Ashley has her first real job this summer.  She is a cashier at our local Kroger and she loves making money but is learning that working is hard.

I remember my first job and the first jobs of all my siblings.  Not because they were glamorous or exciting but because we all got the same speech from my dad when we came home after the first day.

Why we thought complaining to a man that had never missed a day of work in his life and grew up picking cotton would be effective I will never know.  After my first four hour shift at Wendy’s I thought I should be making more. That salad bar was hectic.  We were all spoiled and for that reason we all came home exhausted and complaining about some aspect of our jobs we thought was “like totally horrible”.

Everyone got the same speech.  “That’s why they call it a job.  If it was fun everyone would want to do it and they wouldn’t pay you to do it.”  No further discussion.  No arguing with that point.

A few of us, mainly my brother weren’t smart enough to stop complaining so he got to hear it several more times before he wised up and complained to someone else. Another victory for my dad.

It was great advice. Short and to the point and made you not want to bother complaining to him again.  I say that makes him one smart cookie.

I took great pleasure in quoting that to my daughter when she came home from her first day at work.  It was like bestowing a little piece of her PaPaw to her.

So for all you parents of teenagers out there feel free to use this quote.  Print it out and hang it on the refrigerator, embroider it on a pillow or just leave it on the bathroom mirror.  No copyright on Woody’s Words of Wisdom.  He would be proud to know he could help you out!