The Value of Money

College Essay

Only recently have I learned about the value of money. Money doesn’t just grow on trees like some people fore take it to be. Money is earned by how much labor you put into something and the benefits of hard work. Having a job would make many people realize that money is not easy to make. As a young adult, having a job makes me understand how important money is to most people and that money controls most of peoples choices that they have. I never would’ve realized how much of an impact working at KFC would be to me.

During my junior year of summer, I was in search of a job and it took nearly the whole summer to find one. However, one day I got lucky and was hired at my local KFC, due to my manager’s kindness and appeal to my skills and abilities. He believed that I had great potential as a member of the KFC franchise, and that ill rise up the ranks soon enough. It felt great knowing that people out there actually appreciate my skills and have high hopes for me. Once the work hours began, I felt as if the job was not hard at all, just agonizingly slow and boring. However, during rush hour, the place would be packed with customers. Several orders would fly through the cash register and into the workers hands to prepare. As an employee in training, this rush was very stressful on me and I found myself dealing with several customers at one time trying to solve all their problems. The day would end with me being completely exhausted and out of strength to produce anymore labor. I realized soon enough that this is only the beginning and the hours would soon get longer. After about two weeks of working long hours and stressful days, my paycheck finally came in. My face was crawling with joy as I went into the store and my manager handed me my fresh check. My eyes widened with joy as I pulled the check out of the envelope and observed the amount of money I had made. The amount was breath taking since it was the first time I had ever officially earned money. My mind was not set on spending it right away. My body went through too much physical and mental stress to produce this amount of cash, and all I had in mind was to save every penny of it. My perspective of money completely changed after getting a job. It made me sad realizing that my coworkers paychecks mean a lot more to them than it does to me. These paychecks are what keeps a roof over their head, food in their stomachs, and stress out of their mind. They understand the value of money and I greatly respect them for that. My experience having a job at this age made me realized that money is really important and so is success, because if you don’t put in the effort of trying now, you’ll end up where most people don’t want to,  a job that keeps you constantly reminded of how badly you messed up your life.