I was watering my lawn today when the high school girl across the street got home from her first job.  She opened the car door and yelled YAHOO as loud as she could.  You see, she had just gotten her first paycheck and was waving it so everyone could see it.

I remember how thrilled I was with my first check.  It was for $120.00.  I was a lot more excited about it than I was about my last one, which was more than two hundred times larger.  I was probably one of the last people in the office  to get an actual paper check instead of electronic deposit.  Getting the physical reminder that I had value each payday made me want to get up each morning and go to work.

Those summer jobs were usually physically dangerous and the near death episodes were numerous.  In addition to helping me pay my college costs it taught me that I needed to use my brain and not my hands to earn a living.

We were paid every Friday or every other Friday.  I rushed to deposit my check and most of the others rushed to spend theirs.  I learned to save and to spend wisely.

I started off this story with the girl across the street as to how a young worker (maybe all workers) should be treated. Now the girl next-door works in that despised big box and had to have a checking account before she could be hired.  You see they only do electronic deposit so the employees get no sense of accomplishment each week, just a beep on their I-phone.  What’s the thrill in that?  Does the sudden addition of an electronic account have the same sense of accomplishment as holding a check in your hands? – Cashing it and getting to hold it in your hands?