Patti got a job!
The world’s cutest little old lady is the newest daycare assistant at our neighborhood YMCA! As a retired teacher, this is the perfect role for everyone’s Grandma. In the interview, the manager said, “No one wants to work with the babies.” She was horrified! That’s the best part, before they start talking!
It’s part-time, during the day. A real daycare/preschool. About 2 miles away from our house. $17/hour to start, with an increase once she gets her transcript for her master’s degree in mathematics. No change to her social security, widow’s benefits, Medicare, pension. Since my income from unemployment and Dollar Tree breaks us even, and Mom’s current income covers groceries and her bills, that extra income just brings security.
And it’s the first time in our lives that my mother makes more money than I do.
But there’s a couple different ways to look at it.
Economic
Your first reaction might be, “That’s terrible that a senior citizen, a 72-year-old, has to hold a job in this economy.” And that is true.
Before my Dad passed away, plans were already in the works for both of them to move into my house as his condition worsened. That work was expedited when he passed away because Mom could not afford to pay rent for their apartment on that income: income she has already paid for through her payroll taxes over the last 50 years. An apartment in a middle-class section of the city, bordering lower-class, that was built in the early 1900s: 2 bedroom, 1 bath, never updated. Rent was still $1,300/month.
Emotional
Mom has never lived alone. She went from her grandmother’s house with three generations living together to living with my Dad and having two kids. Dad passed away, and she moved in here with me and my son.
But without my Dad, she had no one to take care of for the first time in her life. My son was already an adult. I’m good except for a couple hours every month when I’m having seizures, but otherwise I’m fine. I just needed someone to drive me when I needed to leave the house.
Mom could take care of the dog, but she’s a puggle (half pug, half beagle) so she just wants to eat, sit in your lap, sleep in the corner, and lay in the sun. The only beagle part is her absolute hatred of squirrels and neighbors who are obviously attacking us by walking down the street. They cannot be trusted and must be hunted, but the pug part of her can’t run more than 10 feet without taking a break. The dog returns to the back door, defeated, with an expression on her face that says, “I’m too fat for that.”
Boredom
Mom and I are in the same spot: we don’t have anyone to take care of anymore, except ourselves. So what do we do with our time?
I still work, look for jobs, have a creative outlet with my blog. I volunteer. I work at Dollar Tree. Mom crochets. She’s really active in her church community. But she’s bored. Her cooking and homesteader-living isn’t any different than how she’s lived her whole life, so that’s not a hobby taking up extra time. She admits it’s depressing to be in the house by herself, and now she recognizes why my Dad kept saying that she should always move in here. I reminded her that she’s always hated retirement, and she was a substitute teacher before Dad got sick. If she’s not social enough to volunteer without a buddy, maybe she should get a part-time job? She said no.
But after I lost my job in February, Mom jumped on the idea that she could get a part-time job. My son and I both told her that when she talked about it, her whole face lit up.
Mom’s Job Search
Mom’s had a better job search experience than I have, but she’s really hard to pass up because you just want to pinch her cheeks and give her a hug. She puts on her nicest clothes and earrings for a job interview. She gets really nervous that no one will want her because she’s old and spent the last 15 years retired and 30 years before that teaching.
Dollar Tree can’t hire her because I work there. She applied to the same grocery store that rejected me, but they don’t have any cashier positions available right now. She applied at the store where we buy our bird food, but they didn’t call back. She started to feel bad about herself. I kept reminding her that it has nothing to do with her or her age or her experience. She knows when she goes in the grocery store or in Dollar Tree that everyone who works there is her age. The job just isn’t available, but it’s still posted and accepting applications. And Mom has the benefit of looking 20 years younger than she actually is. Nobody really knows how old she is.
And she has a master’s degree in mathematics. I’m ringing people up at the register and they ask me how to make their change even so they don’t get pennies back, but I have no idea. I can’t add and subtract; I’m a writer. I just give you what the computer tells me you’re owed. And from my accuracy rate, I’m always about 5 cents off my drawer so apparently I can’t even count.
What this means for you
Just like every other life situation that me, my family, my friends have ever encountered: if Patti can do it, so can you.
She doesn’t have to get a job. She won’t admit it, but her motivation is to fight boredom. The income is just an added benefit. She feels like she’s contributing to the household now. She’s serving a need.
Her skills are transferrable. She doesn’t want to be in a high school classroom, but a preschool needs the same skills and doesn’t have the same challenges. A cashier needs her skills as we transition out of pennies before our retail systems have updated their prices and our taxes haven’t updated to make transactions even. She gets a discount at a store where she’s always shopping.
Employment at the YMCA gives you a free membership, and so much more. The YMCA provides educational resources, job coaching, professional development, medical resources, mental health resources. And as an employee, you have access to the membership and awareness of the other resources they offer.
Why not? It’s part-time.
