BY RYAN BISCHOF

She works as an assistant manager at a local gas station chain called Rutter’s, but that is not the first job she has ever worked. A job is a shared experience nearly every human will go through in order to live a comfortable life. However, the values needed in the job you work and the trade-off of your overall happiness for a paycheck are things not everyone encounters. Most do not fully understand their dilemma.

I have been working since I was 16. I graduated from York Tech High School in IT studies in 1987 and did not attend college. I never went to college because my high school was a trade school, so I didn’t feel any need. I have worked in the retail/food/hospice industries since my graduation, ranging from Kmart and Rutter’s to working with people in hospice. I feel as if my wide range of work has made me a better employee overall. I am currently an assistant manager at a Rutter’s Convenience Store and have been in this position since 2022. I have worked for the company since 2000 in jobs ranging from being a part-time employee to a food service manager. I have had three stints in the company. I left to become a mom the first time I left the company. Then I came back and worked up until I got diagnosed with cancer; at the end of my leave grace period, they, in a sense, let me go until I got healthier. In between that, I worked in hospice for 10 years, which I enjoyed. I returned to Rutter’s and have worked at my current location since 2022. I definitely feel like how the store is doing is important to me. I’m not losing sleep over it or anything, but when I’m clocked in, my goal is to make the store as good as possible and to help it to be the best in the company.

The store I work at is smaller, which I like. I know where everything is and know every item that we sell. If a customer comes in asking for cases of water, I can instantly tell them that we don’t sell cases, but we do sell individual bottles of water, and I can point directly to the location that those bottles are in. The customers are 75% regulars and 25% new customers. I enjoy seeing the same people every shift: I can look at the clock and know X will be in. Most of them are nice people who are respectful and playful. However, there are, of course, customers that I dread walking into the store. It just depends on who is who. I feel that as long as you’re respectful, for the most part, people will treat you with respect back. No matter how my day is going, I always try to be kind, even if it is very hard to do so. I’ve worked on the food side of the store and the retail side of the store, and both have a set of challenges you have to face and overcome. As the manager on the food side, I had to manage a whole lot more. The food side was a lot of manual labor, a lot of moving around, and always having 10 things that needed to be done at once. It was hard work, but the paychecks definitely helped make it more worthwhile. I worked as an assistant on the retail side, and it was more demanding, mentally.  The soft skills I learned in hospice care, I think, really helped me with my customer service.

I worked in hospice for 10 years after I was diagnosed with, and recovered from, cancer. I felt like I was meant to help people through the end of their life after I had cancer, and I saw how close I was to being one of them. It was definitely the most rewarding job I’ve ever worked, but at the same time, it was mentally the toughest. Seeing people on the brink of death — it isn’t just them being affected, it’s the friends and family that you are helping through the tough time also. I think when comparing the two jobs that I’ve spent the most time doing, there are benefits to both. I would say that I enjoy working at Rutter’s more on a day-to-day basis. The pay is higher, and what I do each day is more set in stone. I am able to build a routine. However, I think working in hospice was the most rewarding due to the people I was helping and the connection I had with that job, having battled cancer myself. I don’t regret leaving hospice or leaving Rutter’s the first two times because it’s what I had to do for myself and my family. That will always be the first thing on my mind — not a job. I think that’s where my values will always lie.