Katelyn Katelyn

When I was younger and first started, I would honestly just have to say, just getting me through college. But my store manager that I mentioned before, who gave me advice, he unfortunately passed away like 3 years ago. So he's kind of been my motivator ever since. You know, like, oh, like, what would he like me to do? What would he think? Like, how would he think, you know? Yeah, he's been my motivation ever since, and my kid, too.

Not really advice, per se, but more, I mean, I guess, yeah, you could say that it's advice. My old store manager before this one, he was a really close friend of mine. And he would always tell me, Katelyn, you need to keep pushing it, keep pushing it, he would tell me. Like, if I felt like something was really, really tough to handle, like, let's say, like a $3,000 catering order or something like that, which was huge, you know, I'd be like, I don't know if I might, I'm gonna be able to handle this, and he'd be like, keep pushing it, keep pushing it, keep doing it. You'll be fine. Like, you'll get through this, but you'll get to go home by the end of the day, don't worry about it, just keep pushing. Is what he would say. So I always kept that motto of, like, okay, like, eventually I'm gonna go home anyway, so I just have to keep pushing myself to, you know, be good throughout the whole entire shift of mine.

I would say, for sure, that when it comes to becoming a manager, or when it comes to being in a position, like, higher up, it is a little bit difficult for a woman, I would say, in my experience at least, to get to that role, just because they always tend to pick the guy first. They always tend to pick, like, oh, like, this guy's gonna do better than probably she will. So I always had to work twice as hard as anybody else just to get to where I am. So I would say probably, honestly, probably to just have confidence. You know, be a little bit egotistical, be a little bit like, I know what I'm doing, and I know what I'm good at, and I know that I deserve this position.

Currently, challenges, I mean, still to this day, I still feel like I have to put in more effort, I guess, than a male co-worker. So I feel like that is still an ongoing thing.

Values I tend to uphold would probably be, honestly, sincerity. Especially at work, I always like to be sincere with my customers. I like to, you know, let them know what's going on and stuff. If an item that they enjoy is unfortunately not available, I always just like to not really sugarcoat it, but say, hey, this is what's going on, and this is what's happening. If you want to wait, then I'd really appreciate it. If not, then that's, like, understandable, but, you know, because of that, I feel like me and my regulars have a really good relationship because of that. Because they know that I will always tell them, you know, what's going on and stuff, and same thing at home, is I'm always honest about how I'm feeling, or what I need to say on my mind, and stuff like that.