First job

It hardly seems possible that Meelyn is old enough to have her first job, but yet all we have to do is take her work permit to the local high school to be signed by someone who I don't know who he is, as Aisling would say -- state bureaucracy hoops to jump through; I wearily told Meelyn to get used to it -- and then turn that form in to her employer, and she will be put on the schedule to work at the cash register of a local chain restaurant. Where she has assured us and her new boss that she will greet customers with a smiling face and not act, as so many fast-food cash register people do, that you are gravely intruding on their personal time and should be punished for approaching them in need of your lunch.

Knowing Meelyn, she will pull this off admirably.

We had to obtain a pair of really ugly black shoes for her to wear; she looked at them doubtfully and said, "I'll pay for these, Mommy," but I just couldn't make the child fork over $25 for something so unattractive. So her dad and I picked up the tab for the shoes, but she said she'd buy the blue jeans and the black belt to complete her uniform -- the restaurant supplies the shirts and the....*gulp*...hat.

"You have to buy a black belt?" I asked, intrigued. "Why is that? Does the management think you'll have to go all Jackie Chan on somebody? Like, 'Hey. You tried to get a senior discount on that coffee but that's only for people 55 and over, but you don't look a day over 54, so hiiiiiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!"

She looked at me.

"I thought you had to work for a black belt. If I'd known you could just buy one, I would have shown that kid who called me 'sir' a thing or two. I would have come across him with a waaaaaaaaaaachaaaaaa!!! And a hi-hi-hi to the head and kidneys."

"Very funny, Mommy."

But you know what she didn't think was funny? When we told her about taxes, that's when. She was explaining that the four hour orientation session she went through would be paying her about twenty-seven dollars and then my husband said but you have to figure how much federal and state taxes will subtract from that. And she said state and federal whatsis? And we told her about how taxes work and that she'd probably end up with around $20 - $22 out of that twenty-seven dollars and she said that seems like a lot and we told her: VOTE REPUBLICAN, girlie.