Personal Narrative: My First Job

My First Job I did not think I would survive becoming a parent at a young age. When I became a mother, I was only 16 years old and still in high school; however, it felt as if my life was over. My family was not supportive, which does not surprise me—in fact, my family has never encouraged any of the things I have wanted to do. I was scared, frustrated, and confused. Finding a job at a young age is extremely challenging.
Prior to finding a job—I used to walk the streets with my daughter selling chocolates, homemade cupcakes, and to pick up soda cans to sell by pound. I did not know what to do since there were only a few opportunities I could choose from, and all of them were tough. I was losing hope of finding something less demanding, and less dangerous. It was not until sometime during Spring 2001, when I first landed a job. I had been looking for a

My first job was at a small Chinese restaurant. The pay at the restaurant was not much and there were only two shifts—from 10am to 4pm and 4pm to 11pm; also, only one employee allowed per shift. I struggled day and night. It was very challenging having to wake up at 5a.m. every single day. And during weekdays, I had to drop my daughter off at the child care around 6a.m., and take a public bus to go to school. The school I attended was located in another town. I would get out of school around 3p.m., take the bus back to my town hoping I would make it on time to work. I worked five days a week from 4-11p.m. at 4 dollars per hour. Balancing between, my daughter, school, and work was very difficult. There were days in which the restaurant was almost empty, and days I could barely keep up. I was extremely exhausted, so I felt forced to drop out of high school to take care of my