Day 2: Influence and Encourage

[Katie]

Today is day 2 of the challenge. I added another intention. #7: Influence and Encourage. As I was driving home from work today, I thought of Amber, a 19 year old young woman I hired in December. To give you a little background, I work as a manager at a grocery store. With the holidays right around the corner, I needed to hire a little extra help. My deli manager came to me when she found out I was hiring and shared with me about her niece, Amber. Amber's parents are drugs addicts who can't take care of her and her two younger sisters. Amber live's with her grandparents who have been nothing but supportive and loving. Her two youngers sisters are in the care of her aunt, who I mentioned above. Amber, a mixed up, confused and frightened teen, got swept up in the wrong crowd and dropped out of highschool at age 15. She started using heroin and would steal to support her habit, which would eventually lead to a couple retail frauds. She had a few odd jobs here and there to feed her addiction, but nothing stable. All of this happening at age 15.

Now, I don't know all of what happened in the next four years, but as the deli manager is sharing this with me, my heart is really going out for Amber. Normally, she is someone who's application goes through the shredder when I see "misdemeanor for retail fraud" in bold letters at the bottom. I decide to interveiw her partly because she is related to one of my fellow managers whom I trust and partly because I get the feeling she could really use a break.

It's the day of the interveiw. I scheduled the interveiw at 9:00am sort of as a test to make sure she can show up on time for early shifts. Amber arrives at 8:40am. She introduces herself, acknowledges that she is 20 minutes early and tells me she will wait in the cafe until I'm ready for her. So far I'm impressed with her professional attitude. 10 minutes later I ask her to follow me to my office. I ask her a series of standard questions all of which she answers fluently-and with a smile. Then comes the tough questions. I have to ask her about her past. She takes a deep breath and proceeds to lay out the past 4 years of her life for me. She goes to a counselor every morning except Sundays. She has one really good girlfriend who has been there for her throughout her rough patches. She has a boyfriend who she says is wonderful. She explains that she needs a job not only for finacial purposes, but for self-esteem and self-worth too. She asks only one thing of me and that is to take her seriously when she says, "I really want this job."

Amber has worked for me about a month now and so far she is one of the best workers I've had in a long time. She is determined, self-motivated and a fast learner. Today, I asked her how she's liking the job. She tells me through a teethy smile that she has enjoyed every day of it. I told her I'm really proud of her and to keep up the good work.

I think I can learn a lot from this young woman. Lousy, unloving, uncaring parents, drug addiction, possible abuse from previous boyfriends and dropping out of school.....who would have guessed she'd be the best employee? If she can come out of that situation on top, I feel empowered to accomplish anything and everything! It's because of Amber that I added Influence and Encourage to my list of intentions. I want to continue influencing and encouraging her throughout her time as my employee. And not only her, but anyone else who comes along needing a little patience and support!

[Marie]

I love this story, its a really good example of how something potentially negative turned positive. I hope for the best for you and amber.