Work Ethic

Around the age of eleven, my mother and I were living in Jamesburg, NJ. My parents had split up and we moved from Monroe Township. There was definately a difference from one place to the next. Our middle class status dropped, and my mother was working harder than usual trying to keep enough food on the table for us.

Even before that move, my parents were both leaving the house early in the morning to start the rat race. My father wouldn’t come home some nights until 9:30pm. I remember dinner being cold and the arguments pursuing into the night. Work associates were always part of the family, since they saw them more than their children.

Across the street was a deli on Dayton Rd. I started making my first income ‘under the table’ cleaning. I’d sweep, mop, wash windows and reorganize. It was the first time I did something to have my own money. I tried to detach the neccessity of asking my mom for money for miniscule things like basketball cards or a new soccer ball. Then at the age of fourteen I became a Pepsi Boy at the Englishtown Flea Market. Long weekend days pushing a heavy cart in sand was not the best thing to do for a teenager on the weekend, but I wanted to help my home any way I could.

My sister was always working, I remember her first job was at the Flea market also. She worked for a sausage stand that also sold hamburgers. Kricia was my role model. I looked up to her consistency with school and work and friends. She did for herself for the good of our home.

Coming to this day, I realize that through all the awkward, frustrating, sometimes degrading working situations I’ve been in, I am fortunate to have the will to do for myself and the drive to accomplish my goals.