Something about work is good for the soul

By Stephen C. Schultz

The banging on my bedroom door was sudden and loud. I jolted awake, my eyes wide open but unseeing. My head whipped from side to side as I tried to make sense of the thunderous noise. No, this wasn’t one of those slow, groggy wake-ups. This was the kind of wake-up that triggers fight-or-flight mode—heart racing and covers flung off in an instant!

Still dazed with confusion and now sitting on the edge of my bed, I noticed the doorknob starting to turn. Moments later, my dad poked his head through the doorway and said,

"Steve, get up! Get up now! You're going down to Oregon Rubber Company to work today!"

I had thought my day would be spent in the back pasture, cutting up fallen trees with my dad. Groggily, I turned to look at the clock on my bedside table, wiping the sleep from my eyes to bring it into focus.

Thoughts raced through my mind:

5:30 a.m.! 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday, no less! Doesn't my dad know that a sixteen-year-old boy needs his rest? Apparently not.

As my dad stepped further into the room, he added,

"Dave called me, and they need some help down at the shop. He asked if you'd be willing to come in this morning and help out."

Dave Lowe was the founder and owner of Oregon Rubber Company. He, his wife Shirley, and their daughter Julie were our neighbors and good friends. Oregon Rubber Company manufactured rubber for retreading truck tires. They would mix the ingredients, extrude the rubber into long sections, and press out the tire treads using large hydraulic presses. These presses, essentially giant waffle irons with customizable tread patterns, allowed them to take orders and ship tire treads to shops across the country, including Alaska and Hawaii.

A week or so earlier, Shirley had asked me to come down to the shop to do some weeding. It was the start of summer break, and I certainly had the time. I drove to the shop daily, weeding the flower beds and raking the bark mulch to keep things looking nice. Shirley told me to simply record my hours on a time card in the office.

It turned out to be a two- or three-day job, so I packed a lunch each day. During their lunch breaks, the guys from the shop would come outside to eat. I joined them and got to know Carl, the shop foreman, and Smitty, the beloved, good-natured gentleman who always wore a smile and ran the mixer. Smitty held the distinction of being Oregon Rubber Company's first employee. Others would also join us for lunch, but Carl and Smitty left the biggest impression.

Evidently, the short time I spent eating with Carl was what led to my father bursting into my bedroom that particular morning. You see, Carl had approached Dave, saying they were falling behind on filling orders. While business was good, they needed to hire someone else. During their conversation, Carl suggested to Dave:

“Why don’t you call that neighbor kid of yours and have him come down? He can trim up these treads as they come off the press.”

And so began my work at Oregon Rubber Company. I went down that day and spent 12 hours trimming tire treads. For the next few weeks, I started at 6:00 a.m. and worked until 6:00 p.m. The days were long, dirty, and laborious. However, it wasn’t long before I was being trained on the buffer, learning how to bag, weigh, and stack treads on pallets, preparing them for truck transport. I learned to drive a forklift and found myself actually enjoying my time at work.

When school started again in the fall, I was able to continue working part-time. I would work from about 4:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. At 5:00 p.m., the rest of the crew would go home, leaving me with one other guy. He would operate the presses while I ran the buffer and filled orders. Even at 16 and 17 years old, I knew there was a level of trust from Dave and Shirley, and I didn’t want to damage that trust in any way.

I will always be grateful for the opportunity to learn the value of hard work, being trusted, customer service, and managing co-worker interactions and communication. I developed problem-solving and critical thinking skills. What began as a job weeding for my neighbor turned into a part-time work opportunity throughout high school and full-time work during summers. There were even a couple of summers between college semesters when I was able to help out at Oregon Rubber Company. I will forever be grateful!

Why do I share this experience? Because there is an aspect of work that is good for the soul. What does that mean? It means that as we work through difficult situations, we are simultaneously learning and growing. While the work may be hard, we often feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. For example, on my first day trimming tire treads, I thought I was going to die. It wasn’t the most intellectually stimulating work, and it was physically exhausting to stand for 12 hours straight. However, I exhibited persistence and determination—skills that hadn’t been tested until that day. Over time, I gained competency in my ability to do the work and developed a sense of accomplishment. When I was trained on new aspects of the operation, I built confidence in my ability to learn new skills.

Did I realize this at the time? No. But looking back, I can see that this was a critical part of my adolescent development. It taught me the value of work. It taught me the value of earning money. It provided perspective on the realities of everyday life. I walked a little taller and interacted with others in a more confident and competent manner. As a parent, I now realize how important it is to provide similar opportunities for my own kids.

Are teens today able to have these same experiences? Do parents provide opportunities for their kids to work? What effect is technology having on adolescent physical and emotional development?

I’m curious about your experiences with work. What did you learn? Was it a good or bad experience? How have you helped your own kids learn about this principle called work?

Check out my other posts: “The Stinky Side of Summer Jobs” and “Opportunity Looks a Lot Like Work.”

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