The other week, I finally managed to get my first paid job at a chippy which has just opened. I have practically no experience, except for when I did one trial shift in another chippy, before they said they couldn't fit me on to their rota. I made this clear enough to my employer.
So far, I've done three 4 hour shifts - one shift a week. My employer said that I was doing alright after the first and second weeks, but that I needed to be a bit quicker when it came to serving people. Also, I had had a bit of trouble coping with two very busy occasions, so she said to me to go in on a quieter day for my third shift, so that I could try to increase my confidence.
So my third shift was last Thursday and I thought I was doing alright. Seeing as it was quiet, she said to me to clean and wash up when nobody was in. After the first time she told me that, I did it myself afterwards. I mucked up a couple of orders, mainly when people were ordering things that nobody had ever ordered during my shifts before, like squid. But still, I think I generally did a better job than the week before.
At the end of the shift, I was ready to ask for a few more shifts a week, but then, my employer said that she didn't think I was coping with it well enough. She explained how another girl had been in on a busy night and had managed to do everything brilliantly on her first shift, without needing any help. She said that she didn't feel like she was able to "leave me to it", which is what she could do with the other girl.
I'm going back in on Thursday for what might be my last shift in there and she wants to see a "huge improvement". From what she had been saying all night, I'm guessing that that means not making any mistakes at all, being quick, using my initiative and asking questions as soon as I'm not sure of something. (even though that is what I did with the more uncommon orders that ended up going slightly wrong, and she had said that that had been simple enough to work out)
When I go in, I'm going to confirm what she wants me to improve on and make sure that I try my best to do it, but I have a feeling that no matter what, she'll simply get fed up with me and just tell me that this other girl, who most probably has more experience than me, is coping with things better than I am. The thing is that I can't go to future interviews, telling potential employers that I was let go from a job in a chippy because I didn't have the experience that the other employees had, and as a result, I couldn't do the job as well. That will obviously get me absolutely nowhere in life. But then, if nobody gives me the chance to gain experience, how am I ever supposed to get any?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.