Jack Ryan: Time for this teen to move on
Posted: 07/26/09 - 12:06:51 am CDT
A teenage era has ended at our house. Thomas, 18, has left his job at Justin’s on the Lake restaurant, where he worked for more than two years.
My wife and I would like to thank Mike and Marshia Boyd, the restaurant owners, for hiring Thomas and also for letting him stay on. We also very much appreciate the other workers, who were kind to Thomas and took him under their wing.
One night, some months ago, we were chatting with our waitress there and she said, “You know. Thomas has really grown up lately. He’s become a lot more responsible.”
Any parent would be thrilled to hear something like that, but it meant more because it came from our son’s adult co-worker.
I think Thomas was lucky to find a place where he could work for more than two years. Summer jobs used to be a routine part of business — I had a great time at a movie theater where I worked — but I’m quite sure those opportunities have evaporated over the years, especially now with the economy struggling.
Thomas was a beneficiary of good timing. One night in 2007 we were leaving Justin’s and I mentioned to Marshia that if she had any openings, we had a 151/2-year-old son who would be interested.
A few weeks later, we were there on a Friday night and Marshia asked if Thomas was still interested in a job. They spoke briefly — and he started the following night.
Shouldn’t all job interviews be that easy?
He typically worked two or three nights a week, and made enough money to pay for his gasoline, plus his cell phone and other treats. Now it’s time to move on. He starts college in a few weeks.
Here’s what I’ll miss the most about him working at Justin’s: He would bring home some food for his dinner, and he always gave me some hushpuppies. Those babies were a great late-night snack.
n n n
Over on the work side of life, the latest issue of Pulse magazine has arrived and distribution will start next week. We place the magazine at 60 or more locations around Pike County. It’s free of charge.
We put a guaranteed attention-getter on the cover: Miss Mattie Rials, who has been entertaining and educating local children for 47 years now.
This is the fifth magazine we’ve produced since we created a quarterly product a year ago. I must say, a magazine is a totally different animal than a newspaper.
A daily newspaper is hectic even when things are slow, because you’ve always got a press deadline looming. With a magazine only once every three months, the tendency is to ease off for a while.But everybody involved with Pulse is getting the hang of it. In terms of the stories and photos appearing in the magazine, they get better and more consistent each time. The three people most responsible for this in the newsroom are Karen Freeman, Aaron Rhoads and Aimee Romano.
This would also be a good time to thank the advertisers who have supported the magazine in a challenging time.
You never know how something new will fare. So it is gratifying that several people have called the newspaper office in the last few days, asking about the July issue. If you need one right away, stop by the newspaper and we’ll be glad to give you some copies.
This particular edition ran about two weeks late because we put together another magazine, our first-ever newcomer’s and visitor’s guide, called Discover, about a month ago. That took a little longer than expected.
Discover is available free of charge at the Pike County Chamber of Commerce office and a number of other locations.
It has the distinction of being the first magazine printed at the Enterprise-Journal, using ultraviolet ink and lamps that we installed on our press last year. The leap into magazine printing has been quite an adventure, and we have a couple more magazine print jobs coming up this month for other customers.
Newspapers are still our primary business, and by a wide margin. It will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future. But the foray into magazines — selling ads, writing stories and now printing them — could have quite an impact on this business.
We’re learning it as we go.
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Things that make ya go hmmmm wrote on Jul 26, 2009 1:25 PM:
Little Thomas is getting wiser, Ole Jack is getting......magazinier? "