On Page 53, “The First Job” is what I related to the most because just like Esperanza planning to get a job to pay her tuition, I did the same. I also went to a Catholic high school and know that it wasn’t always easy for my mother so I decided to get a job early on to help pay for college. Esperanza lying about her age is the same thing I did, being 18 and working with older men doing a job that requires heavy lifting and lots of hours means I usually have to do all the work. I prepared myself before I got the job to grow facial hair and work out as much as possible to make myself look older and it worked for a while. Only my boss knew I was 18 but he was never around so the other employees didn’t know I lied about my age. Until one day he comes around and see’s the oldest guy moving bricks and says out loud, “Why don’t you let Christian do it, he’s the youngest here so he has more energy”. At that moment I became very nervous because now all my employees know how old I really am and they just laughed asking me why I had lied so I told them the truth. Afterward, I did end up having to the most of the work.
Powered by:
top
2 thoughts on “Christian Alvear Discussion 15”
Christian, thank you for sharing this male version of “The First Job.” It shares so many of the emotions described in the Cisneros vignette, yet it offers a different perspective and about expectations faced by young men.
Your story made me smile. There are so many that lie about their age for their personal gain or benefit. I commend you for having compassion for your mom. You are a wonderful person to even think about working to help your mom instead of allowing her to do it all, while you have fun like a lot of young people do. Being young in the work field no matter how much experience you have, or how hard you work, will label you as the rookie until you reach a certain age. I’m sorry they started giving you most of the work. Gain the experience. When you are the senior person and a rookie come in, treat them better.