I was 17 years old when I got my first job as an ice cream server. I worked the town next to mine and was excited to finally have my driver’s license and be able to drive myself to work a few times a week. Earning minimum wage, which was very low in New Jersey at the time, was a humbling experience because I had never had any responsibilities or work relationships similar to that. The work was not as easy as it seemed, and actually brought a decent amount of stress into my 17-year old life. I learned how to be a motivated worker and the different skills and growth I would need to maintain the position.
The only thing motivating me to work at the time was extra spending money, and eventually I bought everything that I wanted to buy so my motivation for working was slacking. I didn’t quit my job because I wanted to have more work experience in case I wanted to get another job, or put this work experience on my college application. Most of my friends also had part-time jobs so I thought it would be normal to keep working, despite not having any real end goal.
Because the work was very mentally and physically challenging, I had to find some way to stay motivated so that I would enjoy the work better and because it’s always fun to have a goal. The new goal that I set out for myself was to learn how to be the best employee worker ever. I wanted to learn how to do everything and run everything because I eventually wanted to work more shifts and that meant sometimes working alone. I wanted to have a high growth need strength (GNS) and be able to enjoy my job while also improving in other areas (Gruman, 2016).
Eventually, I became proficient in every area of the job and was trusted with my own key of the shop. I became a leader to shop and began to train other employee that would come through the doors. My leadership style was very relaxed and supportive. It was a friendly environment to work in by nature, so we were always encouraged to smile and have fun conversations with the customers whenever we could.
My motivation for having the job shifted dramatically from when I first entered the position to when I had to leave for college. I was happy that I was able to grow and develop as an efficient worker and I still hold with me many of the skills that I acquired as an ice cream scooper.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.