After Losing Job, Woman Takes $15/Hour Position at Target, Calls It 'One of the Best Things I Could Have Done for Myself'

Kathleen Baker lost her high-paying director-level job in real estate and took a seasonal position at Target for $15 an hour. Baker talks about the huge cut from what she was making as a director and yet she says that she was excited to get out of the house and "interact with living things other than my pets and family!"

"Initially, I was as nervous as a 16-year-old showing up to their first job, but after some training, I found my stride. And it didn’t take long for me to realize that my 'little seasonal job,' as I liked to call it, was one of the best things I could have done for myself," she writes in a first-person piece. 

She then talks about how she "secretly felt" [like she] "was too good to work in a retail role." Baker hadn't worked in a retail store since the time she left The Disney store, over two decades ago.

Baker assumed that she would be "annoyed by customers" who would treat her like "gum of their shoes."To her surprise, she loved working and interacting with every guest. 

"I bonded quickly with my co-workers and looked forward to seeing them every day. And I didn’t dread a single shift," she says.

Bakers admits how working in retail was extremely humbling and says that employees working in retail are one of the hardest-working people she's ever met. The initial days were difficult for her, "my feet and knees hurt so badly that I developed a close relationship with my ice pack. I found myself sweating from the physical exertion of assisting crowds waiting in line for purchases, returns, and order pick-ups and logged at least 10,000 steps with each shift," she says.

Baker credits her new job for bringing her confidence back. She takes the readers back in time when she had just finished her higher education and talks about how stress and budget cuts took a toll on her positivity and confidence. "I spent several years refusing to acknowledge I was burned out," she says.

Baker says how she takes immense pride in the work she does. She also talks about how her crisis-management skills came in handy whenever a guest had a medical emergency while in her checkout lane. She talks about how her work was helpful to her colleagues who were thankful for her contributions like organizing a mess of plastic hangers. 

Baker had been asked to stay permanently which made her feel very proud. Her Target stint has come to an end and she looks back on it as one of the best decisions that she has ever made in her career. She also says how working in retail has instilled a few qualities that will come in handy in her career. 

"I’m searching for my dream role in HR management or training and development, and I will no doubt be a better manager due to my lessons in humility, respect, pride, and self-confidence."

The award-winning presenter of training programs, Kathleen Baker is now all set to return to work. "As I bid farewell to my "little seasonal job," I feel grateful for the unexpected but rewarding detour. And you can be sure I’ll be back to shop!" she says.