A teenage girl has gone viral for sharing her honest thoughts after being picked up from her first-ever day at work.
Maryland teenager Taylor was 14 years old when she decided she was ready for her first job. With the help of her grandmother, she created a resume and cover letter, and landed work at a local restaurant as a host, seating customers as they entered.
Her grandma, who introduced herself as Ms Ferguson, told Newsweek: “I took her to work for her first day and helped her complete the required paperwork as a minor, and dropped her off.
“When I picked her up after her shift and she got in the car, I asked her one question and it spiraled.”
She added: “Her reaction was so authentic, I couldn’t help for laughing.”
A video of that moment was shared to TikTok account @divagirls310 by Taylor’s mother, Shana Harris, where it has racked up more than 2 million views.
In the clip, Ferguson tells the camera, “I’m just now picking Taylor up from her first shift at her first day on the job,” but, as she is about to ask Taylor how it went, both of them have already started laughing.
As Taylor laughs through the tears that have already started to form in her eyes, Ferguson tells her granddaughter: “Welcome to the working world.” And Taylor replies simply: “My back hurts.”
TikTok @divagirls310
Taylor goes on, through laughter and tears: “I haven’t sat down since I got here at three. I have not sat in six hours; there is no seating at all!”
The grandma and granddaughter keep laughing. As Ferguson tries to assure Taylor that tomorrow is a new day, Taylor responds with a horrified expression: “And I gotta stay till close!”
Ferguson told Newsweek the interaction is relatable, as it “captured the moment of her realizing that this is what working people deal with. And I think she, for the first time, realized that this is the reality for many!”
In 2022, around 20.3 percent of United States teenagers aged between 16 and 19 were working while also enrolled in school, according to data from Statista. The figure peaked in 1998 at 31 percent, and was at its lowest in 2013 and 2014, at 17 percent.
TikTok users loved Taylor’s video, which has been viewed more than 2 million times and awarded close to 300,000 likes since being posted on March 22.
Plenty of commenters found the video relatable, and were full of empathy toward Taylor, as one wrote: “Her crying and laughing is literally adulthood.”
“Take that baby home! She is ready for retirement,” another said alongside a series of laughing emoji. A third pointed out “the fear in her eyes when she said ‘I gotta stay til close!'”
And one viewer accurately guessed: “You just know it had to be retail or customer service. Nothing breaks you like that.”
Proud grandma Ferguson called her granddaughter, now 15, a “phenomenal young lady,” who is hoping to pursue a career as an anesthesiologist when she is older.
But, for now, Taylor will continue her seasonal work at the restaurant—and Ferguson confirmed she “did eventually get used to the job and its responsibilities and enjoyed it very much.”
Taylor herself later shared a clip to her mother’s TikTok account where she thanked the millions of people who had watched the original video. She said: “I did go back to work; I still work there to this day.
“I love my job … it just took a lot of adjusting,” Taylor added. Answering the burning question, she assured commenters: “My back is fine!”
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