When I accepted the job as part-time youth pastor at my church, I knew that I was going to have to get a second job right away. So, After a few months of sending out resumes, I finally had landed a job as the night manager at Chic Fil A.  I didn’t know what I was getting into when I accepted the job. After all, I told the owner it would take me three months to truly learn not only the ins and outs of working for chic fil a, but also the ins and outs of being a manager.  I had “manager” experience, but only as a pastor- never as a business operator.

Anyway, after six weeks, I could tell this was not the job for me, so I made the hard decision to quit. And let me tell you, my boss was not sad to see me go. I found out the hard way what leadership and employable skills I was lacking. After I quit, I decided to write down the things I learned while I was there.

These are in no particular order and are to be taken at face value:

1) Being a leader means being a servant to everyone including people that are under me or do not like me.

2) Those I am in charge of will only rise to the level I am at currently.

3) Being people-oriented is more important that being task-oriented.

4) Gossip will kill a business.

5) Never raise my voice.

6) If you don’t win people’s trust right off the bat, you most likely never will (or at least it will be an uphill battle).

7)Always put others before me.

8 ) Do the things that others can see, but also do those things that only God can see. This is called integrity and God will reward you for it.

9) If something doesn’t sound right to you, it probably isn’t.

10) Respect is earned by actions not by position.

11) If you slice your hand open, do not immediately start serving waffle fries.

So, for anyone who has ever worked a job and either quit it or was fired from it and was left scratching your head, don’t waste the opportunity to learn from it! It’s really all you can do. It sure beats being angry about it or depressed. Writing these things down helped me to make sense of an otherwise awkward moment in my life.

BTW, I still love Chic Fil A. I even go back to the one where I used to work. No shame in my game.