Good work habits start at an early age
By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
"Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living, barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving…"
Dolly Parton's working person ditty has been in my head a lot lately. My sister, Anna, is home for the summer and has a job as a hostess at a place that does kid's birthday parties. Greg's son, Derek, also is entering the work force this year. He's working at his uncle's sporting goods store, though he's a bit vague about what he actually does. From what I can tell, he's the stockboy/phone answerer/anything else that needs to be done employee.
It's the first real taste of employment for either one of them. And while both seem to be enjoying their jobs, it's been quite the adjustment.
"It's boring," Anna said. "Sometimes we're busy, sometimes we're not. I hate that."
For Derek, the problems were more physical. It seems he's learning that your feet can hurt after you've been on them all day.
It's a good thing for teenagers to have jobs. It teaches them responsibility and a good work ethic. It also teaches them skills for getting along with others and instills pride in working for what you want. Of course, it also gives them some spending money, something I believe will be used at the mall in Anna's case and at the video game store in Derek's.
My brother and I worked at my grandmother's bakery throughout our teenage years. We weren't the best employees.
We were usually late, hated working any day after a holiday, and probably ate most of the profits.
We did learn our lessons, however.
My brother maintains he stayed in college just so he wouldn't have to work at the bakery again. He learned quickly that programming computers was much more fun than dealing with an angry bride who wanted to know why the flowers on her wedding cake were hot pink instead of fuchsia.
The best lesson he learned, however, was one my grandmother repeated to him over and over as he approached college graduation.
"You cannot be late to work," she said to him. "You have to be on time for your job."
Lanny landed a computer programming job shortly after graduation. He called home after his first day on the job to report he had gotten to work almost an hour early.
"There wasn't anyone there yet so I had to sit in the parking lot for awhile," he proudly told my grandmother.
I guess my grandmother had accomplished her goal. We may not have ever learned how to frost a cake and my icing roses looked more like cabbages, but something had sunk in for us.
I hope the same holds true for Anna and Derek and, someday, they, too, will be sitting in the parking lot waiting for the other employees to arrive.
