I thought to make this post a “Thanks-giving,” but each time I brainstormed a list of the people I could/would/should thank, it became a might unwieldy. I know I could never choose only a few from the mountain of people who have made me.

But, there is another “holiday” this month that got me thinking. Black Friday.

I wasn’t aware of Black Friday until I was sixteen. I was a junior in high school and I had started working at Target the month before, in preparation for the holiday season. I was assigned to come in at 6 a.m. and work the registers, even though I was normally a “soft-lines” team member, meaning I worked primarily in the clothing sections. I was both nervous and excited. I was wearing my comfortable work shoes with my red shirt and khaki pants. I was at my station and ready when they opened the doors, and customers jogged towards electronics.

Busy days like that were a blur of adrenaline, smiles, and morale-boosting food in the break room.

Target was my first place of employment, and it made a huge impact on me. I never played sports in high school, or participate in typical extra-curriculars like theater or model UN, but the last year and half of high school I was working 12-24 hours a week as a Target team member. Under those fluorescent lights, I had my first experiences with responsibility, diversity and teamwork. And yes, I also experienced the entitlement of American consumers. My job at Target was the first time I witnessed and really comprehended racism.

One of the most important things I learned at Target, though, was the importance of co-worker relationships. Even in retail, a field known for eating minimum wage worker’s souls, the right people can make the job bearable. The right people can make waking up at 6 a.m. for the Black Friday rush fun.

Target has such a high rate of turn-over that in two years, I experienced good, bad and mediocre teams. Good teams create energy, and that energy turns into productivity. They make work fun, even if you are stuck in infants organizing the bottle aisle for the third time that week. Mediocre and bad teams, don’t support each other that way. There’s drama, or maybe just apathy, that drains the energy and makes the atmosphere miserable. You avoid co-workers by taking on the long and unenviable task of organizing the clearance racks by percentage clearance and then by size. Time moves slowly. Bad teams blame each other if one section is taking longer than the others to clean after closing, instead of just helping to finish it.

Changes in management reverberated through the store. I worked best with a supervisor who allowed me my independence, who encouraged problem solving. If something didn’t work one day, or took too long, I could try something different the next. After a year and a half of working there, a new manager would tell me to go by the book, every day, even when it wasn’t working for me or a particular clothing section I was in. That inflexibility to try new things or look for better solutions was extremely frustrating.

Target was my first experience in work-place culture, and it taught me which management styles and team relationships I value most. Retail gets a bad rap. Sure, by the end of senior year I was ready to leave, and it took me a long time to be able to wear red and khaki together again, but as a first job I could not have asked for better.