“Wish me luck,” Nathan said as he exited the room.

“For what?” John and I both asked.

“I’m about to call my manager and find out why I haven’t been put on the schedule.”

Nathan has been working at In and Out Burgers since the beginning of summer. During those non-school months he clocked a lot of hours. And he was happy. Gas money and then some. When school started, his schedule was reduced to two nights a week for about 3 hours each shift. Perfect for a high schooler still needing to focus on studies yet keep his tank full.

Then two weeks ago – nothing. Emails detailing his work schedule stopped coming. He simply was not being added to the schedule and this confused him. He loved his work and all those he worked with. He had established what he thought were good relationships not only with his working peers, but the managers, as well. So he was stumped.

As a parent, my first thought was that something must have happened. Perhaps he rang up the orders wrong…or maybe he was too slow to get the drive-through orders done…or he hadn’t mopped the floors carefully. No, he assured me, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure it out. And, honestly, I told him, if it was any of those things, a managers job is to tell his employees before they get removed from the schedule. But what concerned him the most was his lack of income. No income, no gas money. And although he has some money in savings, depleting it to fill up his car was not how he wanted to use it.

Since he didn’t ask me what he should do, I decided not to say anything. I figured if he wasn’t put on the next schedule he may be forced into action. In the meantime, he talked a lot about getting a job at Jamba Juice where his best friend works. Problem was…they weren’t hiring.

So that’s where we pick up this story. Nathan had decided that no gas money was worth taking the initiative to call his manager. Frankly, I was pleased. This would be good experience for him. But I wasn’t going to let him leave the room without making sure he had a game plan.

“Yup,” he said, “I know what I’m going to say. Very nicely I’m going to tell him that I haven’t been put on the schedule and that I’m confused about that. I’m going to ask if I’ve done anything wrong and if not then I’d like to know why my hours been reduced. And I want to let them know that I rely on this job because I have to pay for my own gas.”

And that is exactly what he did. Turns out, he had been inadvertently left off the schedule one week which made it easier to be left off in subsequent weeks. Mystery solved. And powerful lessons learned. First, if something doesn’t seem right, address it. Be open and respectful. Second, not having income is a pretty big deal. I’m glad that he’s now in a better position to empathize with those who have lost their jobs. Third, building up an emergency fund is important. Hopefully it will never have to be tapped into, but having it around is nice peace of mind.

Sure, it may just be gas money. But that gas money is teaching Nathan a lot of life lessons. I wonder if he’d learn more lessons if I made him pay for his insurance, too…