Note: Why is Winn-Dixie on the List?

Note

Work Independent Other Education Transcript Skills Resume

Why is Winn-Dixie on the List?

If you are looking over my resume, you may wonder why Winn-Dixie is listed. After all, being a customer service monkey for a now bankrupt, minimum wage paying, non-technical grocery store in high school hardly counts for anything... does it?

The truth is, even after college I am still proud of the work I did there. Winn-Dixie was a difficult position to fill. Working in the office, and was responsible for ensuring the smooth operation of the office, customer service booth, and the cashiers. My tasks included, sometimes all at once, the following:

Preparing deposits for the bank
Counting the money in the safe
Preparing money for the cashiers
Distributing additional funds to the cashiers as needed
Signaling cashiers for breaks
Distributing paychecks
Answering the phone
Handling complaints
Responding to the security alarms at the door
Stocking the cigarettes
Receiving UPS packages for shipment
Printing money orders
Rotating cash through the ATM machine
Receiving, tagging, and re-distributing laundry and dry cleaning
Assisting customer service, cashiers, and baggers as needed

In short, I was kept quite busy. Most importantly, I was given the opportunity to multi-task in a high stress, physical and demanding job. Early hours, late hours, hard hours. There was rarely a dull moment with hundreds of items on the todo list, constant customer complaints, and streams of unhappy employees. I would come home tired with a layer of grime all over my exposed skin. I was subject to the antics of regional management who were already feeling the wrath of the nearby Publix, Kroger, and Wal-Mart stores. It was hard.

Nevertheless, I thrived. In the face of physical, emotional, and occupational hardships; I survived and learned. I learned how to keep working when I was on the 12th hour and my replacement hadn't come it. I learned how to deal with management that cursed and slammed things around the office. I learned how to maintain personal discipline amidst chaos. I learned how to balance school, work, and personal interests. Month after month I improved, was promoted, and made myself valuable at Winn-Dixie.

[Note: by no means was I perfect, and there are some notable events where I know for sure I could have done better (feel free to ask me about them sometime). Overall, though, I feel the entire experience was a great success]

So, why is Winn-Dixie on the list?

Today, my job has changed a lot. I write code. I sit at a desk. I don't do much heavy lifting and there's a lot less produce involved. Still, I find that I do very well to apply the lessons I learned at the grocery store to my job here at the office. I stay on a job even when it has lost its charm, I have increased patience with my boss, I push myself to excellence even when it doesn't seem to matter.

My job at Winn-Dixie represents dozens of hardships and lessons learned. It was me as a young man facing hard challenges, overcoming them, and using the experience to propel myself into the future. And that is why Winn-Dixie is on the list.