Important Life Lessons I Learned Working at a Bakery

I had to stand the heat to stay in the kitchen.

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After having moved to Hawai'i in my late 40s, I found myself not having any luck finding work. Then, I saw an ad for a bakery hiring and willing to train— 90 miles from where I lived. I hesitated, but a few days later, I had a job working in the bakery. I learned vital lessons from that job.

Lesson 1 — Learning New Skills Can be Hard on the Ego

I was awful on the first day at my new job. I didn't know anything. Whatever baking I'd done as a young person didn't compare to working in a commercial bakery. Then, for some reason, my trainer thought I was more proficient than I was, and she left me alone at the end of the day.

I ruined over 30 loaves of bread because my lack of speed and inexperience allowed the dough to be over-proofed. I didn't even know what over-proofing meant or what it looked like (the dough started rising way before someone was there to put it in the oven). I didn't know what I didn't know, nor did I know what to ask.

This complete incompetence didn't end after the first day. The person who did the baking at night was so mad at my work that he was ready to quit. So I was crushed going to work and working hard, all while…