What I Learned from my First Job

Lesson #1: Use your connections to find a job. 

My first job was at Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix, Arizona. I left my home in Batavia, NY a week after I graduated high school in July 1980 to attend DeVry Institute of Technology.  I picked Phoenix because in my first 18 years of life, it was one of only three places I visited that was more than 100 miles from home and I loved the idea of living out west. 

The only people I knew when I got there was my step-brother Larry and his family.  My brother Larry had a friend who sold used cars at Courtesy and because of that connection, I was hired as a lot man making $3.10/hour. 

Lesson #2: Do what you have to do, don't complain - just do it!

I attended DeVry full-time in the Bachelor's of Science in Electronic Engineering Technology program. I lived with Larry and his family on the west side of Phoenix and DeVry was over 8 miles away. I had to take public transportation for several months and classes were organized back to back so I was at school from 7 or 8 AM to noon daily. After school, I would take a bus about a mile and half to Courtesy to work. It was a hard life:

• I made minimum wage and my parents weren't in a financial position to help me very much so I didn't have a lot of money
• Phoenix temperatures in July and August are anywhere from 105-115 degrees. Have you ever got into a car that has been sitting outside for days in those kinds of temperatures? I had to carry a clothe around to turn the ignition because I would burn my hand on the hot metal in the cars. 
• I went to school full time (year round trimesters with a couple of week break between) and worked full time.
• I was initially totally reliant on public transportation with no other means of travel for the first several months. And Phoenix is a big, spread out city.

My first "vehicle" was a moped - top speed of about 22 mph that I would drive across town to DeVry and then Courtesy every day. I usually worked 6 days a week and sometimes 7 days.  I always worked 40 hours a week and often worked overtime. 

Lesson #3: Work hard - hard work pays off and people do notice

I have no sympathy for the recent Yelp employee who complained about her wages on a blog and got fired. When I left the safety of my parents house for Phoenix, I had no sense of entitlement. I watched my Dad and Mom work hard to support our family. And while I only mowed lawns when I was in high school, I learned a lot from my parent's example of working hard.

My boss at Courtesy was the Used Car Manager, Norman Erb.  Norman became a mentor and friend over my 3 1/2 years at Courtesy. He saw my work ethic and eventually after about a year, he moved me from working as a lot man to run the Courtesy Used Car office.  That moved me from the hot Phoenix sun inside the air conditioned offices on the corner of 12th St and Camelback Rd.

I enjoyed the new job, became friends with the car salesmen, vendors, mechanics and office workers.  I was given complete flexibility based on my school schedule but I was generally at school from from 7 AM until noon and working until at least 6 PM and sometimes 8 or 9 PM. I often worked weekends at Courtesy.  

Lesson #4: You'll be enticed by others to experiment with drugs. Don't do it.  Don't start, don't dabble, don't give it a try. Don't! 

There was also a bit of a dark side that I saw. One of the sales reps gave me an up close lesson in drug addiction.  I'll call him John (that wasn't his name) - John was coming to work high and I'm pretty sure everyone knew it. He was one of the top sales reps so people seemed to ignore it.  John was a funny guy and I liked him personally.  He gave me the nickname "Laydown" - not really sure why given how hard I worked but I think he saw me once in the customer lounge watching TV so he dubbed me Laydown. 

Somewhere along the line John moved into doing cocaine - something he didn't hide from me. During my early years, drugs ravaged my oldest brother and I had no interest in partaking even though John offered many times. I saw his life start to unravel. He and his wife separated and he left Courtesy. I don't know what ultimately happened to John because I had left Phoenix to work for HP and lost track of him. 

By the way, the brother eventually died of a drug overdose before he turned 40. He became a Christian, tried to quit but he could not overcome that demon.

Lesson #5: Keep focused on the prize

I lived with my brother Larry and his family for about 6 months. I moved to an apartment that was closer to DeVry and Courtesy.  It was a one bedroom that I shared with a roommate I met at DeVry.  Our rent was around $300 a month so about 30% of my income was for rent. 

After about 18 months of working and saving money (yes, I saved money despite making minimum wage). I bought my first car, an AMC Hornet Wagon.  I bought it from Courtesy and it was a great deal. I didn't care that the car was powder blue and wasn't the coolest car on the road. It was a car. It was a great first car. 

My one regret about working at Courtesy is that I asked Norman several times for a raise and the answer was usually "we can't afford it". I didn't push it and I liked the flexibility the job gave me. I never looked for something that paid more though I felt I had been taken advantage of. Over the 3 years I worked there, minimum wage was increased to $3.35/hour and if I remember, I was paid $3.75/hour when I left. 

But I kept my eye on the prize - graduating from DeVry and getting my first professional job. I'm certain that my work ethic impressed my interviewers at HP and led to my first job after college with HP in Southern California. 

Lesson #6: Be thankful for what you have and appreciate those that help you achieve your goals. 

I lived in near poverty never making more than $8000 a year - but I did what I had to and made it through college. And while my parents weren't able to provide a lot of help, they did what they could. As a thank you to them, I gave them a low mileage Chevy Cavalier I had bought several months before I graduated. 

Norman, my boss at Courtesy, told me that the owner of Courtesy Chevrolet had asked him what it would take to keep me there when I had graduated.  Norman told the owner there's nothing you can do. Norman encouraged me to dream big and don't let obstacles stop you from achieving those dreams. 

Those 3 1/2 years at Courtesy Chevrolet taught me so much more. It was during those years that I grew from a teenager to a young man. I made tons of mistakes, mistakes that I hope my kids don't make. But the experience of working hard to get through college was invaluable.  

I was a finalist for a full paid DeVry scholarship that I didn't get - but I'm glad now that things happened as they did because they shaped who I am.  And I'm still reaping the rewards of the lessons I learned at Courtesy Chevrolet.