difficult child got his first job!

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
At McDonald's. I've got my very own burger flipper! He is so excited.
He has been driving for 10 days now.
I let him take my car to the Williamsburg outlet mall today, with his girlfriend, as a treat. Even though they have no money ... they just wanted to walk around.
I feel like I'm holding my breath every time he takes the car but so far, so good.
 

dstc_99

Well-Known Member
Congratulations! Try not to hold your breath but be prepared for that "new driver dent." LOL my difficult child had several of those. It helped to remember that killing her for the accidents would only result in me being jailed. If I got jailed the house would get destroyed by the other kid. Then I would have to kill the other kid and clean up the house and go back to jail. It seemed like a lot of work to me.

LOL I have a weird way of talking myself into circles and therefore talking myself out of things.

Congrats on having a burger flipper!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Thank you!
And speaking of accidents, I was at the computer a few hrs ago, and a news item popped up saying that there was a 4-mile backup on the fwy due to an accident. I thought, "Oh, no! I hope difficult child isn't the cause of it!"
I did Google Earth, and local TV news videos, and drove myself batty for about ten min.
Then I thought, why not call difficult child?
I did.
No answer.
I texted his girlfriend.
No response.
My heart was racing.
Actually, it was probably a matter of seconds when he called me.
"We saw the traffic jam and turned around and came home to the mall."
WHEW!
 

Andy

Active Member
Way to go difficult child! I hope he enjoys his job! What am exciting time in his life! A girlfriend, a job, a license to drive and a mom who knows that he has to be allowed to spread his wings even though scary for her.

My difficult child has had two fender benders. One he was going a little too fast coming home for lunch and his car decided it did not want to turn into our driveway so ended up in a large snow bank.

The second time he was leaving a parking lot late at night and backed into a cement light post going faster then he should have by the damage done to the car. I didn't see him drive home and when he walked in the house, I thought he had crashed and walked home. That was a very hard night in our home. He admitted that he was distracted by a group of girls. His dad was out of town and difficult child was heartbroken as to how he could tell his dad. He knew our insurance would go up but was more hurt over his dad's disappointment. He also knew that we would not be replacing his vehicle with another new one. The damage to your very first car is hard to process. He went without a vehicle for a few weeks while the car got fixed, had to give up a summer camp, and had to decrease his budget big time for a couch he was looking at.

I know he learned a lesson, if it stuck with him or not is another thing.

Right now I am ready to call to see where he is as his newest activity is to take a friend home who lives 15 mikes out of town. Country roads with him behind the wheel at night makes me nervous for some reason.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Thank you all.

Andy, I hear you. I actually don't know a single person who has NOT been in an accident (and having been born in MN, I can SOOooo see that snowbank! lol).
It is a learning experience. Let the consequences do the work.
I'm glad that he felt badly about telling his dad. He's got a heart and soul. :)
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
He had half a day of training yesterday, then 7 hrs today, handing people orders through the drive-through window. He was exhausted! :) He asked husband, "How do you stand all day and keep up your energy? And not have your back hurt? My supervisor says to get supportive shoes and not to wear dress shoes."
Heh heh. So, we let him buy black padded combo sport/dress shoes and he can put away the ROTC shoes he was wearing. He iced his back and took ibuprofen. He's been on the couch most of the night. We told him he'd get used to it and it would get easier.
He looks so handsome in his uniform!
I bought a "congratulations" card for him and husband and I both signed it.
 

wakeupcall

Well-Known Member
My difficult children first job was also McDonalds. He loved it! They all loved him. It made his confidence soar. It soared to the point that he horsed around with other employees when business was slow, that got him fired after four months. I'm hoping he learned from it, but it took all summer for him to get another job, just started two weeks ago. He got that first paycheck, gave his father insurance payment(!!!!), and promptly spent the other $250! So, no date money or gas money or anything else till the next paycheck. I wish his father wouldn't give him but $5 at a time for gas to get to work, but HE is a huge enabler. Oh well, not my money....

I'm so proud of your difficult children, they deserve someone else giving them a break besides it always being mom and dad. Congratulations! How's it going?
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Thank you, wakeupcall.
Yeah, I bet my difficult child spends the rest of the paycheck, too. His main drive, excuse the pun, is to chip in for his own car because he wants us to buy him one when he's 18. :) Whatever works!
He worked this a.m. at 7:00. He works tomorrow after school at 4:00. So far, so good!
Now, to wash his uniform ... I have a feeling it's going to be able to walk around by itself.
 

wakeupcall

Well-Known Member
My difficult child was at work before his shift every single time he worked...he's never been early before. No joke, he loved it. Now that he's out of school, he's working at a car detail place 40 hours a week. There probably is no future with that kind of job, but he needs to pay for a few bills; insurance, get his truck repaired, etc. it's a start, so I'm not complaining. I still say he's almost 19, going on 15. Big difference...
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Terry,
Poor difficult child and his back (I can relate). I hope he enjoyed it overall! How sweet that you and husband bought him a card!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Wakeup, oh, yeah, we know that about our difficult child's emotional development, too. Sometimes he seems so mature and others ... well, we have to remind ourselves.
 
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