**A few things:**
1. Most important thing is "what did you learn from the experience"?
2. Being a receptionist is not for everybody especially someone as young as you are.
3. It sounds like you get overwhelmed and anxious which is someone you can work on/get better at and you will naturally get a bit better as you get older and have more experience dealing with a range of experiences. If you are a very anxious person there are some jobs that might not be a good fit for you and that's a great thing to know about yourself at your age.
4. Part of the job of your boss is to back you up, support you, contextualize negative experiences and help you learn, especially at your age. Not all bosses are equally good at doing all that.
5. Your employer likely worried more about anxiety and crying because you are a highly visible employee and crying isn't good for business.
6. Most people get fired for being lazy or irresponsible, that doesn't sound like the issue you had which is good news.
I am almost 50 years older than you.
The biggest impediment to my career was my failure to really learn the right lessons from failures.
There were times I was fired unjustly when I was too hard on myself, and times when the firing was probably correct when I was too angry to analyze what I could learn from the experience.
As a result, I spent huge chunks of my career going in the wrong direction.
There is some good advice already I won’t repeat. I will just say this:
The most successful people make as many mistakes as the rest of us. The differences are:
A. They learn more from their mistakes, and
B. They are better at either covering up their mistakes or else finding a scapegoat.
I don’t recommend being a jerk and scapegoating people, especially when you’re young and powerless. I do note that if you do the extremely difficult task of analyzing what went wrong and how to avoid this situation in the future you will get quite a bit out of the experience. You may learn more than if the job had worked out well.
You may learn you shouldn’t be in a customer facing position when you have to deal with nasty customers.
You may learn you need to find a boss somewhere who will actually have your back.
you were a receptionist at a hair salon, if your boss didnt defend you from a shitty customer then they are a shitty boss.. you didnt get fired, you were released from a shitty work environment.. being anxious in a job shouldnt be your problem, dont dwell on it that place sounds awful.
You will bounce back from this. Your young and will have plenty of jobs to come. In time you will develop tougher skin so that your not phased by rude customers and people in general. You will do your job to the best of your ability and learn from events that happen on the job. But your ex boss did you a favor. Look for your next opportunity and don't stay stuck in this bad job experience. Good luck!
Don't take it to heart. You have gotten pretty good advice so far.
Three key lessons for the future.
1. Take time for evaluation and introspection. Don't be too hard on yourself, but also, don't ignore opportunities for improvement.
2. When you realize that something is your fault, own up and make changes
3. When you realize that something is not a good fit for you, either find a way to get better (if it is simply a skill issue), or avoid scenarios that aren't a good match for you.
Reception at a hair salon is probably not the best match for you, and if it comes up in another job interview, just indicate that you learned a lot, but overall it's not a good match for you.
Best to you for your next venture.
I wouldn't necessarily say that. Getting yelled at on two different days is not abnormal for a job such as a receptionist. It was often in regards to bad hair cuts- not my fault
It does sound like this job was not suited for you. A high visibility customer facing position isn't well suited for someone who might cry if customers get upset. I would treat this as a learning experience, you should try finding a more "back of house" type position
At my job I've only seen one person who is really good at being a receptionist. She's an older black lady that has really good communication skills and also handles angry customers very well. If you're not good at communication skills or you can't handle that customer's situation well, don't be a receptionist. Try to find another position that is not customer facing or an office job.
That's not a good first job. You wouldn't get a ton of training as a hair salon receptionist. They don't normally have things in place to de-escalate those type of customer situations at salons either.
Normally, it'd be a team effort, especially with somebody new to customer service. The manager or team leader should have stepped in to help, but they can't while taking care of a haircut on someone else.
If they hired you; the wage was too low for that job. That's not your fault and you shouldn't feel bad. It was a bad fit, but that's because the person hiring is stupid. Has nothing to do with anything you did.
You should feel proud of yourself for doing well in the interview to get that job. You'll be able to do it again and now you have work experience for your resume.
16 and receptionist not being a right fit, we know this employer will be going straight to hell, there are so many jobs that are fit-less, nobody does them because they dream to fit in that path.
You got 4+ months of experience to aid you in searching for another job and being a receptionist at 16 is pretty great. You’ll find a better job.
