Every teenager needs a customer facing job. Here are 7 explicit reasons why.

Looking back, I was a deer in headlights. I had a fantastic childhood, one where I didn't have to worry about money or providing for myself. 

But rewiring my brain to focus on setting myself up financially wasn't the only thing part-time work as a teen taught me. In truth, without it, I don't think I'd be as resilient an adult. 

2. The art of multitasking.

Sure, you're dealing with homework and after-school sport and fitting in catch-ups with your friends, but none of it compares to the lunch rush at a busy restaurant. 

As my colleague Megan shared, "I worked at Hungry Jacks when I was 14 and we used to have the dinner rush. It was non-stop - very busy taking orders. I liken it to the afternoon rush after school with my kids!"

I don't think I was properly 'busy' (as in people needed me to complete things RIGHT NOW, over and over again), until I worked in a hospitality job. 

Let's face it, unfortunately as adults it's a skill we have to hone, and part-time work fast-tracks that. 

3. To be okay with being bored. 

For a few years there I worked in a retail store that attracted about two customers a day. I would literally watch the clock tick past minute by minute - it was so unbelievably boring. 

Learning how to be 'professionally bored' was not only a good skill to learn, it was a good lesson to prepare me for the reality of work. You might have goals to be a top surgeon, or TV anchor or own your own business. But to get there, you're going to climb a ladder that starts at the very bottom rung and being bored will inevitably be part of that. 

Which brings me to: 

4. Sometimes you have to be the shit-kicker.

You're not going to walk into your dream job fresh out of high school. Most of us have to work, and work hard, to get into the kinds of roles we have our heart set on. 

For me, in journalism, that meant being okay with working pretty much every single weekend and overnight shift in my early 20s, knowing that's what it was going to take to climb the ladder. 

Part-time work as a teenager is a good prelude to the career world, as it humbles you. It makes you realise that everyone has to start somewhere and that somewhere, isn't always fun. 

5. Learning about the value of money.

Working my butt off for an eight-hour shift, and seeing that dollar figure drop into my bank account was a game changer. 

For one, it made me appreciate everything my parents had ever bought me. It made me less selfish and more understanding of choices they'd made over the years. 

It made me understand the basics of budgeting, the importance of considering the financial implications of choosing a certain career (for a hot minute there I wanted to be an actor. But when I realised how tricky that is financially, I decide to redirect my interests for performance into something a little safer because I knew I realistically couldn't hack that lifestyle). 

The earlier you learn these lessons, the more you can implement those learnings in the very adult decisions you have to make when you leave school - picking degrees, taking gap years, jumping into apprenticeships, ect. 

6. A new kind of confidence. 

It's the confidence you get from being forced to interact with a new group of people you don't know. 

The confidence you get from having to interact with customers from all walks of life.

The confidence you get from having to put on a 'sales face' and ask questions, and act interested and be polite and friendly and approachable. 

At school, teenagers still whine and whinge and ignore and do all the things with teachers they do with their parents. But that doesn't fly with a boss in a professional workplace. 

7. Not everyone you work with will be your kind of person. 

At school, you get to hang out with the people you choose. Apart from perhaps a group assignment, you can surround yourself with people you like, and who like you. 

At a workplace, you have to spend all day every day with people who might not be... your kind of people. It's a lesson in playing nice and finding common ground with those you wouldn't ordinarily hang out with. 

In conclusion...

I am glad I learnt all of these lessons as a teen, in a part-time job. Not as a recent graduate diving head-first into my chosen career. Work-life is a shock to the system when you've been mollycoddled in the bubble that is 13 years of schooling. 

That's why it shouldn't be overly surprising when young people who haven't worked before enter their first jobs still learning the ropes of resilience, patience, boredom, kindness and confidence. 

Best to get those skills in your arsenal out of the way nice and early I say. 

You can keep up to date with Gemma Bath's articles here, or follow her on Instagram, @gembath.