Have you even done any summer job? I took part in a three-week “Summer Work Experience’ scheme last summer. The work was so hard at the beginning that I didn’t want to continue but in the end I learnt many things and my attitude changed.
I found a part-time job as a salesperson in a toy shop in Tsim Sha Tsui from the scheme. I didn’t realize that it was not an easy job before I did it. I had to work nearly eight hours a day. It seemed my legs did not belong to me any more. Worse, I needed to get up early every day but I learnt the essence of the word “punctual” after the scheme.
Can you imagine how afraid I was when I conversed with my first customer? My first customer was a nice and young woman. I was lucky enough to be serving her. However, I had a hard time making she hear me. After a while, I plucked up the courage to speak loudly and introduce some new toys to her. I demonstrated the good features of the toys to convince her to buy them. She was satisfied and bought one of them. Her face beamed when she left. I also felt a great sense of success and pride after completing my first ‘deal’. Another incident I remember was a little girl cried because her parent refused to buy her a doll. Then I give her a sweet and played with her. She burst into laughter soon.
In this work scheme, my manager taught me a lot of things, especially the critical elements of selling skills to attract the customers. First of all, I need to speak with a clear voice and a sweet smile. It would make the customers feel my sincerity and that I really want to serve them. Second, I should be sensitive to the taste of customers and satisfy their needs. On the other hand, I have built up self-confidence and become braver. I have also learnt good manners are important. In a shop, a salesperson with good manners can probably boost the sale and get his job done smoothly because nobody would like to talk with someone impolite.
I found these three weeks very meaningful. I realized that there is no short cut to success. This experience let me know the value of work and changed my view towards every job. Every job has its own mission and importance, which are unique and cannot be replaced. So, I will work hard from now to become what I want to be in the future.