My Favorite Job

I was talking to one of our drivers at work the other day. We were talking about how we'd like to go through life making things a little better as we go. It made me remember my most rewarding job. Ok, parenting has been my *most* rewarding, but I am talking about jobs with a tangible paycheck.

In another life, I was a job developer for Developmentally Disabled adults. I would go out into the community, find jobs for them, train them, and follow through. However, my favorite story doesn't involve community employment.

I had a client named Ron. Ron had cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He was about 40, drove an electric wheelchair and only had use of his right arm and hand enough to feed himself and control his chair. Ron had never worked a day in his life.

I got a contract for my clients to shred confidential documents. Ron could not read, so there was no need to worry about him reading what he was shredding, so staff signed the confidentiality agreements, sorted and weighed the paper and Ron got to work. Ron was slow to start, but he caught on. His first check was something like $0.48 and he was thrilled!!! It was the first time, like I said, that he had earned anything.

A few paychecks later, and he was earning $10-30 each paycheck. Ron bought me a hamburger, he was so happy!

So... that was my favorite job. I made the world a little better with that one.