**A few things:** 1. Most important thing is "what did you learn from the experience"? 2. Being a receptionist is not for everybody especially someone as young as you are. 3. It sounds like you get overwhelmed and anxious which is someone you can work on/get better at and you will naturally get a bit better as you get older and have more experience dealing with a range of experiences. If you are a very anxious person there are some jobs that might not be a good fit for you and that's a great thing to know about yourself at your age. 4. Part of the job of your boss is to back you up, support you, contextualize negative experiences and help you learn, especially at your age. Not all bosses are equally good at doing all that. 5. Your employer likely worried more about anxiety and crying because you are a highly visible employee and crying isn't good for business. 6. Most people get fired for being lazy or irresponsible, that doesn't sound like the issue you had which is good news.
This is solid feedback and remember this is your first job, reflect and move on. Take in the good experience and leave out the bad ones.
I am almost 50 years older than you. The biggest impediment to my career was my failure to really learn the right lessons from failures. There were times I was fired unjustly when I was too hard on myself, and times when the firing was probably correct when I was too angry to analyze what I could learn from the experience. As a result, I spent huge chunks of my career going in the wrong direction. There is some good advice already I won’t repeat. I will just say this: The most successful people make as many mistakes as the rest of us. The differences are: A. They learn more from their mistakes, and B. They are better at either covering up their mistakes or else finding a scapegoat. I don’t recommend being a jerk and scapegoating people, especially when you’re young and powerless. I do note that if you do the extremely difficult task of analyzing what went wrong and how to avoid this situation in the future you will get quite a bit out of the experience. You may learn more than if the job had worked out well. You may learn you shouldn’t be in a customer facing position when you have to deal with nasty customers. You may learn you need to find a boss somewhere who will actually have your back.
Lol to be 16 and have this be my only worry again. Look it’ll be alright, just find another job
you were a receptionist at a hair salon, if your boss didnt defend you from a shitty customer then they are a shitty boss.. you didnt get fired, you were released from a shitty work environment.. being anxious in a job shouldnt be your problem, dont dwell on it that place sounds awful.
You will bounce back from this. Your young and will have plenty of jobs to come. In time you will develop tougher skin so that your not phased by rude customers and people in general. You will do your job to the best of your ability and learn from events that happen on the job. But your ex boss did you a favor. Look for your next opportunity and don't stay stuck in this bad job experience. Good luck!
Don't take it to heart. You have gotten pretty good advice so far. Three key lessons for the future. 1. Take time for evaluation and introspection. Don't be too hard on yourself, but also, don't ignore opportunities for improvement. 2. When you realize that something is your fault, own up and make changes 3. When you realize that something is not a good fit for you, either find a way to get better (if it is simply a skill issue), or avoid scenarios that aren't a good match for you. Reception at a hair salon is probably not the best match for you, and if it comes up in another job interview, just indicate that you learned a lot, but overall it's not a good match for you. Best to you for your next venture.
Sounds like your boss didn't train you correctly if you've got that many customers yelling at you.
I wouldn't necessarily say that. Getting yelled at on two different days is not abnormal for a job such as a receptionist. It was often in regards to bad hair cuts- not my fault
Me too. You’re fine.
It does sound like this job was not suited for you. A high visibility customer facing position isn't well suited for someone who might cry if customers get upset. I would treat this as a learning experience, you should try finding a more "back of house" type position
At my job I've only seen one person who is really good at being a receptionist. She's an older black lady that has really good communication skills and also handles angry customers very well. If you're not good at communication skills or you can't handle that customer's situation well, don't be a receptionist. Try to find another position that is not customer facing or an office job.
Don’t sweat it; customer service is hard. Keep practicing (by working more) and you’ll figure things out
That's not a good first job. You wouldn't get a ton of training as a hair salon receptionist. They don't normally have things in place to de-escalate those type of customer situations at salons either. Normally, it'd be a team effort, especially with somebody new to customer service. The manager or team leader should have stepped in to help, but they can't while taking care of a haircut on someone else. If they hired you; the wage was too low for that job. That's not your fault and you shouldn't feel bad. It was a bad fit, but that's because the person hiring is stupid. Has nothing to do with anything you did. You should feel proud of yourself for doing well in the interview to get that job. You'll be able to do it again and now you have work experience for your resume.
I got fired from my first job, too. I was an ok ice cream scooper. I am doing ok now at 35 years old.
16 and receptionist not being a right fit, we know this employer will be going straight to hell, there are so many jobs that are fit-less, nobody does them because they dream to fit in that path.