December 11, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Jobs.

One day after school I went to work, only to find a whole swarm of people in the building. No one I knew from the business was there, at least I could not see them. I was told in no uncertain terms that the assets of the owners had been seized and the business was now out of business, As the business was closed, I had no job, so I went home and never heard a word from anyone again. I was irritated at having to find another weekend job, but as I had been paid on the Saturday on my last day at work, I was not out any money. Now I learned a lot from that short time at this job. The business was running a butcher store and frozen food locker and home delivery service, owned and run by a couple and a younger brother of the wife. The place was always busy, with phone and mail orders coming in all the time. I had worked Friday evening and all day Saturday, and when I was not playing or practicing after school, I worked a few hours each day at their request to help run the meat counter. I was sixteen years old and knew nothing about different cuts of meat, but this did not seem to matter to the owners. I learned on the job.

I only worked at this store for a few months but I learned a lot about how not to run a business. After a short time, I made sure never to answer the phone, because the irate customers who had been promised the delivery of their frozen food had not arrived. I could hear the owners tell the buyer that the truck had left the store but had been detained, but the order was on it's way. In truth, the order had yet to be assembled, yet alone put on the truck. The three of them knew how to generate the business, but had no ability to organize an efficient staff to handle the volume. And they turned the front counter over to a sixteen year old. No wonder they went out of business. The sad part was that they were very nice people who worked hard. Of course, they paid me in cash and they all lied through their teeth to their customers, so I was not surprised at all when the business went down the tube. That job provided me in a few months a perfect model of how not to run a business, which was a very valuable lesson. I was really ready to quit that job anyway. The place was always cold and damp!!.