On Living: I Work at 7–11 and I Love It

“I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me.”
-Sir Thomas Browne

For the past few months, I’ve been working part-time at 7–11 to make money and to keep myself busy. Even though I was and still am motivated and passionate about pursuing a professional career, moving back in with my family made me realize that I had become too bruised up and beaten down to actualize my full potential and work to my best ability. My time at medical school had just come to a difficult and ignominious end, and I found myself feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from the past 6 years of graduate studies, medical school, volunteering, applications, and working as a nursing assistant. Pushing wasn’t going to get me anywhere and it was starting to become detrimental — I needed a break from it all.

Working specifically at 7–11 was never a conscious choice, but 7–11 was the first store to offer me a position so I took it without hesitation. During this time, I had filled out and submitted applications to a variety of retail chains and customer service stores. And really, I was just looking for quick employment at a relatively simple job — a job that I could do while I took time to re-evaluate myself and heal my broken heart.

I expected my time working at 7–11 to be mostly unremarkable, but I still walked into 7–11 as a new sales clerk ready to do my best and make the most of the experience. It was to my surprise and with enormous gratitude that I learned that working at this convenience store has become one of the most profound, enjoyable, and edifying experiences I have had so far.

A Franchisee and His Family

If you asked me 7 months ago what was the difference between a franchise location and a corporate location, I might have been able to enumerate the distinguishing factual features. But working at my current franchise location, I’ve come to learn and appreciate how those facts can impact people’s families and livelihood. The 7–11 that I work at is operated by a franchisee, and even though I make barely more than minimum wage, I am so incredibly fortunate and grateful to have the opportunity to work as a sales clerk for the franchisee of the store.

Like my family, the franchisee I work for immigrated to the United States where he became a US citizen and has been working in 7–11 for decades. Since coming to the United States, he’s made a home and a life for himself, his wife, and his 4 children. Like my family, although he came to the United States with very little, he’s been able to feed, clothe, and shelter his family by running his 7–11 store. He works 16 hour days, he bears the burden of financial losses if the store doesn’t do well, he constantly has the concern of burglary, vandalism, and shoplifting that could really devastate his family’s home budget, he pays for new inventory out of his own pocket, and he is constantly stressing on how he can improve the store and how he can encourage customers to buy more.

But for all of that, he has a life in the United States, in a great neighborhood, where his children can go to school and have opportunities that he didn’t have, and to be part of a community as well as contribute to it. The more people purchase things from his 7–11, the more people visit the store due to its improvements, the more people return to the store for other needs and wants, the better the store does overall. And as a franchisee, the better the store does, the better he does; the better his family does; the better the opportunities and life available to them become.

I’ve met and worked with his family, and they are incredibly kind-hearted and good-natured. His wife comes to the store to help clean and put away inventory. His kids will take shifts at the register or help to cook food and clean dishes. Whenever he wants something from the store or his children want something from the store, they still pay for it just as any other customer! Looking back, I can’t stress enough how being a franchisee has allowed my boss to provide a life for his family, and how it is an absolute honor and privilege to work at this franchise location. Knowing that by doing a good job, providing excellent customer service, and helping as much as I can while I am at work benefits my franchisee and his family is undeniably humbling and gratifying. That I can contribute to the endeavor that has allowed my boss to make a life for his family is a blessing that I never expected — even if I am only contributing as a sales clerk behind the cashier.

All Walks of Life

I was born in the suburbs of New Jersey where I spent most of my adolescence until I left for college at Notre Dame. After graduating from college, I spent 2 years in Maryland before spending the next 4 in Cincinnati, OH. Unlike many who live in Bel Air and Harford County, I’m not originally from Maryland. But Bel Air and Harford County is also unlike anywhere else I have lived; the town, county, and the people living here have their own unique qualities and characteristics.

When I last lived in Maryland, I went to classes where I saw the same classmates regularly and I went to work where I saw the same co-workers regularly. This provided a comfort and security that came with familiarity, but perhaps didn’t help me in appreciating the distinctive ecosystem of Harford County and its inhabitants. Working as a sales clerk at 7–11 has given me the opportunity to experience and appreciate those features and traits about Bel Air and the people that live here in a far greater way than I was able to when I last lived in Maryland 4 years ago.

As a sales clerk, I find myself constantly adapting to the needs of the person standing across the counter from me, and that person across the counter could be anybody. Some conversations have a predictable rhythm while other interactions can vary wildly and strangely. Even among individual customers, I can encounter a certain person when they’re having a terrible day and then see them again when they’re having a great day. You see people that work and live all around town all throughout the day. The volume of customers I see and the range in age, ethnicity, education, class, upbringing, background, and beliefs of the customers that walk into the store I work in can only be described as astounding. And it’s seeing the number of people and all of the different talents and qualities they bring to the table that’s given me such a broader and insightful perspective of pace and life of the town I live in.

