As my first job, I ended up working at Chick-fil-A. There was a new one being built about two minutes away from where I went to high school so I thought why not apply and see if I can finally get a job. A week after I turned in my application, I got an email for a follow-up interview. At the interview, I met the owner of the restaurant and he ended up giving me the job because he believed I had the qualifications to help him achieve his goal of having a wonderful Chick-fil-A. I worked there for a little over a year before I moved for college and here are some of my favorite moments working there.
1. Singing about Chicken
It was a Saturday afternoon, and I was taking orders at the front counter. I was working with a lot of my really close friends since we not only worked together but also went to school together. We were finally getting out of a rush (a huge group of people coming in at the same time) and so we felt relieved that we were getting through. All of a sudden a white bus pulled up to the front of the restaurant and a choir group of about 50 people came into the restaurant. We were all trying to take the orders as fast as possible while keeping our Chick-fil-A attitude. Once everyone had received their food and every order had been taken, we were all finally able to relax and try to strengthen up for the next rush. When the group of choir singers was done eating, they decided to sing to us about their love for chicken which made my friends and I am very happy. They were a wonderful group and one of my friends was even dancing along to the song!
2. Meeting Zendaya
The Chick-fil-A that I had worked out was located in West Hills, CA. This is located near Calabasas, CA which is an area where a lot of celebrities live. Many times artists like Travis Scott, Jennifer Lopez, and Trey Songz have come to the location, but everyone they would come to wouldn’t be working so I never thought I would meet someone famous. Yet one day after school, I was working on making drinks for the drive-thru when someone told me through the headset that Zendaya was in the drive-thru and coming to the window. Everyone began to freak out because, well, it was Zendaya! She pulled up to the drive-thru and everyone was mesmerized by her beauty. My manager was starstruck that he stopped moving the moment he saw her. I really wanted a picture with her since I absolutely idolized her and so I had the courage to actually talk to her. She was very sweet and nice, but I wasn’t able to get the picture since she was with her family. I completely understood and just told her how big of a fan I was. She was beyond sweet and extremely pretty and by far my best guest encounter at Chick-fil-A.
3. Creating Friendships
Most of the people that I worked with were around the same age so it was very easy to become friends with them. One of my managers was only two years older than me and so we ended up working together a lot of the time due to our schedules and ended up becoming best friends. Similarly, I was able to become closer to one of my middle school friends. After I had told him that I had gotten a job, he applied to work at the same place and since we had similar school schedules we would usually be available to work the same hours. It allowed us to be closer and be very comfortable with each other which I really enjoyed.
4. Uniformed Meeting
It had been about six months since the opening of the restaurant and so the owner wanted to have a meeting with everyone on the team to discuss what the future goals should be, as well as what we needed to improve on. We had never had a meeting like this so I asked my friends if I was supposed to wear my uniform or not, everyone told me yes. I quickly got ready and went to the meeting in my uniform only to find that we could just wear our casual clothes. My managers had pranked me and my friends and everyone was in on it except for us. It sucked a little at first since I was one of the only four wearing my uniform but it was a pretty funny meeting, and I even got a scholarship that night!
Working at Chick-fil-A was a wonderful experience, and even though I was working and it was a job, it was also very fun and entertaining because of the wonderful work environment that my coworkers and managers provided. Even now when I come back home, I’ll sometimes go visit just to say hi and catch up with everyone there.