Hit me the last couple of days.
I am an independent contractor and I have 4 cemeteries that I maintain. They are older cemeteries scattered around Birmingham with one being 24 acres, another 15 acres, and then 2 small enough to do both in one day.
I make a decent living but I am 44 and I have to work like a dog to make my money. For every hour of cutting on the zero turn I have 3 hrs of weed eating to do behind it. My father is my partner and we have generally had 1 full time employee helping us for the last 25 years to keep them all up.
Recently my father has had to retire as he had triple bypass heart surgery a few weeks ago. Our other employee had quit in the fall due to health problems. So I hired my 21 y/o nephew from Louisiana with no previous job and no other options along with my 14 y/o son who’s always been eager to help when he’s out of school.
I’ve had several employees over the years that just couldn’t get it or couldn’t handle it. I call it chain gang work, you’re going to grab a weed eater and you’re either going to bust your ass and get stuff done or I’m going to be looking for someone else very quickly. It’s not for everyone and I know that it takes a special breed to push themselves past what they thought was possible in the Alabama summers.
I’m in a serious bind with my father being gone now because even at 66 he would still work most 30 y/o’s under the table, and I can’t replace that kind of production. My nephew had been here for 3 months prior to my dad’s surgery but just wasn’t getting it and then quit the week my father had his surgery leaving only me and my son to work.
This week my 14 y/o has now been helping me for a full month. But for the last week he has flipped a switch and is absolutely killing it out there. He’s getting done what only some of my best employees have been able to do in a days work. He’s doing a phenomenal job, I’m not having to go behind him to clean anything up and when he says he’s done with a section then I know that section is done. We have worked a few 10 and 11 hour days and he hasn’t slowed down or asked me when we were leaving once! I texted my wife yesterday around 6 and told her I was so proud of that kid I could cry, and I meant it.
Super long FB post I know. But as a parent to watch your son become the kind of hard working fearless man you always hoped he would become and to witness it with your own eyes is a feeling I just can’t explain. Not to mention this kid has really saved his dad’s ass the last couple of weeks while I’m trying to find a permanent replacement for my nephew. I know that if he can do this, then he’s going to be able to do anything he wants to do and if he ever falls on hard times then it won’t be his willingness to work that screws him.
Being this proud of a child is just something I wish everyone could experience and I know most do in different ways. I just thought mine deserved a LAMP tonight because the kid earned a beer but he’s too damn young to have one.
I am an independent contractor and I have 4 cemeteries that I maintain. They are older cemeteries scattered around Birmingham with one being 24 acres, another 15 acres, and then 2 small enough to do both in one day.
I make a decent living but I am 44 and I have to work like a dog to make my money. For every hour of cutting on the zero turn I have 3 hrs of weed eating to do behind it. My father is my partner and we have generally had 1 full time employee helping us for the last 25 years to keep them all up.
Recently my father has had to retire as he had triple bypass heart surgery a few weeks ago. Our other employee had quit in the fall due to health problems. So I hired my 21 y/o nephew from Louisiana with no previous job and no other options along with my 14 y/o son who’s always been eager to help when he’s out of school.
I’ve had several employees over the years that just couldn’t get it or couldn’t handle it. I call it chain gang work, you’re going to grab a weed eater and you’re either going to bust your ass and get stuff done or I’m going to be looking for someone else very quickly. It’s not for everyone and I know that it takes a special breed to push themselves past what they thought was possible in the Alabama summers.
I’m in a serious bind with my father being gone now because even at 66 he would still work most 30 y/o’s under the table, and I can’t replace that kind of production. My nephew had been here for 3 months prior to my dad’s surgery but just wasn’t getting it and then quit the week my father had his surgery leaving only me and my son to work.
This week my 14 y/o has now been helping me for a full month. But for the last week he has flipped a switch and is absolutely killing it out there. He’s getting done what only some of my best employees have been able to do in a days work. He’s doing a phenomenal job, I’m not having to go behind him to clean anything up and when he says he’s done with a section then I know that section is done. We have worked a few 10 and 11 hour days and he hasn’t slowed down or asked me when we were leaving once! I texted my wife yesterday around 6 and told her I was so proud of that kid I could cry, and I meant it.
Super long FB post I know. But as a parent to watch your son become the kind of hard working fearless man you always hoped he would become and to witness it with your own eyes is a feeling I just can’t explain. Not to mention this kid has really saved his dad’s ass the last couple of weeks while I’m trying to find a permanent replacement for my nephew. I know that if he can do this, then he’s going to be able to do anything he wants to do and if he ever falls on hard times then it won’t be his willingness to work that screws him.
Being this proud of a child is just something I wish everyone could experience and I know most do in different ways. I just thought mine deserved a LAMP tonight because the kid earned a beer but he’s too damn young to have one.
