Work Ethics and My Children

I've been working the Korean Cooking Demo for the last couple of days. Crazy hours and hard work. A teenager was hired on the recommendation of her grandmother.

Oh dear.

Said teenager was assigned to start work at 8 a.m. and showed up at 10:30. She showed up for work wearing very brief shorts and then refused to wear the uniform because "it was too claustrophobic" and would make her legs sweat and cause her to become dizzy. She talked on her cellphone a majority of the time she was there. She spent more time talking with the guys that flocked around her (yes, she was very pretty) than she did doing any sort of meaningful work. She took several long breaks. I overheard her tell someone on the phone that she would be ready to leave by 12:30 or 1. She left on break (again) at 12:30, called at 1 to say that a family "incident" had come up and she wouldn't be able to return to work. That was the last time we saw her. She was there a total of 2 hours.

I would be embarrassed for recommending her if I were her grandmother.

I am so grateful that all of my children have been hard workers. I am grateful that I don't have to be ashamed of my children's work ethics. I am grateful to all the people that have gambled on my children and have been pleasantly surprised at the good jobs the kids have done at whatever jobs they've been given to do. The oldest kids are now grown up and employed. One is in graduate school. One is an entrepreneur developing her new company. All are over-achievers.

Recently, Butterfly worked for several people as she earned money to go to the Big Island with her church group. She did yard work, painting, and house cleaning. All of the people that employed her told me how hard she worked. I was so very proud of my youngest daughter.

I am also grateful I am not that teenager's grandmother.