I am a micro business owner in a small town in rural Minnesota. Although it is a very tough business environment, especially trying to compete with WalMart and Amazon and online sales, we are keeping busy, and constantly looking for a niche that isn't being filled by anyone else close by. As with any business, the support of our local community will make or break us, and I am glad to say we have a lot of familiar faces walking through the door each week, which helps us keep a steady pace most of the time.
Recently, I realized I am falling behind on some of my tasks, so I am pretty excited to have hired a high school girl to work a few hours a week and help us out. But for me, this hire is not just about the filing that is piling up or paying someone else to do tasks for which I don't have time. I think hiring local kids is a vital part of the non-quantifiable contribution that local businesses make to our small community. It is an opportunity to influence our future by teaching our young people some of the most important life skills they will ever have, and build relationships that remain important long after they graduate and move on with their lives.
I vividly remember applying for my first job. My single mom worked very long, hard hours bookkeeping at the local elevator, but we were poor. We had the necessities, I had a roof over my head and food to eat, and even had the menagerie of pets and critters I needed to survive adolescence. But there were no extras.
And I wanted extras. Nothing fancy, really, especially by the standards of today's teens. A new pair of jeans, a class ring (which I still have,) some school supplies, and a yearbook made up my list of frills. But they were extras we really couldn't afford, and I knew it, so I didn't even ask. (Mom might well have gone without something she needed and said yes, but I knew it was wrong to put her into that position, so I didn't. I'll bet she didn't know I thought about stuff like that, because I was pretty hard on her at that point in my life!)
So I was determined to get a job as soon as I could get someone to hire me.
I think it was the summer I was 15 when I went in to Johnson's Food Mart and applied for a job, without even telling my mom. Steve Johnson, and his wife, Trudy, ran the store, and he was nice enough to give me a chance. He didn't know what an impact it would have on me at the time, (I am sure he still he doesn't,) but it changed my life.
Steve was a great boss, the perfect balance of fun, understanding and high expectations. It was work, sometimes hard work, but it was enjoyable, too. Steve was always even tempered and approachable, so he was very easy to work for. I don't think I ever once heard him raise his voice, and yet, we all respected him and knew what he expected of us. I never had to force myself to go to work, even on a Saturday, because I knew I was a valued member of the team, and I was needed. There is enormous incentive in knowing you are needed by someone, and it made me feel important at a time when I really needed that encouragement.
Trudy would come in occasionally, and it was always so fun to have her there to talk with while we worked. She was full of laughter and life and energy, just as she is today. I looked forward to the days she would be there, and it was a good day when I walked in and saw Trudy standing there at the counter!
There were a mix of ages in the store. Steve and Trudy were old, by the standards of a teenager, but they were probably only in their late 20's, with two little guys at home. They were young enough to remember being my age, but old enough to give good advice and keep a steady hand on the people who worked for them.
Elaine Wangsness and Francis Morkre were much older and had worked there forever. They taught me to respect my elders, not by pulling rank on me, but because they knew a lot more about everything than I did, and patiently showed me day after day how much I had to learn without ever making me feel stupid. Every young person should be so lucky as to have an Elaine in their life to teach them the right way to do practical things like pack a grocery bag so the cans don't get dented and the chips don't get crushed before the customer gets home. (It was about more than cans and chips, by the way. It was about the importance of doing things the right way, because it results in a better outcome for everyone.)
I loved them both, and corresponded with Elaine until she died many years later. I am sure I am not the only one who waited with anticipation well into my 40's for her annual birthday card, with a little note and that dollar bill she would send! It was never about the money, of course, it was about being thought of and remembered by someone who had absolutely no obligation, but did it because she loved people, and, more importantly to me, she loved me. She had a life long impact on me, and I miss her still.
The other teens working there gave me a great opportunity to learn how to navigate the complicated world of co-workers, with all the personalities and problems that entails. It was a wonderful environment for a young person to learn about the working world, and even then, I knew I was lucky to have that opportunity. I literally could not have had a better first job, and I am so grateful.
But it was not all fun and good times. There was one person I feared, and in front of whom I did not ever want to mess up. Steve's dad, Les, the owner of the business, usually spent his days in their other location, so we didn't see him often. But every now and then, Les would sweep in the back door, and the whole atmosphere would change.
Today, I would say he had Authority, in the very best sense of the word. Back then, I just saw that everyone stood a little straighter, we all worked that little bit harder, and there was a little less chatter and a little more diligence when he was present, because we wanted to impress him. He was never mean or cruel, he didn't belittle or harass anyone, he wasn't unpredictable or unreliable. On the contrary, you knew exactly where he stood, and you never had to guess what he wanted from you, (which, for the uninitiated, is not necessarily the norm in Scandinavian rural southeastern Minnesota, where passive aggressive behavior is the way of life, and most of us spend a lot of time guessing what everyone else wants.)
He had very high expectations for his employees, he made those expectations clear to us from the first day we started, and he held us to his standards or we knew, without even being told, that there would be consequences. (Funny thing... I never knew exactly what those consequences would be. I just knew it wouldn't be good, so I didn't want to go there. That is power right there, let me tell you!)
But he was not on a power trip, and his goal was not to elevate himself. On the contrary, he made sure we understood that the customer was the most important person in that store, and we were there not to serve him, but to serve them. What a powerful life lesson that was for me.
I did not understand until many years later what a gift I had been given to work for him, because the life lesson went way beyond that little grocery store and putting cans on a shelf or sweeping a floor before we closed the shop. He taught me, through his example, that we are at our best when our focus is on others. I learned that it doesn't matter what we think, if the other person's perception is negative. I came to understand that you resolve differences through respect and honoring others, even if it means giving up a little of ourselves in the process. While the customer was not necessarily always right, they always had the right to be taken seriously and treated well. And when the customer was satisfied, then we all won.
A little bit of who I am today is rooted in the man who made me quake just a tinch when he walked in the door, and I am so much the better for it. I am grateful that he thought I was worth spending the time to teach, because it gained him very little, but gave me lifelong skills I use to this day.
Having a first job is a life changing experience, and it helps a young person develop skills they will never find behind the computer screen or in a classroom. I am so grateful for the education I received, and I now strive to pass that wisdom along to the young people coming after me. It is my way of paying forward an old debt to a man I will respect until my last day. If I can teach a young person half of what Les taught me, I will consider it a job well done.
P.S. As I got older, I realized he and his darling wife, Ruby, are just about the nicest people you could ever meet. (That probably should have been obvious just from the fact that Elaine and Francis worked for him forever, but I was young and dumb, and I didn't think too deeply about things back then.) His last lesson to me was not to judge a book by the cover, because until you know what is inside, you don't really know the story.
