Another Big Milestone

This morning marked another big milepost in the life of a person.  My son, 16 and a half years old, left the house on the first morning of his first "real" job.  I don't know if I mentioned that this past summer he tried to get a job in the nearby beach resort community, but the economy was so bad that adults and college students had already flooded the market.  (The newspaper reported that most of the summer positions for teens had been taken by adults who would normally have been working full time elsewhere, and college students who previously would have "moved on" had returned to their beach jobs due to lack of work elsewhere.  Like the rest of the economy, this was the worst summer employment market in many years.)

Anyway, this morning was a big morning.  He's working "in retail" at a major brand name footwear/sports clothing outlet.  He was SO excited when he got the job!  He texted me as soon as he left the interview and I called him right back; I heard triumph in his voice as he told me about the interview, and he answered "Great!" when I asked him how it felt to be a working man.
  
This morning he was up bright and early, ready to go.  I got up to see him off, and he was enthusiastic about starting.  I felt like I should have been taking his picture, like that morning not so long ago when he got on the bus for his first day of kindergarten.  He laughed when I mentioned it.

Now, as I finish this post, he has returned from his first day, still happy.  He did well and I'm quite proud.  He has an easy way with people and described to me how he approached customers and talked and joked with them, helped them out and suggested socks and hats.  I think he has a knack for sales!

The boss is apparently quite happy with him and his "sales percentage" was surprisingly good, particularly for his first day. Since I've never worked in retail, I didn't know quite what that meant but after he explained it to me I was impressed! (It has to do with the number of items each customer buys.) He's also already "advanced" from being temporary Black Friday help to being "seasonal" which means he will continue to work through Christmas or New Years' I think. (He's not sure what it means exactly.) However, this son of mine has already set his sights on becoming permanent; he intends to do such a good job that they'll never lay him off.  Go him!

It's hard to say precisely what about this makes me so happy...his enthusiasm, his change from teen-lie-on-the-couch to good worker, his determination to do not just "ok" but excellently well, his new independence, his maturity, his obvious "people" skills, or all of the above, but I am just thrilled with him. Hope you can forgive me for bragging so much!! 

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