High School...rubber meets the road!

In high school, the rubber really starts to hit the road with respect to finances. All of us want an awesome car to cruise around in but (unless our parents are filthy rich) we quickly realize that our options are limited by our often meager savings account. Unfortunately, for many of us who grow up in a rural area...it is kind of difficult to make moolah without a vehicle. As such, many of us turn to an age old argument: "I can't get a job without a car" in the hope to land some time with the famdamily car. Once we have successfully made the deal with the devil (a.k.a., our parents in those prime teen-age years) we start the search for the "dream" job.

My "dream" job landed me squarely at the nearest McDonald's. I know it is not sexy...but where I grew up, the closest McDonald's was about 20 minutes away...and there wasn't much else around except the "country store" in town which wasn't hiring. And thus began my illustrious career...literally flipping one burger at a time ;-) Now to be fair to McDonald's...they provided my exactly what I needed: I could generally chose my hours and I got paid relatively well for the area - just slightly over minimum wage if I recall correctly ;-)

I stayed with McDonald's for the rest of high school and quickly worked my way through the ranks. By the time my senior year rolled around I was opening the store and managing the inventory/books/money. I can painfully remember how much of a slog it was to get to the store by 5:30am on school days, especially during sports season (oh wait that was all year: soccer/basketball/track). BUT, it was during those drives into work that I really had a chance to think about what I wanted to do when I grew up. While I did not know the exact thing I wanted to do, I definitely knew that I did not want to work like this!

I often look back on those years and thank my lucky stars that I was fortunate enough to go through that experience. First, I was (and still am) humbled by the fact a minimum wage job could be so difficult. Second, had I not pushed myself so hard and felt the "pain of progress" then I may never have built that foundation upon which I would continually draw through college. Lastly, I should thank those devils (a.k.a., parents). They were open minded enough to let a teenager "rent" their car and pile a 5:30am job on top of school & sports. I know that they were carefully watching to help if I slipped...

[I will insert a random thought here: Today I wish I still had that first paycheck I ever brought home - seeing as it was so huge (~$75). It is funny how almost every kid goes through the same experience of disappointment when they see the bottom line and ask themselves..."Self, why is this check so small?". That is when we all first really learned about TAXES and social security! When my kiddos are old enough to have their own first job, I will absolutely make sure to scan in their paycheck before we head down to the bank.]