Summer job blends values and work ethic

September 17, 2009 • written by Lawson Navarro

At Jamba Juice there is a phrase we have about blending smoothies known as “Witness the Whirl.”  If you will indulge my cheesy metaphor, over my summer, I witnessed the blending of all valuable lessons of hard work and my personality become someone taking some responsibility.
As last school came to close last year, we all looked forward to hanging out with friends, and maybe even seeing the newest summer blockbusters.  I enjoyed these same things over my summer, but personally the greatest sense of accomplishment was looking at the face of a customer as I gave them their delicious Strawberry Nirvana smoothie—working at my first job as a Jamba Juice employee.

My brother continually told me since I was a sophomore to get a job.  He told me not to be the loser who has to beg their parents for money (His way of saying “don’t be like me”).  Working actually helped me realize the fulfillment in taking that first step to be independent and contribute something to society—like top-of-the-line smoothies.

My decision to try to get a job was influenced not only by my brother’s words, but also by the fact that I needed to contribute money to my college fund.  Tuitions for UC and CSU increased by nearly 10 percent over summer to help balance their budget, thus making any thing I could place in my savings important.

Soon after I took the steps to apply for jobs, Jamba Juice was the first to get back to me, and asked for an interview.  Despite all the preparation I put into it session, my answers weren’t as scripted as I thought they’d be.

Rather than being uptight and uncomfortable, I tried to incorporate as much of my personality as possible— hence why the middle-aged man interviewing me and I discussed the newest Star Trek film.  I am a professional after all.  And as a professional I was hired 10 minutes into my interview.

I felt like a baby going into my first day on the job.  I soon realized that this first job of mine was a transition phase in attempting to give myself more responsibility, and relieve my parents of some.

My transformation into a loyal servant carrying out the will of Jamba Juice was evident (I’m not brainwashed, I swear).  I started out as the employee who, in my first week of employment, thought I was locked in the 20° walk-in-freezer for an entire minute until I realized it was a push door, not a pull door.  I continued as the guy who soon memorized at least half of the recipes within a month.

What did all this amount to?  A wonderful, crisp paycheck every other week.  I think this is the point my brother was trying to emphasize.  Guaranteed he never knew a thing about hard work in his high school years, I’m guessing he knew that feeling of getting money you worked hard for.

Although I didn’t get all the money out of my paycheck, it still felt liberating to have a source of income other than my parents or my grandparents’ holiday money.  I’m still able to put it all away in my funds for college knowing it will pay off, when I won’t have to worry as much about all the loans and grants I’ll need.

Years from now maybe I’ll be a success.  Someone might ask me what brought me to be successful.  I wouldn’t doubt my answer would be “Learning the value of independence…courtesy of a cold, fruit smoothie.”

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