So, I've been harping on my oldest daughter to try to get a job for over a year now.  The older she gets the more often I hand her a $20 bill.  Here lately that is every other day.  Both my husband and I have been ranting about how we have been working since we were 15 years old and there is no reason she can't work 1-2 days a week.  This process with her has taken so long I was starting to think she had purposely sabotaged the couple interviews she went on to make herself look like a dumb ass just so they wouldn't hire her.

We have gone over all our reasons with her several times so she could understand in her teenage brain that this was not a punishment.  She will benefit so much from her first job. She will have to show up on time.  Punch a clock.  Answer to a boss.  Do things she doesn't want to do.  Pick up a paycheck, deposit it at a bank, and budget money.  Communicate hours and days off, etc.  Just one lousy day a week will teach her these things.

As soon as I made having a job a requirement for her to get her driver's license you wouldn't believe how fast she had an awesome interview!

I drove her to fill out her paperwork and as I sat in the parking lot I noticed a few things that made me think I made the wrong decision.  When I send her to school every day almost every boy is under 18.  At work they are mostly between 18 and 22.  As I'm watching her talk to her boss I realize how easy it would be to take advantage of her with hours, etc.  Then I wonder how she will be able to keep her grades up.  But tucked in the back of my mind I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside that this child will finally have to answer to someone else and do shit work for shit pay! The sense of entitlement this generation feels is ridiculous and my daughter is no exception to that. Welcome to the real world baby!

The morning of her first day we went to get her some new tennis shoes and a belt. She was so nervous all day I was was getting terrified she was going to throw up and then have to call in sick! We talked about a realistic budget to prevent her from thinking she was going to buy 5 new pairs of Miss Me jeans next week. We talked about attitude and how a boss does not find it cute when you act like an airhead. While I do believe they hired her because she is cute they are also very aware of how smart she is and she doesn't have to pretend to be a dummy. (Yes, we really have to talk about these things.) Strong Independent Young Lady is the last thing I said to her as she walked out the door.

I arrived a couple minutes early to pick her up and watched her bust her tail through the window. I was very proud at that moment because I thought some of my words might have sunken in over the years.  I tell her over and over is she wants something she has to work hard for it.  Nothing will ever be handed to her for free.

We were 2 minutes into our car ride home when she started crying that she didn't want to work anymore. That's right, my pampered little princess CRIED because she had to work!  She went on to say she doesn't want to get her license anymore or save for a car. Her grand plan is to wait until she gets out of college to drive as long as she can see her friends on the weekends.

WOW

I wish I would have taken a picture of her face when she was getting ready to go back to work the next morning. That was one sour princess. There is not a chance in hell I'm letting you quit when you put it to me like that. Then for a moment I felt bad for her and almost told her she could give a week's notice. Then, all of a sudden I feel something familiar. It was that warm fuzzy feeling in my gut again.

Welcome to the real world baby!