Troubled Youth

780 Words2 Pages

Troubled Youth

Despite many obstacles in my life, my experience performing community service stands out as the most memorable. I was sixteen at the time, and just beginning my first job at a fast food restaurant. I had to learn how to balance between community service in the morning and my employment at the local Wendy’s. It was very stressful and influential at the same time.

I performed my community service at a local elementary school. I chose this place because of its relative ease, and it was also an area I could easily get to and from. I started my first day very confused and out of character. The school was very bland, and it brought back memories of the time that I had attended elementary school.

Upon first arrival I met the principal of the school. He was my superior and his first impression explained to me what he was all about. He was a fairly easy going man, and was straightforward. I found these qualities to be true with many people that I have met who are of his same stature. He was about the size of the students attending. The irony of this anomaly was the vehicle he drove, a station wagon raised with massive tires and exemplified even more by large round lights placed in between the headlights. I would see the principal’s machine on a regular basis and always think, “How in the hell does he get in?”

After meeting the principal I was taken to meet my fellow co-workers. I met first the head janitor, named Jim. He was very tall, and not very muscular. He was an amazingly friendly man, and I could tell he was passionate about his job, but was very restrained socially because of the people he was forced to communicate with on a daily basis.

There were two other janitors who were followers of the head janitor. One was a short black man, named Carl. He had been originally from Kenya, his English was horrible but he was a very life loving man. When he would sporadically speak, it was mainly just to mock his associate janitor.

The associate janitor was very enthralling person, his name was Rick. Everybody around me poked fun at at him, sometimes to his face and other times behind his back. This really didn’t matter to him due to the fact that he was mentally unstable.

More about Troubled Youth

Open Document