What Working As A Dishwasher Taught Me About Money (And Life)
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When I was a teen, one of the first jobs I got was an overnight gig at a sports bar/restaurant. We were in the middle of a recession, and the only position I could find was as the dishwasher, and after the quickest interview ever, they hired me.
Tossing me the keys in case I had to get in when it was closed (they could tell I was trustworthy), I was left alone with a mountain of dishes in the kitchen. As I was coming in, the 2nd shit was leaving, and some of the adults would spend some time chatting with me.
Since I walked home, one night the manager offered me a ride home in his brand-new car. This ride was the beginning of my financial mentorship from a man who was living large at a time when most people were struggling to make ends meet.
As I've said before, once they get to know me, people can tell I'm honest and trustworthy. As I marveled over his new car, he willingly let me in on how much he made and how he was able to afford it. I was surprised when he mentioned his annual salary, but then he said something I've never forgotten.
"The More You Make, The More You Spend"
He said "The more you make, the more you spend. Expenses are like a gas filling a room. No matter how large you make the room, the gas will expand to fill all available space."
He explained how with each promotion and raise he got, he'd go out and buy the next shiny new thing. If they gave him a $1000 weekly raise, he'd have spent it all.
This was his way of warning me as a young kid not to follow his example. What I couldn't understand at the time was if he could see the problem, why did he keep spending?
It was a living example of a classic problem that many of us face from time to time.
Over the next year, he and other managers and workers were only too happy to stay late and chat the nice new kid up about finance.
"Dishwasher Talk"
Over many nights of "dishwasher talk" and rides home where we'd chat in the car in front of my home for an hour about money, the lives of these adults slowly unfolded in front of me.
Spendy girlfriends and wives, drugs and alcohol, along with the never-ending quest for the latest new thing, all conspired to empty their wallets drip by drip.
I still remember those lessons to this day, and was supposed to be a lonely little job washing dishes, gave me a lifetime education in money.
It was one of the most consequential jobs I've ever had, and I'm so glad I had the chance to work amongst some great people. It turns out that you can learn something no matter what your job is, as long as you're open to learning and growing as a person. Even a dishwasher can learn some valuable lessons in money and life.
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No matter what job you are doing you can learn something new as long as you are open to learning. Well said.
Going home with that. 😁
Thank you for a lovely post🙏🏽💕
Some of the best lessons I've learned has been from people in the service industry. You just have to be open to them.
This sounds like the plot for a book on getting rich, haha! Nice story and perhaps one of the reasons you made it to a place like Hive ;<)
Yeah man. That manager was full of so much insight and was willing to share. He couldn't seem to control his spending and pissed away his wage increases everytime he got them. But he was aware enough to help a young kid like me avoid the mistakes he was making, and for that, I'm very thankful.
Perhaps that was his mission in life ;<)
Thos teenage jobs can teach a lot. I worked in the fields and was a cook for my teenage years. Both were educational in many ways.
That's so true. I can still remember them throwing the keys to the building at me, and me asking if they were OK with me having them. "Oh we know you're an honest person. Have a good night!" I learned so much from those amazing people, lessons that have stayed with even today here on Hive.
You must have really impressed them as a kid for them to mentor you. Most often junior staff are treated as invisible because they come and go so quickly thru the company that no one bothers to build a relationship with them.
Just so you know, we have a WorkLife Community, it would be great to hear more about your WorkLife stories there in future!
https://peakd.com/c/hive-195880/created
Thanks for the invitation, I'll keep it in mind. I kind of had to grow up early under a single mom raising 5 kids alone. I grew up more around adults than other kids. At 10, I was changing diaper and helping to raise infants while she was out working, so I had to grow up fast, so much so that by the time i was 18, I already felt "old" know what I mean?
Since I've always been inquistive, it must have shown during the job interview which turned into a discussion about life. So the table was perfectly set to learn at that job. I was very lucky to work there.