Juggling work, school and sports

Not only is Vanessa Jade Frantzich a junior at Armijo High School, she is also an employee currently working at Walmart as a self-checkout host.

In addition to juggling those two tasks, Frantzich is also a student athlete, and with sports opening up again this spring, that has made an impact on how many hours she works. She used to work over 25 hours a week, but it has been cut down to about 14 hours because of volleyball.

Frantzich divides that time between a weekend shift, from 10 am – 6 pm, and a couple of daytime shifts on weekdays, from 4 pm – 8 pm. She said that her work is pretty easy for her and sometimes she has fun. She loves her friends/co-workers as well.

Although she has fun and enjoys her time, Frantzich has had some crazy experiences, including people fighting in the middle of aisles. “Some lady got mad at me because she didn’t like the return policy,” she said. “The people can be annoying. Sometimes creepy old men are hitting on me.”

She chose to work there for many reasons, but mostly for the traditional ones: to get money and to spend more time with her friends. Working at Walmart has given Frantzich a chance to practice her social skills and prepare her for the real world where she would need to act professionally and be more social with others.