I remember the summer I graduated from sixth grade at Seaford Manor Elementary School. I was eleven going on 42. (I was always a little older than my chronological age.) I had been earning money shoveling snow and raking leaves since I was nine. But now I was entering the big time. Having passed the “Lawn Boy mower test,” i.e. my father gave me permission to make money with the family mower. And that’s exactly what I did. I went around the neighborhood and knocked on the doors of only those houses that had no kids….or just very little kids. I gave a little sales pitch and asked if I could become their own lawn boy. I had an idea what the job was worth, depending upon the size of the lawn and how many times a week they wanted their lawn cut. On average I charged $1.25. (I kept a dollar and used the twenty-five cents to buy gas for the mower.)
That first summer I signed up about six clients. Only two of them had me cut their lawn twice a week. So my weekly “profit” was $8. Back then…and to me…that was a king’s ransom.
I earned money, but better than that I learned about money. My Lawn Boy mower was not air-conditioned, and if memory serves me, I think the temperature every day that summer had to have been at least 120 degrees (no exaggeration). It took me anywhere from an hour to two to complete each job. That meant I was “sacrificing” about 12 hours of play time. And here, “sacrifice” is the word, because that’s one of the things I learned cutting lawns on the YBR. I also learned that doing a better than average job actually paid off because at the end of the summer (well, early fall) when I parked the old Lawn Boy in the garage I made another ten bucks in tips!
I also learned that there’s nothing wrong with sweating your head off (other blogs might refer to another part of the body, but this blog is G rated). I think I weighed about 90 pounds when summer started that year, and by summer’s end I weighed about 14 pounds. Add to that, I was allergic to grass. On or about sneeze number 3,472, I couldn’t see a thing because my eyes were filled with more water than Salt Lake. My hearing was impacted by the roar of the Lawn Boy and my vision was nil. Little did my clients know that they had hired Helen Keller to cut their lawn.
Again, another lesson learned. I learned that doing a job meant having to deal with some inconveniences.
I also learned something about my work ethic or work style. I was not suited for repetitious tasks. I was fully engaged when I cut my first lawn of the day, but by lawn two I was in la la land. I had to do something to take the “tine” out of “routine.” What did I do? Well, I’ve never told anybody this before, but since my blogship is limited, I have no fear of confessing that when I would cut a lawn I would make believe I was cutting the head of a giant…a giant with green hair.
Another lesson learned. You need to do whatever keeps you sane when doing a job that could make you insane.
I also learned about saving money that summer. I think I made close to$150 that summer. I gave myself an allowance of about $1.50 a week…more than enough to go wild…and I banked about $130 that summer. Believe it or not, I started saving for college, and $130 went a long way when you consider tuition and room/board my first year at Marist was $1300.
Another lesson learned. It takes time to buy a dream and time means work.
My Lawn Boy and I worked together for four summers. I got more lawn jobs (Lesson learned? There’s nothing wrong with a good reputation.) I banked around $900 those four years.
When I turned 15 I took my first pay-check job as a bus boy at Jones Beach. I was earning $1.17 an hour (no tips).The hours were long, the sun was hot and the job was boring…but I continued to learn life lessons.
What I learned working those summers when I was a kid I didn’t learn in school. To those who are members of the Class of 2014 remember that some of the lessons that will stay with you your entire life you learned outside of the classroom. The best dreams that come true are the result of hard work.
Along The Yellow Brick Road 