I’ve always stressed to Charlie and David life, and work can change in the blink of an eye and they should aways have a back up plan and they learned this first hand this week with there jobs.
As a mom, wife and business owner I hate when plans change. But sometimes life changes the plan for you. This week, something unexpected happened to Charlie and Bradley. As I sit her and try to process what happens all I can tell them is the LORD must have plans for both of them and to not let this get them down.
As many of you know, for the past couple of months, both of them have been working at the airport. They’ve been showing up, learning their jobs, working their shifts, and doing what young men do when they’re trying to build a future for themselves.
Then, this week, everything changed. Bradley went into work like he normally does. As soon as he walked in, his supervisor told him that he needed to speak with him. He took Bradley into another room.
The next thing Charlie knew, Bradley was gone. Charlie couldn’t find him. He called him. He texted him. And Bradley told him that he had been suspended. Which in the past would have meant Charlie would have quite his job and came home but this time Charlie kept working and I am so proud he made that decision.
What made me feel good in the middle of all of this was that Bradley immediately called me. He isn’t my son by blood, but he knows he can call me. He wanted to talk it through. He told me what he thought had happened.
He explained what he knew and what he didn’t know. And then he asked me what he needed to do. So we talked. I asked if he had told his mom or his grandpa and he said he wanted to wait and see what happened and I respect that.
Then I waited. I was on pins and needles waiting for Charlie to come home because, honestly, I was wondering if something was going to happen to him too. But Charlie came home. So we thought everything was okay.
The next morning, Charlie got up for work, left on time just like he does every day, and headed to the airport. Once he arrived at the Airport he got his gloves, let his supervisor know that he was going to look for trash cans because there wasn’t any inside and was getting ready to start his shift.
That’s when his supervisor said, “Hey, I need to talk to you too.” And boom.
Charlie found out that he was suspended as well. His supervisor even made a point of telling him that he might not make it through probation. This time Charlie wasn’t asked to write a report.
He was just asked to turn in his badge which he did. Charlie asked what he did to be suspended and the man said he didn’t know. That isn’t right they should have told him why and for how long.
Charlie went to his car and called his dad to let him know because he also works at the airport. Then Charlie called to let me know he was suspended and would be home in a few minutes.
And now we’re left with a whole lot of questions. Neither boy knows exactly why they were suspended. Neither knows how long the suspension will last. Bradley knows he had to write a report explaining what he thought happened.
Another young woman was suspended too because of things that were said or done during their shifts by Bradley and her. And Charlie is still standing here shaking his head because, from his perspective, he didn’t have anything to do with any of it.
The hard part is some of the people at David’s work are saying when Bradley wrote out the report he threw Charlie under the bus which neither Charlie or I want to believe and we may never know if this is true or not and if Charlie finds out he did where does that leave Charlie and Bradley? Will this be the end of there friendship?
Even people at work are backing Charlie and Bradley because they don’t understand what happened any more than we do. And now we’re facing the questions that adults have to face all the time.
My family would like to know if the boy’s still have jobs? When will someone call them and tell them what is going on? How long will they be without a paycheck? How do you make a car payment when you don’t know when you’re going back to work?
How do you pay rent? Yes, Charlie pay’s rent which helps purchase Pizza and Soda’s he likes to have. How do you pay insurance? Which David pays one month and Charlie pays the next month and David just paid so it’s due in September and it will be Charlie’s turn to pay.
What happens when the job you were counting on suddenly becomes uncertain? These are things adults deal with every single day. And yes, this has happened to David and I in the past and its hard and scary and all you can do is turn it over to the LORD.
But they’re not usually the things teenagers expect to have to figure out yet. And now they’re learning. They’re learning what happens when Plan A changes. They’re learning how to ask questions.
They’re learning about supervisors who as much as I hate to say it are wish-washy, HR, employment, suspensions, paperwork, money, budgeting, résumés, temporary work, gig work, and entrepreneurship.
They also have to decide if they have there jobs if they want to go back or not because this could happen again and actually it could happen at any job. But this is another part of being a adult.
And we’re learning right alongside them. Because the truth is, Mama hasn’t dealt with unemployment in 19 years. David hasn’t dealt with it in more than 10. So we have lots of #teachingmoments in our future.
So we’re not going to sit here and pretend we know everything. We’re going to learn. We’re going to ask questions. We’re going to research the answers. We’re going to figure out what options are available. And we’re going to share what we learn along the way.
This isn’t going to be just 10 articles. It may become 10. It may become 20. It may become even more. We’re going wherever the lessons lead and the LORD leads us because I believe there are people who needs to hear this not to share Charlie’s dirty laundry but as a way to empower parents and teens.
Because somewhere out there is another teenager who may suddenly find themselves asking the exact same questions. And maybe what Charlie and Bradley are learning this week will help another family next week.
So this is where a new Greatful Moments series begins: Teen Entrepreneur: When Plan A Changes. Tomorrow, we’re going to step away from the paperwork and the questions for a moment and talk about something even more important:
When Plan A Changes, Trust God With Plan B. Then Monday, we’ll start digging into the practical side: What Happens When Your Job Suddenly Becomes Uncertain? We’re going to figure this out together. Because sometimes you don’t get to choose when Plan A changes. You just have to learn what to do next.
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.
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Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates