Part 1: What I learned as a teenage pump jockey

Cutting my cake with my parents on my 18th birthday

Two weeks after high school graduation and the morning after my 18th birthday, my dad woke me up at 7:00 am. He said he was leaving me an address and he needed me to meet him there as soon as I could. 

The address was on 12th Street in New Westminster. Hmmm…there were several car dealerships on that street. Could I be getting a new car? But I had just bought an old Mazda GLC, so that couldn’t be it. The anticipation got me out the door quickly!

The gas station and car wash on 12th Street - 1987

I drove about 10 minutes and approached the most beat-up and rundown gas station and self-serve car wash I had ever seen. It was in a low-income neighbourhood not far from where I grew up. With trepidation, I walked over to my dad and found out that he had taken a last-minute opportunity given to him by Mohawk Oil to buy the business and he needed my help. He handed me a broom and I got to work while I rolled around in my head whether accepting the broom was a contract to spend my summer working in this dump.

Turns out it was. As each day passed, I wondered if this was going to be permanent or temporary. I had just graduated from high school and had plans to look for a cool job that summer. I am not sure what I had in mind, but I know it didn’t involve wearing coveralls or getting motor oil under my fingernails. For a lot of kids my age, this would be considered a great job. I did not feel that way. 

At the graduation prom with the friend who offered me a job at a men’s suit store

About three weeks in, my friend called me at the station. He had landed a job at a men’s suit store and they were hiring. His dad was the manager and it was pretty much a sure thing if I was interested in working there. 

It seemed too good to pass up. I loved wearing suits and ties. I wore them in elementary school and every so often in high school when the occasion called for it. But how was I going to tell my dad?  

I didn’t. I told my mom. That was how it worked in our house. Whenever I was scared to raise something with my dad, I told my mom instead. She would always tell my dad. And she did just that.

That evening, my dad called me into his bedroom and asked me about the opportunity. I told him everything about it. I was nervous. I didn’t let on that I would much rather work at a men’s clothing store than at the gas station. How could I? The gas station business had put a roof over our heads for the past 13 years. 

I didn’t dare make it appear like I was too good for it. When I was done, my dad asked me how much the job paid, and I told him. “So it is not as much as you are making at the gas station?” he asked (but it was really a statement). “I guess not.” I said. “OK then.” he said. And that was that.

I’m not sure why, but I don’t recall feeling disappointed. In fact, I felt a moment of clarity. In that moment, I realized that my dad needed me. That he didn’t see me as just another pump jockey. He needed someone he trusted, someone he could give responsibility to. For some reason I hadn’t understood that until that moment. Everything changed once I did. I did not give the other job another thought.

That September, I was going to be starting the Science program at Simon Fraser University (SFU). I resolved to work as hard as possible in the meantime so that my dad would be okay once I started school. I learned a lot that summer, but the greatest learning was this: Despite dropping out of school at the age of 15 to work in the family business, my dad was really smart and had good business sense.  

He was also a very good teacher. I was surprised by that but it made sense. For 15 years, my dad had been hiring and training high school students to work at his stations. He was sometimes hard on them, but they learned, increased their confidence and often went on to do bigger things.

One lesson stands out from that summer. A few weeks into the job, I was at the station alone and was paid a visit by a man who introduced himself as the owner of the fire and security company down the street. The company provided stores in the neighbourhood with alarm monitoring services. 

It was time to renew our contract. I thought I was being very shrewd by telling him that we would likely combine the monitoring for this station with our contracts for the other 2 stations my dad was running. Made sense right? The man walked away clearly put out that this 18-year old kid had turned him down so quickly. And for a brief period, I felt I had demonstrated some solid business acumen. 

The next morning, the man came to see my dad. That afternoon, my dad explained to me that this man had all his service vehicles fueled at our station. His rates were comparable but just a little bit higher than what we paid the monitoring company we used for the other stations. That monitoring company was a large one and its service was not very responsive.

My dad told me that it was important to support other local small businesses if we wanted to be welcomed as part of the community. What I took away from this experience has stayed with me to this day: reciprocity and loyalty are paramount, lowest price isn’t everything and support small business whenever you can. 

Was there a lesson you learned at your first job that has stayed with you to this day? Let me know by commenting below or sending me an email.

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