I Took A Risk And Guess What

I Took A Risk And Guess What

I decided at the young age of 16 that I needed to start taking risks in mylife, as many things were not going as planned.

I had been living in St.Joseph, Missouri for many years and it was time forme to buy a car, I knew what I wanted but had no way to pay for it or where tofind one.

While I had worked odd jobs here and there for people just for a few dollarshere and there I knew that I needed to have a real job with an hourly rate so Icould pay for the car that I wanted.

So I knew that I needed a job before I found the car because the car wasgoing to be a lot harder to find than a job, but it just so happened that Ifound the car first. I had no job but the car was sitting there staring at me,what was I going to do?

This car I found which was my very first car was a 1973 Mustang Mach I witha 351c, painted black and white. It was full of rust in the rear quarter panelsand full of bondo but I had to have it. The asking price 1000.00! I was only975.00 away from getting this car.

I applied at a few different fast food joints like many of us start out andwaited and waited and waited even longer, no responses. I knew I had to dosomething, but what?

I Took Matters In to My Own Hands – I Took a Risk

While I don’t condone this behavior of making up stories or stretching thetruth I needed something to happen. I started calling the fast food places Ihad applied for and asking the managers if they had tried calling me because Iwas having problems with the answering machine at home.

It just so happens that I got to talk to a manager at Wendy’s that needed anew burger flipper and I knew I was his man.

I sometimes wonder if I really impressed this manager or if a opening justcame open for a reason unbeknownst to me, but at the time all I could thinkabout was that car and how I wanted it.

Before I started I made a deal with the guy that owned the car that I wouldgive him my last 25.00 and make payments to him for the car, he would keep thecar until I had it paid off. So getting paid every week I went to make a 100.00payment before anything else happened, and I was well on my way of obtaining mycar.

I Was Trying Something New – I Took A Risk

Well just as I was hired, I was put in front of the back grill, the one for“newbies”, the one they would only use during the lunch rush. I looked at mygrill and then looked at the other guys grill and my grill was half the size ofhis. I looked at him and smiled and he gave me this look like ” this guy isgoing to crash and burn”, well I do have to admit I did crash and burn. All Iwas responsible for was the orders coming through the drive-thru, it was arough first day and every time I had to slide over and snatch one of hispatties from his grill he just smiled and snickered.

Well I learned a lot that day and soon was running the main grill and doingso many other different jobs in the store, I was becoming a machine.

I Got Dividends In More Ways Than One – I Took A Risk

After working at the burger joint for awhile, as you can guess I was stylin’in my white 1973 Mustang Mach I with black racing stripes and a black wing onthe back. I was feeling like I was on top of the world, I had a car, I had ajob, I had money and I had a couples ladies here and there.

While I only stayed in the fast food industry for a few short years, Ilearned a lot about teamwork, responsibilities to not only others but myself. Ilearned what it meant to work hard for something, take a risk on something youmay have never done before and make it work.

Due to my risk taking I was able to mold myself into a individual thatunderstands that risks are not a bad thing, they can bring rewards more thanyou could possibly imagine. With these risks I took I and the lessons I learntfrom them I was able to build a 15 year long career in retail management.

I know look back on those risks and ask myself, what if I never made thatphone call…..Where would I be at today?