Midland’s Workforce Grows by Two

The Kidsters, aka the Niece and Nephew, both landed summer jobs yesterday — the first real job for each — and will now join the ranks of the disillusioned taxpayers of America.

OK, that’s a bit cynical, but I do think they’ll have a some “deduction shock” when their first paychecks arrive and they see how many other fingers are reaching into the pot. Their grandfather is already practicing for his phone call to thank them for paying into Social Security on his behalf, an acknowledgement which I believe falls squarely into the sub-category of “Wounds, Salt in.”

La Sobrina will be working at a local purveyor of fine toasted sandwichery, while El Sobrino is a barista-in-training at the local mega-bookstore. Both businesses are on our list of regular stops, so we’ll be giving them lots of “encouragement” and “support” through the summer.

We’re laughing about the Nephew’s gig making coffee and related brews, since he doesn’t like any of them. His first assignment tomorrow is to taste every product on the menu so that he can describe them to inquisitive customers. I would love to be around for his first (1) taste of espresso and (2) subsequent description of said beverage to a customer. Something tells me that diplomacy and salesmanship are due for a violent collision just down the road.

As for the Niece, she’s already starting to look at price tags in a whole new light. Yesterday, while walking through the mall with MLB, she cast a loving glance toward some hot new shoes in a store window, and not-too-subtly hinted that they would really look good on her. MLB reminded her that she now had a job and could save her money to buy them herself, if they were that important. The Niece got a horrified look on her face and exclaimed, “oh, no…they’re way too expensive!”

Heh. Welcome to the reality show we like to call “life.”

8 comments

  4. Rachel, you’ve got the translation correct, although it’s el sobrino rather than la, as the latter is for feminine nouns while the former is used with masculine nouns (generally; there are a couple of exceptions).
    And, yes, the Niece is making sandwiches while the nephew is steaming coffee at the bookstore.
    Jeff, you can try dropping my name, but the likely outcome will be a surcharge rather than a discount.
    Jim, I forgot what a coffeenik you are. I don’t know where we went wrong with the Nephew. He doesn’t even like frappucinos. I guess there’s a black sheep in every family. 😉

  5. I just wanted to let your readers know that the nephew’s opinions were that the coffee and expresso were nasty but there are some decent teas and frappucinos. I haven’t gotten a report on any of the food products yet.

  6. Yeah, I can’t wait to hear how Mr. Meat and Potatos reacts to the roasted vegetables wrapped in the sun-dried tomato tortilla.
    But he must be coming around a bit; last night, he was also anti-frapp.

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