The First Day

Today was ASid's first day at his first official job! The "official" part implies that there is a SIN involved as well as a pay cheque and most definitely taxes!

The boy specifically wanted a job that required only 2-3 weeks of his time commitment. After all, it is summer vacation and a boy needs to hang out with his friends and get his teenage ya-yas out!

No one asked him to get this job. No one helped him get this job. It was all his initiative and doing. There was a time the boy would describe himself as curious (in one word); these days, the word is charismatic! He let me know that he sold his Math skills quite nicely to land the cashier job.

Yes, he will be working as a cashier for the next couple of weeks. Today is Day 1. I was a little nervous for him, but then I had to remind myself that the worst that could happen is that ASid would get fired. It would be a learning experience no matter how it goes.

The boy is 4 days from his 17th birthday. He has led quite the life. I am quite proud of the choices he has made and the roads he has travelled.

Recently, in a conversation with G, I said that I was embarrassed to admit that ASid can't ride a bike. I want to clarify that the embarrassment is all mine as a parent. I did not provide a suitable environment for ASid to learn bicycling. If I had, he would have that skill as well. To his credit, ASid does not care about it as much as I do.

For sure, I am not embarrassed in any way with what my children cannot do. I will only be mortified if they are ever not nice to anyone for no good reason. And as they are getting older and turning into their own selves, I am quite happy with the results.

On another positive end note, ASid survived the first day of work. He had to stand on his feet for 6 straight hours and did not get to eat lunch. He came home hungry and tired. The only mistake he made was miscalculating the number of ribs in/on a full rack – turns out that there are 12 (at least that is the count at the place he is working) and not 18 (absolutely no idea how he came with that number?!). He made that mistake only once (obviously!) and ticked off a customer who expected more ribs than s/he received.

As of now, ASid is waiting to find out if he will work another day at the CNE. And I do not care about it as much as he does!

With 4 more days to his 17th birthday, ASid has done well. I wish for wisdom this time around as he prepares to make important decisions about postsecondary education and his future.