I was 16. Working at Coldstone Creamery and was in charge of closing down the store for the night.
When turning off the display case there were a ton of buttons on the panel. Two that are very important.
One that turned off the light. One that turned it completely off and left it to thaw.
It wasn’t until the next morning when the opening shift came into a vat of melted ice cream soup that I was angrily called and told which button I hit.
I remember I was in Target when I got the phone call from my boss about how irresponsible I was.
I was 16. In charge of closing the store on a Friday night. Just a teenage girl who hit the wrong circle button.
At that moment, no one cared that the floors were spotless, that every dish was clean, that everything else was done perfectly, all I heard about was the one thing that I ruined.
I was heartbroken.
As an enneagram 7, ESFP and the youngest child...I thrive to make people happy.
So to know I ruined their day, cost the not-very-profitable store money and gave my friends more work...I felt horrible.
At that moment I should’ve quit that job. Especially since I later found out the manager talked crap about how she should’ve fired me from that anyways. (Again, I was 16…)
All this to say--we’re not our mistakes.
I’m not an eternal failure because I turned ice cream to spoiled milk.
I’m not any less worthy of having a successful career because of this.
I’m not a failure at bringing happiness to others because someone got angry at me.
Just because I’ve experienced failure, doesn’t mean I am one.
Neither are you. ❤️
I melted all of the ice cream in the whole store.