This will not be news to anyone in our part of the state: This has been a crummy winter.
Instead of the much-beloved “snow days,” a day off from school because of snow accumulation or drifting snow road conditions, schools were closed for several days because of the severe cold. It was too darned cold for the kids to even go sledding or snowboarding on the hill across the street.
However, on one of those bitterly cold days, after an overnight snowfall of about 5 or 6 inches, our doorbell rang. I went to see who was there and found three young guys, middle school maybe or early high school, all bundled up and carrying snow shovels. It was well below zero, and the wind was whipping off the lake and piling drifts in the driveway, but there they were, looking to make a few bucks by shoveling my snow.
We have a steep driveway, and I didn’t want to take a chance on their slipping and falling, so I didn’t hire them, but I felt bad about that. I admired their spirit and their courtesy. They seemed like really nice kids.
This may have been the first time in quite a few years that I’ve had the experience of having kids come looking for this kind of work. Shoveling snow is not for sissies. But I remember from my own kidhood that some of the worst jobs were made more palatable when they were shared with others.
My cousin John and I worked side by side for many years on threshing and silo-filling crews when we were about the ages of these guys who came to my door. These three kids were obviously a team.
I wonder if this was a regular gig for these guys. Did they get up early and head out into the cold (and, boy, it was brutal that day!) like adults going off to work? Did they try to get out there before the plow-for-hire guys could make it into their neighborhood or before the homeowners themselves decided to brave the icy blasts of winter?
From the moment it starts snowing, I suppose, the clock starts ticking if you’re a snow shoveler. With every passing minute, more and more driveways, walkways and sidewalks are being cleared by someone else. A lot of people would want snow to be cleared from their property as soon as possible. Even if they had a plow truck on the way, they still might pay the kids if they cleared it first. The early bird gets the worm, you know.
The person who shovels early gets the money.
I didn’t ask these kids, but I wish had, how much they would have charged. We have a huge driveway. I wonder how much experience they had and if they were able to estimate the project well enough to come out of the project profitably. I’ll bet that in their business it’s very important that the price of the job is always fair. That means on both ends. I wouldn’t want to rip them off or be ripped off by them.
I wonder how long they were out that day. I wonder if anyone offered them a hot chocolate or just a nice few minutes out of the wind to warm their cheeks and hands. I hope they were able to get enough jobs to make it worth their while out there in the cold.
I applaud these guys and their parents, who must have given them the go-ahead for their venture. What a good way to learn about responsibility and commitment, about the importance of following through on a contract, about handling money and about time management — fitting these jobs into their regular daily schedules. I hope it made them feel grown up and proud of themselves to earn their own money, without any help from their parents and with no adult supervision.
After thinking about it very carefully, I’ve decided that if those guys ever show up on my porch again, I’ll hire them. I wish I’d done it the first time! The Packers pay 10 bucks an hour at Lambeau; sounds fair to me.
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