Almost a year ago, we told our eldest daughter she needed to get a “real” job. You know, a typical teenage gig at McDonald’s or something.
She had been teaching piano for almost two years out of our home, for which I was incredibly proud. And, heaven knows it pays far better than any fast food position.
However, there are some things one can only learn from a minimum wage job. The first being that one should develop a trade and get an education so that s/he is not relegated to minimum wage for the rest of one’s life.
Our biggest reason for wanting Anna to experience this rite of passage in life, however, was not necessarily typical. We just wanted her to do it because of how terrified she was of the entire process.
You see, Anna is pretty amazing at a whole lot of things. She excels in school (straight A’s for her entire school career), she’s an excellent test-taker (35 on the ACT, anyone?), she commits herself to living with integrity, she is a wicked good musician… I could go on and on.
And while I am SO proud of her and the fact that she strives for excellence in so many areas, I know that we build resilience by stepping out of our comfort zones. And one thing that is NOT comfortable for Anna? The art of applying for a job in customer service. And then working one.
There was no coercion. (It took her a year, after all). Just an explanation of the life skills she’d glean from the experience. And…a pulling of the plug on all financial support for extra-curriculars and such. Just so she could feel a little pinch.
And now she has a job at Subway. Her first few shifts were rough and she wanted to quit. But I held my ground and told her she could quit only if she had first secured another job.
It’s strange, but I’m almost more proud of her for this accomplishment than I am that she got a full-tuition scholarship to BYU. Why on earth? Because of how desperately hard it was for her.
Then, after a six-month stint making sandwiches, she’ll be well-equipped to apply for another “real job” working at BYU laundry. Or something like that.
The future is bright, Anna. The future is bright.
These jobs also teach empathy. 1) they can realize just how hard it must be for those who depend on these jobs to survive and 2) One can always tell who had one of these jobs when they become customers elsewhere at a restaurant or fast service place. Working at Starbucks in college it was clear by who put their napkins away or how people piled up their dishes who had worked such a job themselves. They treat employees better when they are customers themselves.
Yes! Perhaps one of THE most valuable lessons of all. We could ALL use a bit more empathy. Interestingly enough, I knew someone whose only experiencing working a minimum wage job was when she worked for McDonald’s for a month in college because she lost a bet. It was a total joke to her. I daresay she learned no empathy from that experience.