If many more were as anxious as 'Bubba'

Another of our extended family has hit the working world. And he was eager to start!

That was because his sister was working, and earning some good spending money. He noticed just what she was saving, so he was anxious to do the same.

This is my grandson in a suburb of Minneapolis. He’s about to complete his freshman year of high school. He needs a coin or two, especially to conform a medium-sized mountain bike into a motorized bike. This is not a cheap makeover!

And, his sister, who will complete her junior year in high school this week, has been working at the local theatre, where there are some five or six screens on at any given time. She works in concessions.

So Bubba, (that’s what he’s sometimes called) went to his first interview recently and landed a job . . . he’s a sandwich artist at Subway.

And when he came home after the interview, he was pumped! But no less than his first day of work!

There are certain things the rookie workers at that shop are allowed to perform and other parts of making the sandwich that they need more extensive training. So his first days was as a veggie-putter-oner . . . the person who adds the lettuce, onions, tomatoes, etc., along with the preferred sauce desired by the customer.

And, that job is just fine with him. He got a job!

At this store, their rules forbid a starting employee to run the ovens to bake the bread and toast the meat-covered bun before it goes to the veggie department. But he can learn that. There are training videos and other types of learning apps that Subway has arranged for the rookies. He’ll study them, too, and I just know he will. After all, he has a job!

In visiting with Bubba, I told him, “Welcome to the world of paying taxes, you’re now a taxpayer.” He didn’t really catch what I meant, so I had to explain this thing about tax withholding and whatever else comes out of his paycheck.

But he didn’t mind that. After all, he got a job and it will help with his bike project.

I also learned while visiting with him that each day, following work, he would be allowed to fix and take home his own 6” sub. And, that really sealed the deal on his first job.

Now, about this bike!!

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Speaking of working in movie theaters, I recently heard of another shortage facing businesses in all phases of retail.

It’s popcorn! Ever think there would be a shortage of popcorn? And, along with that, even the bags that hold the popcorn are in short supply.

I can see the bags, they are made of paper. Our printing industry is now in a crisis of backordered, and out-of-stock products that I haven’t seen in my 60-plus years in the commercial printing business.

And, our suppliers have no answers when we call in orders.

Their answers are usually, “We’ll call you when it’s available.”

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A few other things I came upon the past couple weeks:

• The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be back under the big top in the fall of 2023. They closed down in 2017. They’ll return without the signature elephant shows as well as other animals usually found with that circus.

• Threw out a near-full jar of peanut butter due to warnings given by the industry. I noticed the other day Leevers Foods has a new shipment of the spread on their shelves now.

• Good thing “Bubba” is working on a motorized bicycle for transportation to and from his job. I filled the tank on my pickup the other day

. . . just regular gas. You don’t want to know what the pump showed when it was full. Somewhere, somehow, something has to be done with that industry. Again . . . The System Doesn’t Work!

• School shootings, I don’t want to go there. Such a sad note and whatever will be done to suppress such actions? You tell me.

• And, finally, the recent rains have really caused problems in our agriculture region as 4½ to 7 inches of rain reported shut down planters. A few good days a week ago had the dust flying in the fields

. . . not any more. We need good, hot drying days, if there’s still time, to get some crops in the ground.

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Here’s a few random sayings a fellow Fourth Estater carried in her column recently from the Internet.

A day without sunshine is like . . . night.

Happiness can’t buy money.

What if there were no hypothetical situations?

When everything’s coming your way, you’re probably in the wrong lane.

If you can’t convince them confuse them.

Maturity is knowing when and where to be immature.

The meek shall inherit the Earth after we’re done with it.

Make something idiot-proof, and somebody will make a better idiot.

Artificial intelligence usually beats real stupidity.

Everybody looks brave holding a machine gun.

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Parting Shot: “I believe in the subtle art of not giving a damn. Because you only have so many dams to give in this life.” — John Mellencamp, Musician, 70