Excitement of a first job

BY ANGELA GARY
Friday night, Jake went to Athens for his first night of work on his first job.
That sounds so strange to me — Jake working!
Jake had a birthday party last month at Board and Brush in Athens. It’s this really neat place where you can have a party or go to a class and create your own board. The boards have customized designs and sayings on them.
Jake has always been interested in art. He took art classes from Marie Hancock in Jefferson for years and has always been very creative and good with design.
Years ago, Jake and my mother redid an old storage building as his “art shack” so that he would have a place to work.
At Jake’s birthday party at Board and Brush, he enjoyed the experience so much that he asked about working there. We didn’t even realize until afterwards that he had filled out an application for a job.
Soon afterwards, he was called in for an interview. The interview went so well that they asked him to start work that night! He trained for a few hours that night and was told he would get his work schedule soon.
We are so proud of Jake for taking the initiative and getting this job. I’m sure he will have many wonderful experiences and memories of this first job.
My first official job is actually the same job I am doing now. I began work for MainStreet Newspapers Inc. when I was 17, working part-time as a journalism student at the University of Georgia and then going to full-time after graduation.
I did have another job before that but it was with family. The newspaper job was my first “public job.” Before my newspaper job, I had worked as a waitress and dish washer for an aunt and uncle who owned a restaurant near Nicholson. Since this was a family business, I consider the newspaper job my “first job.”
I have many memories of those first years on the job. It was a time when everything was new and exciting. Every day brought a new adventure. I hope that Jake has the same memories of his first job.
Jake was so excited as he headed off to his first night of work. He was equally as excited after work as he told us all about the group working on their boards and how he enjoyed helping them out. He didn’t even mind the sweeping and cleaning up at the end of the night. He said it was all great!
I hope he continues to be as excited about this first job and others he has in the years to come.
The old saying that it doesn’t feel like work if you enjoy what you are doing is certainly true. Jake is learning this lesson, that I learned all those years ago, and I hope he remembers it as he takes the next step and chooses a career path.
Angela Gary is an editor with MainStreet Newspapers Inc. She can be reached at AngieA@mainstreetnews.com.