Like Everyone Else

I took this position because I wanted to take a break from life, and one of the biggest things that I needed a break from were the expectations. Listen, I love working with and helping people. I love working hard. I love learning everyday. Those were things I undoubtedly loved about my experience at medical school. However, being under a microscope, having your every word and action criticized and scrutinized, being threatened with discipline or by withholding the potential for professional advancement on a constant basis, and never getting clear guidance or having your problems and challenges acknowledged by others had just taken its toll. Having given so much effort, having tried so hard, and only finding more conflicting and contradictory challenges, directives, demands, and expectations, I just needed a break from abiding by seemingly omnipresent requirements and restrictions regardless of whether I was on or off the clock.

Due to some of my past experiences, I know what it feels like to have people treat me more politely and nicely largely because of my position and status. It’s always nice when people treat you politely, but I never particularly enjoyed this deference because I always felt like it created a distance between myself and someone else when what was really needed was more closeness, honesty, and authenticity. Wearing a nice dress shirt with a tie, following closely behind someone well-known and respected, and being introduced as somebody with future significance, I’ve experienced a deference offered to not many others. Burdened with those expectations and pressures, if something went poorly, I would always blame myself regardless if I was at fault or if I even had any control over the outcome of the situation.

As a sales clerk at 7–11, those standards and expectations are not present. Working as a sales clerk in the absence of expectations and status that I experienced as a student alleviates so much tension, pressure, and stakes I used to attach to interactions with others. People treat me however they wish, and I am free to act in a way that defines myself in a way that I find satisfying. If I am treated poorly or I experience conflict/criticism or I find myself in a difficult situation, this gives me a low-stakes opportunity to practice new methods and skills of handling my own reactions and emotions while managing the interaction and situation to find the best outcome. If I am treated well, I know it wasn’t because of my status or position but because of the kind and genuine demeanor of the person standing across from me.

In both good ways and bad, as a 7–11 store clerk, I am treated like a nobody — and whether good or bad, I warmly welcome this treatment. Because of the low stakes, the lack of expectations, and the lack of a differential in status and power when interacting with customers, I’m learning to handle people and situations as they are. I’m not internalizing negativity or blaming myself or racking myself with guilt because I did the best I could — I’m sorry the item won’t scan or your card won’t go through or that we ran out of inventory, but none of those things are my fault. When you’re at the bottom, people treat you in a way that reveals their most honest selves; this authentic character may be understanding and patient or petty and mean-spirited. And as a lowly sales clerk — as a nobody — I’ve come to appreciate better the subtleties of people’s individual natures.

The Kindness of Strangers

As I said earlier, I came back to Maryland feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. My experiences had left a bad taste in my mouth and I was feeling very bitter and demoralized. I didn’t feel the spirit of belief, faith, and optimism within my heart as I had used to and in its place was a visceral anger and disappointment at the world and at myself. This was undoubtedly a low point for me, but even in this metaphysical valley that I found myself in, I was constantly struck and inspired by the daily small acts of kindness extended by strangers — kindness that was extended to me as well as other customers.

The smallest act of charity that elicit sometimes the most consequential effect are the customers who leave their spare change for other customers later in the day. Most of the time, it grants the next customer the small but pleasant surprise of being able to pay with exact change. In other, more significant instances, a few customers will be able to make up the $0.10 they need in order to even afford to purchase their item. For these few random patrons, the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny tray is treated like manna from heaven. Other times, I’ve seen customers try to pay for their foodstuffs with EBT that get declined due to errors in the store’s point-of-service machines and don’t have the cash to afford to pay for their milk, bread, and eggs. In these instances, I’ve seen customers happily and eagerly step in and purchase those items for the other. Personally, the strongest memory that sticks out occurred during the MegaMillions $1.6 billion jackpot craze. During the frenzy of lottery ticket purchases, many first time lottery players walked into the 7–11 that I worked at to try their luck. Lottery tickets need to be paid with cash, and one first-time lotto player buying only 1 ticket only had their bank card and credit card. In that moment, the seasoned lotto and scratch-off customer behind this person spotted the $2 for the ticket saying, “everyone should have a shot at that billion dollar jackpot.” And it’s the spirit of sportsmanship and egalitarianism with which this kindness was extended that made this moment resonate so strongly and deeply with me.

Maybe because of my melancholy did their kindness shine like a candle in pitch black night. Perhaps it was because I was in such need of inspiration and hope for the human condition and capacity did I appreciate such genuine altruism. I’m not going to make any further attempt to rationalize or explain why such small moments or gestures speak to my heart so deeply — I’m happy that I get to bear witness to people who give onto others without being rewarded in return.

This year has not been an easy year, and I have not found much success. In so many ways, I have experienced and continue to experience disappointment and failure. Despite this, I count myself fortunate and extraordinarily lucky to be able to smile when I see these glimpses of goodness that often go overlooked. Thinking about the hidden treasures and subtle positives in my life, I remember how blessed I am to be where I am no matter how small the contribution. -GP

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart.”
-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn