So many bad kids... Nice to find a good one!

16 years ago

I am really annoyed with the way so many kids are raised these days. Too many aren't required to do anything, are given everything, are spoiled rotten, or babied and put on drugs to make the parents feel better. It's so nice to see some good ones!

I was at the grocery store the other day and a young lad was working the checkout. He was so friendly, so conscientious, unusually careful. The belt was full of groceries and stuff, but he didn't do the usual - just start the belt moving and crush the bread and eggs at the end. He reached over and would put things in open spots. He talked and was sincere about being concerned. Commented on a saying on a can cooler I bought. This kid impressed me! Now that's not to say that someone shy and quiet is bad - far from it. But seldom does someone show a work ethic like this. It's SO nice to see! The receipt had a survey website. You bet I filled out the survey and gave credit to this young man. His work ethic is rare.

But that's not all. I had a knock at the door a few weeks back and a young man was there and asked if he could mow my lawn for $15. I thought I can do it myself, but there were other issues, health, physical, weather, etc., and I thought I'd like to help out a guy who really wants to WORK to make some money rather than sell drugs or live off parents and the like. So, sure, go ahead. I thought about it as he and his brother were mowing and the quote I got from the neighbor's lawn service was about $25 2-3 years ago. I couldn't give him just $15! I'm not that way. Well, he finished the front yard and came to the door. I asked if he did the back, "oh you want me to do that too?" LOL Yes, I would, how much? $10? OK. Well if he knew the area, and assumably he did, he'd know the back yard is bigger. Well they did it, did a good job, picked up sticks and even raked areas. They bagged the grass clippings and hauled it away with them! No, $25 isn't enough. These kids are HARD WORKERS and take pride in their work. Plus they wanted me to come out and look at it and approve it before being paid! When does THAT happen?

Needless to say this fella is working for me now. I don't have him mow every week but today he stopped by and I had him trim trees and bushes for me. What can I say? This kid takes pride in his work. Granted, after a few times now where I've given him quite a bit more than he asked, he takes care of me, and I try to take care of him.

Today I mowed and had him trim trees and stuff. He seemed to really want the work. Not sure if there's financial issues or what. But he worked for a couple hours. I was quoted by a couple people (older than he) $8/hr cash. I thought he worked hard so I paid him $10/hr (cash). To me, that's pretty good pay for an 18 year old. Figure taxes, SS, etc, that's not bad at all. When he finished tonight I was tempted to kid with him a bit, but he just seemed like it wouldn't work so I paid him and he looked at it and gave me a hug! I was shocked. I don't know if he has financial issues or what but it's so unusual to see someone who really takes such pride in their work. Again, totally unusual work ethic.

So, you found anyone who does more than they have to do?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (13)

kacram
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Great story!

I'm glad that you filled out the survey. I bet they will
be surprised, I think most people fill them out only when they have a complaint. There are a lot of really good
kids around here. Nice that you paid your yard worker a great wage too. It shows your appreciation of him and his work, and will go a long way with him continuing the good work!
dotmom
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Friend Cynic...your post warms my heart. It gives me hope that there are still some young people out there being raised correctly. When we lived in our home, we had two brothers, about 13 and 15, who took care of our snow removal. Not a lot, a drive way maybe 15 ft long, and the sidewalk to the front door, and around to the back door. They showed up after a snowfall, and always did a good job. One thing that touched me was on their own, they noticed I had bird feeders in the middle of the back yard, and they shoveled a path out to it so I didn't have to wade through the snow. I don't remember what we paid them, but at Christmas we always gave them each a card with $20. I believe kids with this kind of work ethics, will go along way in life.
Related Discussions
Are "suckers" good or bad? how many leaders?
Q
Comments (22)
Well it might be an age old debate about : To prune or Not to Prune. Home gardeners seem to draw many theories from their own experience, from what their grandfather told them and what their neighbor is telling them. I think in general, this kind of things expands the body of our knowledge and in the long run we all benefit from doing things by THINKING & REASONING rather than depending on "WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE... " So here I am with my book of philosophy about pruning tomatoes. An analogy that I find is pruning grape vines. I wonder why those vine growers and wine makers do that? Shouldn't more vines produce more grapes? About the nature of Tomato planst: It seems that they don't believe in "Planned Parenthood". They have a very greedy nature to keep on keeping on to grow branches, flower clusters and green tomatoes and more laterals up until the normal frost date. Somehow, in their system, there is no such a thing as ; There is a season that will end. Probably because they came originally from somewhere that there was no such a thing as FROST. So, as a gardener , I have to interfere and draw the lines, make rules : "Thou Shall not Have More Children Than You Can Support!." I have an ego, you know ! I want to be the master of my own destiny and even that of the tomato plant. I don't want to end up with buckets full of green tomatoes when the cold winds blow and the birds migrate and go, even the crow...How much green tomato does a man (or woman) need for pickling and frying? This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 8:39
...See More
So, what was good, what was bad, etc.......
Q
Comments (40)
We had a small gathering this year - no neices, nephews, or their children, and so it was mostly adults - except my sister brought her step-grandson who is 17. My SIL did not show up because she was not feeling well, but I don't think she has felt well in over two years. The worst part of it was the travel. We had a three hour layover in Dallas and got into Austin at about midnight. My sister would have picked us up at the airport, but when we called her from Dallas, she told us we would have to take a cab. I asked her how much that would cost, knowing she was very far from the airport, and so I decided that we should rent a car for the day, if the rental car agencies were still open, since it would be about the same price as the cab ride. I thought about renting one for a week, but nothing affordable was available. We were unable to call the rental agencies from Dallas (we got stupid recordings), and so we took our chances at the Austin airport and got lucky! Very lucky!! Since DS had to work on Tuesday and we would have been otherwise stranded at her house, we really needed a car for the day. It was extremely cold Tuesday morning (lowever 40s), and there was no way we would have wanted to walk to the nearest place to get breakfast from her house. As for Thanksgiving ... I bought much of the food at Central Market in Austin, including a free-range turkey breast. DM told me NOT to buy a whole turkey. I started the dry salt technique in Austin (not as early as I would have liked, but it worked anyway), and then started cooking on Wednesday as my parents' house. Wednesday, I removed the back and some excess skin from the breast so that I could make stock for gravy and dressing and also made two of my lime pies. I had brought nine limes from my yard. I also made some Chex mix snack, which DM loves and which I planned to use as a snack/appetizer the next day. I miscalculated how long the breast would take to cook, and so the meal was delayed by about 20 minutes, but it turned out okay. I didn't make that many dishes, and so it was very easy to manage. DS kept insisting on helping me prepare stuff, and so I let her slice the mushrooms for the gravy and prepare the lettuce for the Caesar salad. DM complained that I had bought anchovies for the salad, but she ate the salad anyway and liked it! I made my very easy grits faux cornbread stuffing, and that went over well. The next day DM reheated some of it in a plastic container, and I refused to eat any of that. For vegetable, we had broccoli. DS removed the florets and chopped the stems into small pieces, and I boiled the small pieces in a small amount of water with a bit of onion to make a sauce. I purd the stems/onions with the cooking water and a bit of cornstarch (normally I use potato starch) and S&P and then returned that to the pan with the florets to allow them to cook slowly. I guess I undercooked the florets because although they were hot, most of them were left on people's plates. I thought they were fine and could have been reheated, if necessary. The sauce came out the way I wanted it. DM insisted on opening a can of sweet potatoes, and most of that was left over. We also had canned cranberry sauce, which I really do not mind, and I didn't have time to make it myself. Besides that, cranberries are expensive in Texas! We had whole wheat rolls from HEB which everone but DM liked. The worst part of the meal was the mushroom gravy I made because I added a bit too much salt, but I was the only one who didn't like it. I got a lot of teasing for my lime pies from those present who felt obligated to torture me (proabably for Amanda's sake), but I could not be insulted. I could always threaten not to allow them to have seconds, if they irritated me too much. DM thought I should have made only one pie, but we needed both of them, since that was the only dessert. I'm in Austin now, and will be leaving for L.A. this evening. We got horrible flight times, since we are using DS's frequent flyer miles (She wanted to use them up before the airline went into chapter 11, which it hasnt'), and so next time we will buy our own tickets. We got these back in early June before I was working full time. Next visit we will allow ourselves more control and flexibility over our schedule and will probably rent a car for the entire visit so that we won't be stranded anywhere. Lars
...See More
Two weeks into indoor light setup - the good, the bad, notes so far
Q
Comments (32)
I believe your problem isnt so much your lights as its your temperatures and the fact that the plants are right next to a furnace ^^. Im guessing your haworthias don't have a chance to absorb the water that is given to them, top that with extreme dryness and warmth that might be pushing the plant use up its reserves of water causing the sinking leaves syndrome. Transpiration 1) An increased rate of evaporation due to a temperature rise will hasten the loss of water. 2) Decreased relative humidity outside the leaf will increase the water potential gradient. Drier surroundings gives a steeper water potential gradient, and so increases the rate of transpiration. Haworthias IME flourish when days are 60-70 and nights 40-50F. They really appreciate that temperature drop and cool temps. What are your average day and night temps? I think that will be most telling.
...See More
How do you make appliance decisions when there's so many bad reviews?
Q
Comments (18)
Thank you all so much for the really excellent advice. Each of these comments is extremely helpful to me. I can't tell you how much better of a mindset I have about the whole thing. A combination of people understanding how it can become overwhelming - if you let it - but also learning how to set some logical criteria for making a decision (such as features, price, warranties, using psychology & a pinch of salt with reviews, strongly considering the customer service of the company, deciding what your priorities are and keeping your sanity are some ) has helped me a LOT to get a grip on this endeavor. :D Finally to understand that nothing's perfect but narrowing the margins can give you a pretty good shot at succeeding. If you've found some place with pretty good customer service you've got that as a fall back. Getting that this is NOT an investment but an expense also changes my point of view and understanding about it. (Ugh, marketing ploys. It's always like they are doing you a favor and not just trying to get your money). There's a lot more that you've explained here but I just really wanted to thank you and say it's made a massive difference to my whole outlook and feelings about it. I was able to make a decision this morning that I feel good about and feel a bit like having a glass of wine and some cheesecake - that's how relaxed I feel about it! c: Quite a difference from the semi-hysterical exhausted fearful creature I was, haha. Cheers everyone. ^^
...See More
teresava
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Sounds like you have found a great kid and worker!!

We have lived in our townhouse for 8 years. The first 6 years our neighbors were these 2 little ladies who never made a peep. We LOVED them! My DH would actually mow their small backyard as a favor to them, plus it only took him another 5-10 minutes. It's kind of silly to have a full-sized lawnmower for such a small yard.

Then the little ladies moved and a woman and her 2 teenage boys moved in. I was scared there would be tons of noise and kids etc. The opposite is true. Their mom told us if the music/video games are ever loud please let them know. Never has been. These 2 boys are so polite (yes ma'am EVERYtime I see them) My DH still mows their backyard and in exchange the boys offered to shovel snow from our driveways. Usually that's a few inches twice a winter, but this year we got 3 blizzards (2 feet) and everytime they came out to do their own, and then do ours (we helped 2 of the 3 times). I offered to pay them since it was a HUGE job and they wouldn't accept, so I made a plate of cookies for them. The younger one used some chalk in a project at school and came over to see if my little DD's would like the rest of the pack.

I feel bad now dreading them moving in, but I just assumed these 2 boys would be rude and crude like most of the teenagers around here! I have complimented their mother a few times saying how nice her boys are!
irishdancersgram
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
It is good to hear about the "good" kids these days....Too much is written in the papers about the bad and never about the good....
Even my own grands, hopefully they've been brought up the right way, but when they say please and thank you, makes me feel so good...
sue_va
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
One example:

I was buying hanging plants at WalMart and I couldn't reach/take them down to check them out. A young clerk, maybe 18 years old, came to help me. He took several plants down, looked each one over, picking out any fallen leaves, and putting them back if they didn't look good. Finally he settled on two and said he thought they were the best. We chatted all the time. I was surprised and pleased that he did all that. I had potting soil, bird seed, etc. in the cart and he moved everything around so the plants wouldn't get mashed.

Then he pushed the cart to my car, and as I opened the trunk, he arranged everything to protect the plants. When he closed the trunk and was ready to go back to the store, I thanked him and told him to tell his mother that she had raised a gentleman. He grinned a big smile and said he would do that!

There are still good kids out there. Kindness begets kindness.

Sue
nanny98
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Actually, I think there are a lot more "good" kids than "not such good kids". It is nice that they are being acknowledged. Nanny
Georgysmom
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I love reading these stories. Yes, there are a lot of good kids out there. Cynic, when I got to the hug, my eyes teared up.
Jasdip
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
What a great story Cynic!
It's heartwarming when kids do things that touch you.
It's a shame that it happens so rarely that it sticks in our minds (and hearts).

My heart swelled when you said he hugged you. Boy you mean a lot to him, so there must be an underlying reason he was so pleased. Perhaps he does lawns for other people and don't get the positive reaction, more criticism and just the bare dollars quoted.

Anyway, good for you! I'm ticked to know ya. ;-)
cate52
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Be sure to let others in area know about this young man. I've seen a thriving landscape care business grow from a young man's mowing yards in the summer... By the time he was out of high school, he had the big mower & trailer and was on his way to a full time business.
Jasdip
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Hahaha, just re-read my final line.
Cynic, you know I meant to say "tickled to know ya"
LOL
marilyn_c
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
"So, you found anyone who does more than they have to do?"

Nope, sadly I haven't. It has been quite the opposite with me...either they do shoddy work or come back and steal from me. It has made me very cautious about hiring anyone, and I have a lot of work here that could be done, and goes undone until my husband comes back after being gone a couple of weeks.

Drugs are such a problem in this area, I don't trust anyone any more to come here and work. Usually they are just biding their time or looking for something to steal.
maryanntx
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Most of the kids here are nice and polite. Almost all say yes ma'am, no ma'am.
I used to work at the school and we got a few teachers from up north and they were always surprised at how polite the kids are. It makes me very proud of them.
mariend
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
It could be also where (area of country) a person lives in. In some of the "college" towns where alot of college kids are hired they are great. Bismark ND, Boise ID, Spokane Wa are just a few I can think of.

So many bad kids... Nice to find a good one!

Comments (13)

kacram

dotmom

Related Discussions

teresava

irishdancersgram

sue_va

nanny98

Georgysmom

Jasdip

cate52

Jasdip

marilyn_c

maryanntx

mariend

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US