Growing up my dad told me to do a number of things, at times I thought he was nuts.
But in my dotage, I see the wisdom in what he said.
Unfortunately, what he needed to do was explain it better to his dim-witted son better first.
When I was a teen, I was afraid of breaking the rules. In the past I was always, always caught whenever I broke any rule or law, so I just stopped breaking them.
So as a 14 or 15 year old my father kept telling me to go get a job. I tried to tell him that it was against the law till I was 16, and he just would shake his head walking away.
He told me to walk up and down Northwest Highway and ask every business for a job. Being shy, timid and dim-witted this was terrifying. Especially if there was no sign in the window stating that there was a job available.
I now realize that my father was trying to get me to network without a network. Most people get jobs, by knowing someone or being in the right spot at the right time.
If I had listened to my father, I probably would have been employed much sooner and at a better job than my first job, which was a dishwasher washing greasy stuff for a KFC (I got trench foot from standing in the water on the floor).
I now know that jobs do exist where they are no posted, and the people may not be the time to post it, since everyone is too busy. By sticking my head in, I may have gotten a whole lot of no’s but I probably would have gotten a job as well.
I should have listened.