that I know now where sexual harassment. But at the time I was taught to not make waves. You did your job and sometimes you had to put up with some bullshit along the way.

I really started to dread going into work. My grades started slipping (I was not the best student back then anyways) and I started picking fights with my mom on the ride into work.

I had been at that job for almost eight months when everything came to a head.

It was a Friday night and close to closing time. A drunk, older man came to my register to check out. Even though he was obviously plastered, he was still nice. I chatted with him for a few minutes while I rang him out, like I would do with any customer that came through my line. I didn’t know it, but the store manager was standing off to the side, and he was watching this interaction.

When the drunk guy left, it was 9:00 and time to lock up. The only people left in the store was Kay, the store manager and me. As I was walking back to the locker room to get my things, I heard the store manager say to Kay, “I bet she was making a date with that guy. Probably trying to earn a little extra money on the side”.

Now, I may have been a bit naive, but I knew what he was implying. And even at the age of 16, I knew I didn’t have to put up with his shit. The crappy, low paying job that I hated, was not worth my free time, my grades, and especially not my self respect. I found Kay and quit on the spot.

Kay told me she didn’t blame me for quitting. I could use her as a reference even though I was not giving two weeks notice. At the time I thought she was being so nice. Helping me out of what she knew was a bad situation. Looking back, the way she handled things just pisses me off. Kay knew what I was enduring at the hands of Mr. Sweaty Boss. But she let a 16 year old girl deal with a hostile environment when she knew it was wrong. Why? To protect her own crappy job?

In all fairness, women were not as empowered back then as they are now. I didn’t really know Kay, or her situation. And when I left that night, feeling lighter than I had in months, I let the door close behind me and I never went back. Even after the drugstore closed down, and a mini-mart was opened in it’s place. I never went back.

My take away is this:

Even at a young age, we know right from wrong, and we know when a situation is bad for us.

We need to trust our own instincts and intuitions, and be our own best advocate.

A great job is worth fighting for, a crappy job that zaps your energy and motivation can ALSO be worth fighting for depending on where you are in life. But it’s also ok to walk away sometimes.

Women need to stick together in the work force. And older workers (that would be me now) should help mentor younger women as they navigate the work environment.

There is power in numbers and men like Mr. Sweaty Boss need to learn women will not be pushed around.