The F.Y.C.
After three summers at the University of Montana – Western, I decided I needed to do something different for a summer job between my junior and senior years of high school.
The summer of 2004, four of the Homies (Bigs, Andy, Steve, and Josh) were working together at Beaverhead County High School (BCHS) as janitors in Dillon, MT. They had great stories, got to hang out with each other all day, and were making more money than me. Why not try something like that? I had good experience that would make me a viable hire for the school.
So I applied and got the job. $6 an hour, four 10 hour days Monday – Thursday, and an opportunity to do something different but still use my previously acquired skills. Perfect.
I spent the summer stripping and buffing floors, cleaning gum off the bottom of desks, painting, sweeping, mopping, and doing various other classroom refresh projects.
We played age old traditional games like “gum drop.” The rules of the game were as follows; whoever found a piece of gum under a desk would call out someone else’s name. Once you heard your name called you had to stop what you were doing, open your mouth, and give the other person an opportunity to throw that piece of gum in your mouth. If they were successful at landing the gum in your mouth you had to chew at least three times. Yes, it happened to me a few times………
Right of passage into the fraternity that we called and fondly remember now as the “Fine Young Custodians” or the FYC.
I found that it was much different at BCHS than working at U of M – Western. Our bosses paid attention to us more and actually wanted us to work. But we also spent more of the day finding ways to get out of work as opposed to working. In reality we probably cost the school more in resources than we helped prep it for the next school year.
It was during this summer that I realized “this isn’t a real job” since I was messing around more than I was actually accomplishing something. It probably didn’t help that I had four of my six best friends working with me either. Heading into my senior year and eventually adulthood, I’ll never forget a co-worker that we had, his name was Mark. He was in his mid-30’s, worked full-time for BCHS, had a family, and seemed miserable.
“Never do I want to be here working with kids when I’m his age.” I remember thinking. No disrespect to the janitorial profession, but it also was clear to me that I was built for something bigger and better.
I was just riding the wave of being young, carefree, had a little cash in my pocket, and was getting ready to be a starter for the football team at Cornerback and Wide Receiver.
Looking back, what a dream to work with a majority of my friends and have three day weekends. But more importantly, it was a realization that my summer jobs were just that…….for the summer and temporary. Although, throughout high school I worked various odd jobs at UM – Western and the three summers ('02, '03,'04) prior to the FYC that did help me start my first career higher education. Those jobs though were the bridge and not the day to day career I would eventually work.
Even if you don’t use the job experience down the road, the experience itself is still good to realize that something is or isn’t for you long term. I hope Mark is doing well, but I didn’t want to be him when I got older.
That was a valuable lesson.
Alex deGolia
Al Ki Consultants