Tales from the Dryer

Episode II

"A job?...A JOB?!"There it was -- that dreaded three-letter-word that all teenagers fear. But Seth knew this to be his only option if he wanted that guitar. Apparently begging isn't all it's cracked up to be, and his parents proposed that if he wanted a guitar so badly that he should get a (gulp) job and buy one himself. Then they added something about how he would value it more. Seth wasn't sure about that part. He never heard anything after the word "job" was uttered.He knew he had rolled the dice and lost on this deal.

A job? It loomed in front of him like a shadow, the last vestiges of childhood swept away in a cloud of memories, adulthood mocking him on the horizon, a world of mortgages, balancing checkbooks, taxes...You would think that most teenagers would be overjoyed at these first steps into a world of self-sufficiency and freedom. Not Seth. To him, it was only an illusion, the end of one phase of his life, where he was subject to the whims of his parents, to another phase where he was subject to the state. Only the stakes were much higher in this second phase. Sure, the payoff was bigger, but at what price? He didn't want to be chained to a timeclock, a rat race. Responsibility. He was sixteen, but according to the state, he was still a child. A "minor". That was something. Yeah, something confusing. How could he be considered a "minor child", unable to (legally anyway) see R-rated movies, smoke, drink, or vote, but be expected to work? The only thing he had was that now he could get his driver's license (which he did indeed aquire a month previous).

Wait -- that was it! Seth thought he had found himself an out. Sure, he could drive -- but he didn't have a car. So how could he get to a job? He smirked darkly at this thought.But he soon realized that this was a non-issue. It seemed that his parents had already thought this little problem out and Seth's grandmother had a car she wasn't driving and she was more than willing to let her "favorite grandson" drive it.An old lady car?! He cringed at the thought. How was he supposed to look cool and pick up girls in a granny-mobile??

When Seth asked exactly what kind of car she drove, he was somewhat relieved to discover that it wasn't as bad as he thought, but still it wasn't exactly a babe magnet; a 1986 VW Rabbit. Once the issue of transportation was out of the way, his parents gave him suggestions on where to apply for a job. He became quite irritated at this; they seemed just a little too anxious. He really didn't care where he worked -- it was, after all, WORK, and it would suck, he knew it. The only place that seemed even slightly appealing was the little grocery store 3 miles from his house. He figured it was close to home, small and out of the way, and he knew for a fact that they closed at ten every evening. It was a small country grocery store after all.

So he went, his father driving, and asked for an application. He returned home, filled out the necessary information and returned it the following afternoon. He was told that they would call him within a day. His parents waited on pins and needles for the call, or so Seth felt. What is with those two anyway? It was like they were doing everything they could to shove him out of the house.

Seth received a telephone call the following day -- he got the job. I don't believe that "thrilled" is the word that would describe his feelings about this at all.