He Works Hard for the Money

Jack really wanted a job over the summer. We also wanted Jack to have a job over the summer. He was motivated to earn money, and he had lots of time on his hands, so it would have been perfect. He heard about some places around town that hire 14-year-olds and he applied to a few of them (after calling to find out if others would hire kids his age). He tried a local burger joint and a community theater which hired "chair boys" to rent chairs to patrons during outdoor performances over the summer.

Here, he's applying to a local pizza buffet where in addition to the traditional application he had to write a poem about himself. With some help, this is what he came up with:

Jack is a friendly guy

Who loves to eat pizza pie

He loves to watch sci-fi movies

He thinks that they are super groovy

Reading and drawing are super fun

He'd love to work here and get the job done

He seemed like a perfect fit there, and it's close enough to our houes that he could have biked to work. It would have been great. But, even though they interviewed him on the spot, they did not hire him. We were all disappointed that he couldn't find a job over the summer.

In the fall, we decided it would be good for him to have something to do and get a little work experience, even if he didn't get paid. So we went back to the theater and inquired about volunteering. And, amazingly, they were in need of volunteers on the night of the week Jack (and the drivers in the house) were most available. He got toward the end of October, as soon as I figured out what was what and he got the right clothes.

He really enjoyed this, because he's a people person (working with kids his age! interacting with customers!) and because he got free soda and popcorn for each shift he worked.

Almost as soon as he finally began volunteering at the community theater, he found out that the nice movie theater chain in our area hires 14-year-olds, and applied there. He filled out the application one night and was asked to interview the next day. The interview took over an hour but at the end, he had a job!

His training was delayed some because of our Thanksgiving trip, but he was finally trained early in December and he's really excited about the job. Ben helped him complete the food handlers' permit course quickly. But unfortunately, he's had trouble getting into the apps he's supposed to use for HR stuff and additional training, so he hasn't had a real shift yet. Hopefully that will get squared away soon!

With optimism that Jack would start working at the movie theater soon, and realism that scheduling starting in mid-December wouldn't allow him to continue at the community theater (finals, and then a Christmas trip), his last week at the community theater was at the beginning of December.

It's been a long journey, but fingers crossed that he will be a bonafide employee soon, and start earning that light saber money!