My Experience at Night Flight Fireworks

Zack Parman
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read

I have worked at a privately owned firework store in Bridgeport, MI for the past three four months. I learned about the job from the store’s owner, Jim, whose son played on the Nouvel Catholic Central High School JV baseball team which I helped coach. After learning that he was the owner of this store, we got to talking and he offered me a job.

My main responsibility at the store is customer service. I help customers load fireworks into their vehicles, run the cash register, make suggestions of what fireworks to buy based on the personal preference of the customer, and also point them in the direction of other stores in the area that carry products we either do not sell or do not have in stock at the time. In addition to customer service, I also open and close the store, clean the store (floor, windows, bathrooms, etc.), clean the parking lot, take out trash, stock the shelves, unload product from trailers, water plants, and answer phone calls.

My personality meshed really well with this job because the job allows me to be exactly what I am; a people person. I frequently interact with customers and often strike up a conversation with them even when fireworks are not the subject.

The thing I like most about this job is kind of silly. It isn’t the pay, dealing with fireworks, or even the responsibility that comes with it. The thing I like the most is that I get to wear gym shorts and tennis shoes to work.

The greatest lesson I have learned while working at this job is how to better myself and the store when business is slow. As one could expect, business for a firework store is primarily slow with the exception of a few holiday weekends. When I am not helping customers or performing other duties the job requires me to do, I like to use my time to sort product on shelves and stack boxes to better the appearance of the store. Once I have done everything I can for the store and there is nothing left to do and no customers to help, I use my time to exercise in the store by doing push-ups, sit-ups, calf raises, tricep dips. and even bicep curls using a ladder. I am actually writing this at work right now since there is no work to be done at the moment. Instead of bettering myself by working out at the moment, I am using my free time to better myself by going through the Praxis application process.