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by Riney Jordan
ESC Region 7 - DMAC Solutions........... 15 www.dmac-solutions.net
My career as a shoe shine boy
O
ne thing I think some parents could work on is to give their children opportunities to participate in a variety of activities so that their interests and abilities might become more evident. That’s one thing my Momma, especially, tried to do. In spite of the fact that she didn’t have a formal education, she was a great teacher. She believed that hard work was essential to one’s success. She knew that to be happy in life, one needed to follow his or her instincts and do a job they found especially enjoyable and fulfilling. She felt that exposing her children to a variety of jobs was the best way to learn what worked for them — and what didn’t. I was about 8 or 9 years old, and I remember Mom walking in with the neatest little wooden box with handle and sizeable compartments on each side. In each compartment were little tins of shoe polish – black, brown, cordovan, neutral, et cetera. Then, on the other side, there were little round brushes and a couple of larger brushes with soft bristles. Soft white cloths were neatly folded at one end. “Son, you’re going on your first job,” she said. “And what fun you’re going to have!” Now, at that young age, it was difficult for me to get too excited about it, but I swallowed hard and sputtered, “Work? What am I gonna do?” “Son, you are going to go downtown and shine shoes for the people!” “But, but, but how do I do it? I don’t know how to polish shoes. I don’t wanna do this, Momma!” I wailed. “Hush! Of course you can do this. Nothing to it.” Within the hour, I was unloaded from the family car at the south end of Center Avenue and told to go all the way to the other end and then head back on the opposite side of the street. “Have fun, son!” she shouted as she drove off in our 1949 black Chevy coupe. “I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours.” I don’t think I’d ever seen a bigger smile on my Momma’s face as I did at that moment.
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Texas School Business • April 2012
So, with my head hung low and my shoulders drooped, I started sauntering down the busiest street in my hometown of Brownwood. About midway down the street, I came to my first major problem: a real, first-class shoeshine stand just outside the barber shop. The proprietor of that business, who was the biggest man I’d ever laid eyes on, looked at me with a scowl that would scare a grown man. “What you think you’re doing?” he growled. “If you think you gonna shine shoes around here, you got another thing a’coming. Now, move on down the street. This is my territory!” “Yes, sir” was all my shaking little frame could mutter. I got back to the place where Momma was going to pick me up and hid behind a bush. When she pulled up, I could see the look of anticipation on her face. She couldn’t wait to see how much capital her little investment had reaped. “Well?” she said. “How’d my boy do on his first day of work?” Tears welled up in my eyes as I blurted out, “Nothing! I didn’t make a penny! And this shoeshining is not my thing! Please don’t make me do this again! Ever!” And then Momma smiled, put her arms around me and softly said, “That’s all right. Don’t you worry about it. We can always use a shoeshine kit at home. At least you tried. “But, son, there’s a big golf tournament this weekend out at the country club and the paper said that they were going to need a bunch of caddies. I’ll bet that’s your thing!” And while we’ll save the telling of that disaster for another day, I can’t help but wonder if somewhere in America one day another mother set her little boy out on the street and said, “Son, sell this coffee by the cup. And let’s call it Starbucks.” RINEY JORDAN, whose best-selling book “All the Difference” is now in its sixth printing, is an international speaker and humorist. He can be reached at riney@yahoo.com or by visiting www.rineyjordan.com.
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