Alma 5:16

This past summer after school got out, my parents started hinting that I really needed to get a job.

I said, "Ok"

I thought, "Oh no"

So after probably about 2 weeks of doing pretty much nothing to try to find a job, my dad said to me, if you haven't found a job by the end of this week, I'll find a job for you.

I said, "Ok"

I thought, "Oh no"

So I put in an application to Bowmans, ignoring my cousin, Alex's warning that they were not hiring. "Maybe they'll change their mind when they see my incredible application!" I thought. Well, about 2 weeks went by and one night my mom and dad wanted to talk to me. "Josh, come here," they said

I said, "Ok"

I thought, "Oh no"

We had a nice long discussion about what I had done to find a job and how it usually takes several applications before one gets accepted. My parents said that I needed to learn how to work. I argued that I had lots of chores, I worked hard in soccer, and I almost always work hard when given something to do. Yet, alas, the parents won again, my dad said that he had already talked to my grandfather about having me work for him in his transmission shop and that he was ready for me on monday.

I thought, "Oh no"

I said, "Oh goodie"

So Monday came and I went in and was introduced to Shawn. Shawn showed me around for about .27 seconds before we went outside and I started bringing over pallets while he fired up the forklift. As I lifted the first pallet off of the pile I thought, this isn't going to be so bad, all we had to do was move some transmissions (which I will now refer to as a trannies because thats what cool guys who have worked in transmission shops call them) off of their shelves, load them onto pallets, and break down the shelves.

I watched as Shawn showed me how to load the transmission onto the cart, transport it with the cart over the the pallet (which was already on the forklift), and load the transmission onto the pallet. Why couldn't we just move the forklift over to the shelves and load the trannies directly onto the pallet? Because that would be just too darn simple of course! So I stepped up to my very first transmission, stared it down, and kissed my biceps goodbye. I grabbed the tranny (which is difficult, they aren't made for handling) and attempted to budge the stupid thing. "I think its stuck," I said. "Naw, they don' get stuck" said Shawn. So he stepped up, basically threw it onto the cart and told me to get the next one. "Hmm" I thought, "that's weird, one minute it wouldn't move, the next minute, it jumped for Shawn! thats really strange."

Already long story, which could easily get longer, made shorter, I realized how ridiculously heavy for their size trannies really are. It took me a long time until I could easily move them and even now I'm no expert.

I started working there around June 24 if I remember right and worked for pretty much the rest of the summer. Obviously with summer camps, efy, boating trips, etc, I missed a lot, plus I only worked Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but I really truly know that I learned how to work hard more because of that job than any grocery store job, or chores at home could have ever taught me.

Now am I going to work there next summer? I don't know, I haven't really thought a lot about it yet. I have to admit there were some REALLY long days, that I thought would never end, and most days I didn't really want to go in to work. But whether or not I end up working there next summer, I have found myself missing that shop. I often wonder what paul is doing right now. How many trannies Jason has rebuilt today? How many "shippers" do they have today? I really did like it, I really did learn some great lessons and I'm grateful to my dad for talking to my grandfather that fateful day.

On a completely seperate note, I, like my dad, really love inspiring quotes, and I think it would be totally sweet to add one at the end of every post, so I'm going to.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." --Thomas A. Edison

Have a great day!