Ok, so I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m in Marketing. I work for a global organization in the Canadian office bringing new technologies to the market. We have a large meeting room that has all of our products in it on display. We call it our Gallery. It’s got one of the largest boardroom tables in the world in the middle of it and product all the way around. We’ve grown over the past decade by innovation and acquisition. As a result, we often have to “update the Gallery” and it’s often a daunting task.
This year, I decided to put my slaves … errr I mean sons to work. They’re 13 and 10 and since they’re too young (legally) to work in Canada, the company agreed to pay them in gift cards. For two full days work, they’d get a $100 gift card (each) to a local retailer. They were STOKED. Of course, Monday morning when I had to wake the 13-year-old up for the first time before 11 am all summer (woke him up at 6:40) they were less than enthusiastic. But here are my learnings.
· Fear of disappointing or embarrassing Mother is a wonderful motivator to maintain excellent behaviour.
· My 13-year-old doesn’t say a lot but my 10-year-old NEVER STOPS TALKING.
· Physical work for two boys who have done very little all summer causes them to sleep in the car all the way home and put themselves to bed early.
· I finally found a restaurant near my work they both LOVE. I will be stopping there often to get takeout on the way home.
· I am physically exhausted from managing them and work for two days.
· I don’t get to talk to LML nearly as much throughout the day when they’re with me.
· They’re apparently freaked out by heavy rain
· They both made me very proud with a very hard work ethic and earned every cent they made.
The youngest said he’d miss my office and he can’t wait until he’s old enough to come work here too … I’m just hoping I’ll have retired by then or I may need to put a cot in my office for naps!
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