Few months before school ended, Pierre had been planning and wanting to work for summer to earn a little bit of money to pay for his trip to Ireland with his friends.Mathieu, our daughter Marie-Anne's fiance's boss promised him a job in his stablishment in Bordeaux as a diswasher. That was cool. He will be able to work with Mathieu and Marie-Anne's job is not so far as well.
However he still thought that it might be more interesting to wok in Le Cap Ferret knowing that it is more convenient so he was keeping this possiblity as an option but he was never contacted despite the fact that Pierre's grandma know's the owner of the other restaurant. (Connection does not always help.)
When classes ended and Pierre was ready to work, the day he showed up, the boss told him that he is finally not taken as Pierre only wanted to work for a month while there's a girl who was willing to work for two months. What a deception and disappointment indeed!
From Bordeaux, Pierre went to Le Cap Ferret with his grandarents feeling so sorry and devastated. However he was not easily discouraged. He prepared his CV, took his bike, and went around Le Cap Ferret distributing his resume in different restaurants, supermarkets and even in the green grocer stores. Finally his efforts were granted, a restaurant owner called him two days later and that's the beginning of his official "summer job!"
Pierre thought that being a dishwasher is easy as he has been doing that in our house. But an 8 hour dishwashing a day makes all the difference. He works four hours during lunch time, gets a break and another four hours in the evening and does sometimes over time and he comes home more than midnight very very exhausted. But he is not complaining.
One night I decided to wait for him while watching tv and he arrived completely tired. He sat beside me and said: "You know, my job is not a piece of cake. Look at my hands, I have got some blisters. I don't only wash the plates but the cooking pans and huge casseroles as well. And I need to dry them. But the people around me are nice, so I don't mind working."
I looked at my son and gave him a big hug with full of admiration and compassion. I told him that it is a good learning experience for him. That I hope washing plates all througout his life won't be his vocation and there are other jobs more interesting in the future for him. This will make him think that going to school and make further studies could be the answer. And I think, he got the message. He told me that he will work hard in his studies.
Well, this is a good summer job experience for him. He is determined to finish up to the end of the month even though he is not even entitled to have days off. He is looking forward to go backpacking in Ireland. He wants to pay for his vacation with friends feeling grand at eighteen. Feeling independent without asking money from mom and dad. And he is hoping to get more share from "clients tips" to augment his minimum income and could pay extra holiday needs.
I can't help but smile feeling proud of my son that he knows the value of work. That money does not come so easily with just a click of a finger, and that it should be earned by his own sweat. Honestly, it's not easy to bear seeing my son coming home so tired but I need to be supportive and encouraging. After all, it's for his own benefit.
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