As you all know Chase was over the moon to be hired as a
ski instructor. He wore that ski suit with pride the first day on the job and
was so pumped to be important enough to provide a social security number, bank account
number and has to set an alarm on the holidays to go to work.
On the holidays he has to work 4 full days in order to
get a bonus. The actual job is every Saturday and Sunday all day Jan 9-March 9-
but in order to qualify for the bonus (which they never told him what it is) he
also has to work 4 full days over the holiday period.
So of course he did as he wants the bonus and his parents
are hard core work ethic people. All sounds good so far right?
Well the first day he went he sat for 8 hrs alone and skied
in between by himself as he didn’t know anybody else and he wasn’t chosen to
give lessons. Well I guess that would be ok right if you were still paid
something? But here’s the catch-you are not paid unless you get lessons. And here’s
the other catch there are at least 35 monitors most with way more seniority
than you. This amazing system carries on into Jan-March as it is the more experienced
coaches who get the regular group lessons and all the rest who take a lesson
here and there is there is a walk in.
What kind of job is this???? No wonder they won’t give
the kids or parents any info when we
have inquiries. Nobody would take this job!
But..but..but they get the ski pass free for the
season!!!!! 375 dollars! What a great perk! But hey we pay that anyways for Chase
(as I am sure most parents do) so now
what we will do is give him that amount. But..But it gets better-he has to rent
the ski suit to be a monitor for 75 dollars so we have to deduct that from the 375.
So this is the job for the entire winter that every single day we have to get
up early for and take two cars on weekends for and miss a couple of really fun
events for?? My heart was pumping fast and furious the first day when he got
back from “work” . Chases’ mood was very very bad too-he was really really
pissed.
The control freak I am I wanted soooooo much to pick up
that phone and call his employers…but I held off. His job. He has to deal with
it. Chalked it up to a good learning experience for him. It’s amazing how much
teens are taken advantage of in the workplace-had never realized this before.
It’s truly pathetic.
Well the second day..same thing…no lessons for him and
there 8 hrs!!! OMG!!! But..this time a few girls who are also monitors asked
him to ski with them and eat lunch with them. Through these girls he met a
couple of guys…”not friends with them” but they are “ok” so he came home that
day still no pay or work experience but he skied whole day with a little gang
that “he kind of liked” he was much happier. We went from furious to neutral.
The third day he went he got an hour and a half lesson
with a 6 yr. old from Norway named George. He was thrilled to make that 18
dollars and over the moon with pride!!! And he made a new gang of older ski
instructors 17-18 yrs. who told him he is a “cool” guy and they want to hang
out with him even if he is a newbie. Wow. He came home totally excited and
pumped and had a super day. He is excited too that his 18 dollars will be automatically
deposited into his bank account (costs us much more than that in gas there and
back!!) and we found out what the bonus is for those 4 days too! Instead of 11
dollars/hr the kids who did the 4 days get 12 dollars-for the likely few hrs he
will work all winter in lessons. So amazing we are looking at maybe 5-10 extra
dollars for the season!!! Wow!! (sarcastic)
He is also very excited that this whole ski monitor
thing is a bit fraternity too. The other have initiations for the newbies etc
and this is all new and exciting for him. Was so cute he even asked us”what is
I have to get drunk???” funny that at almost 17 he even mentions it to us-very
responsible guy and always wants our permission for things still.
Thanks goodness that I am programmed and wired to always
keep the end goal in mind when I or family embarks on something. It saves me
every time. And in this situation it became crystal clear. There were many
reasons we wanted Chase to be a ski instructor this year and very few of them
had anything with him making money-so in the end as crazy as it may seem this
job is meeting the goals we were hoping for him at this stage in his life.
Let’s make a checklist:
-Extra money for
him to start paying more of his expenses (not so much clearly!)
-Work experience (here and there I guess in terms of
teaching kids but has to show up every day, have a boss, be part of team, go to
tons of trainings, communicate, get money deposited etc.)
-Responsibility (tons of it as has to not be crazy skiing
on mountain to set example as wearing
uniform, check in every hr with boss at hill, on a very set schedule etc.)
-Wanting him to be part of a team (for sure!)
-Wanting him to establish a social life at cottage so that
he will want to come here often, want to be here in future and be very
connected to the mountain so that he will want to raise his kids skiing on this
hill near us (check! Check! check!)
-Feel good about himself and confident (seems to feel
pretty good and confident!)
-Learn how hard it is to make a dollar (that is for
sure!)
-Won’t take work for granted to think it is easy (that is
for sure –to make 18 dollars had to work 32 hrs!)
-Keeping him busy and out of trouble (this is for sure as
each day and weekend now has something to do that he kind of seems to like. For
us this is one of reasons our three kids go to school they do-it as a busy and
stimulating machine and a big reason as to why none of kids there get into
drugs and alcohol too heavily etc. as literally no time!)
So not necessarily
as much as a great job as it is is great lesson for him. And more importantly for me..as with
the wait and see approach that is good for me (vs pick up the phone and fix
this for my son!) . I bet at the end of the season he will have achieved all
the goals with a number of lessons on his belt, some good pay with the lessons
that hopefully will increase in the better winter conditions and the 300
dollars he will get from the free pass)
We are learning as we go along and reminded of the
important lesson of “Keep the end in mind” And most importantly growing up
alongside out eldest teenage son and learning the ropes of exactly how to do
this stage successfully.
