How making $7.25 almost killed me inside

Sometimes I look back at my life and realize how much I've learned through my adversities. Life can be so rough. While taking my prerequisites to get into the Radiologic Technology Program at my school, we were told it was frowned upon to be working while in the program. They wanted us to be working part time at best. So I started looking for work and found out that TJ Maxx was hiring. They had a big recruiting event at this job recruitment center. I went for the interview and got the job. I later found out the pay was only $7.25 an hour. I was so desperate for work and a flexible schedule that I didn't care. This was the first time I ever got paid so low. Mind you I'm coming from corporate america. Boy was I stupid. This TJ Maxx store was just opening, so everyone they hired was there to start up a new store. That means putting thousands of clothes on hangers, putting racks together, sweeping, bringing out merchandise, you name it. Anything that goes into building a retail store. It was a lot of us. They hired at least 50 or more of us to get the store together. I met a group of young ladies there who I will never forget. Most of them were younger than me and had all the energy in the world. I was at least five to ten years older than most of them but they were very fun to hang out with. While opening the store we received a lot of hours so our paychecks weren't that bad. But once the store opened and a few weeks past its grand opening, they started to let people go and reduced our hours. Mind you $7.25 x 20 hours in two weeks is nothing. That's $145 before taxes. We worked like crazy and that job was so stressful. My feet used to kill me. I remember one day I was asked to stay longer at work and of course I took it because I needed the money but because this job was all the way on the other side of Brooklyn and I lived on the other side of Queens, it was definitely a headache to get to and from. One day I had to pick up my daughter from school and I was running so late. I had to jump in a cab and take the train. I remember once I got to my daughter's daycare center, the director of the program told me that I can't be late like that again. I bursted out into tears and everybody in the room was so shocked. I busted my ass everyday at that job and had nothing to show for it. I could barely pay my bills let alone child care. I was actually more broke working then I was at home. So being late to pick up my child from daycare was heartbreaking. All of the women in the center hugged me and told me everything was going to be around. It wasn't like I was just hanging out in the streets. I was working my behind off trying to provide for my family.

An inspirational part of this story is one of the young ladies I met at T.J.Maxx. She was one of the younger girls and she worked in the shoe department. We used to always crack jokes together I even went to her birthday party at her house on year. This young lady is now called Young M.A. She's a rapper from Brooklyn and last year she blew up with her song Ooouuu. She worked her butt off at TJ Maxx but later on made her own way. She wanted better for herself and made it happen. I'm so proud of her. I say that to say this. Sometimes we feel like we want to give up, like the world is against us. But I feel like the best motivation comes from within. Going through your struggles and knowing that you deserve better can help pull you through life's heart aches. I've met so many

amazing people along the way that fight everyday for their dreams. That refuse to settle for less because they know they deserve better and more. So the next time you feel like you can't do better smack yourself in the face and get your butt up and get it done, because no one's here to save you. You can only save yourself.

Invest in yourself, pamper yourself. Goddess Unique

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