After high-school graduation.

Hi, my name is Cindy, I'm 22 years old, and I live in Montreal, Canada. At the moment, I'm working in a pharmacy as cashier. I have been working there since graduation. I work twenty hours a week, but in not considered a full-timer, which means I do not have any insurance. I decided to start working immediately after graduation because I got pregnant. My son is now two years old. Recently I have been thinking about my dreams. One of them was to become a teacher for special need kids, this made want to go back to school. Last week, my manager came to see me asking if I was interested in a promotion. She offered me a job as a lab technician, and I said I would think about it.

Choice 1 : I took the promotion.

Choice 2 : Go back to school.

I took the promotion.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to take the promotion. I thought it was the best choice to make because I had to many responsibilities. I have to pay for my son's daycare, and different bills. It's been a month now, and I am still on the job training. As a trainee, I have to learn the ropes of the job, so I can improve. The tasks are a bit overwhelming, but with more practice it should be manageable. As it's been only a month, I am not comfortable enough to work alone, but one of my colleagues asked me if I could take her shift in the evening. I know I am not experienced enough, but I could use the money. What should I do accept or decline.

Choice 1 : I accepted the shift.

Choice 2 : I declined politely.

Go back to school.

I decided that the best for me and my family was to go back to school, so that is what I did. I applied in Social Science, in education at Ahuntsic College. Usually, it takes two years until graduation, but I think I will have to do it on at least three years since I plan to work and study at the same time, because I can not afford to stop working. At the same time the faster I finish my studies, the faster I can start working, so I am really confused on what to do. In this first semester I have seven courses what should I do, should I cancel some classes or should I keep them and still work fifteen hours a week?

Choice 1 : I decided to cancel some classes.

Choice 2 : I decided to keep the seven classes.

I accepted the shift.

As I really needed the money, I took the shift. It was a Sunday night, and we were closing the pharmacy. Let's say It did not go well. Because I was not fully prepared, and trained, I made many mistakes. I was working alone with the pharmacist, so I couldn't really ask help because he had his job to do, but because I was making to many mistakes, the pharmacist had to do the job twice to fix my mistakes. Because he had to do twice the work, we were falling behind on the tasks. The next day, the morning staff had to finish the job we could not finish, so they were already in a rush at the opening. That day, my supervisor called me to the office to ask me why I was working last night, and I explained that Vicky, my colleague, asked me to if I could take her shift because she couldn't make it, and I accepted. My supervisor got mad at me and Vicky because we both were irresponsible. Me because I had to ask my supervisor before accepting, and her because she knew I was still in training, and she shouldn't have asked me. Let's just say I did not make the same mistake ever again.

Write a choice here.

I declined politely.

As I knew I was not properly prepared, and my training was not over yet, I decided to decline the offer. I told her that I was sorry, but that I would not be able to take her shift because I was still in training, I told her to ask the manager maybe she would be able to do something to help her. She was not happy about that and decided to give me the cold shoulder for the rest of the week. It was now really uncomfortable to work with her because she would not talk to me, and she would ignore me when I talked to her. As the weeks went by, My other colleagues started to notice what was happening and decided to tell the manager that we were not working well together, and it was affecting the team. The team manager called us separately to ask us what was the problem. Should I tell her or should I keep quiet?

Choice 1 : Tell her.

Choice 2 : Keep quiet.

I decided to cancel some classes.

I decided to cancel some classes because I need to be able to concentrate at school, and at work. At work, to help me, they still offered me the job as lab technician, but part-time so I took it. I was now learning at school, and at work. The situation with my son got better too, because my mother was now retired, and offered to help me with Leo. Her help was more than enough for me because I did not need to pay for daycare anymore, at least not as much. As the years went by, I still got many obstacles before me, but I was able to succeed and graduate. It was almost time for graduation, and I had to decide to which university I was going to apply. UDEM or UQAM. Which one should I choose?

Choice 1 : UDEM.

Choice 2 : UQAM.

I decided to keep the seven classes.

I choose to keep the seven classes and keep working, but I couldn't keep up. I had to miss some classes because of fatigue, my child, and work. As I was missing many classes I got really bad grades, so I decided to quit school and go back to work at the pharmacy. Maybe, in the future, I will go back to school, but for now, I have to save money again.

Write a choice here.

Tell her.

I decided that the best for the team was to tell her. I told her Vicky, my colleague, asked me if I could take her shift, but I declined because I was still in training. I told her that I tried to talk to her, but she kept ignoring me, and giving me the cold shoulder. The team manager decided to call us to her office together to try to fix the problem. We talked about it and decided to apologize to each other. As time went by, I realized that I really liked the job and my team, but I still wanted to go back to school. I realized that I was working in a dead end job, so I decided to do some research and saw that I could do a DEP as a pharmacy technician. I would have a raise, and I would learn more about the pharmacy.

Write a choice here.

Keep quiet.

I choose to keep quiet because I did not want to cause any more problems. I said that nothing was wrong, and that it was a little misunderstanding. She did not ask any more questions about the situation. As time went by, I felt that I was working in a really toxic environment. As I had a little bit of experience, and my training was over, I decided to get transferred to another pharmacy that would be closer to home. I hope that the environment will be different and less toxic.

Write a choice here.

UDEM.

I decided to go to the University of Montreal (UDEM). I was accepted and everything went well. I took some LSF classes (sign language) because it would be really beneficial for me because I want to work with kids with special need. At school, I had to do an internship In another country, and I choose Korea. I went over there for three months, and It was an amazing experience. I was teaching French to four-five years old kids. At break time I would play with them to some traditional games, and they would try to speak to me in French. I took some Korean classes, so that I could be able communicate with them. I was really happy to be living my dream.

Write a choice here.

UQAM.

I decided to go to UQAM in education and everything was fine. I graduated, and found my dream job.

Write a choice here.