Voc Side Stories

"Hey Boss"  That is how he might get our attention while he is fast at work at Harvey and Lewis or South Whitney Pizza.  He hauls pizza boxes from the basement and sits at the booth to assemble them.  As his fingers fly he keeps up a steady stream of conversation about his favorite shows.  He is looking forward to earning his pizza for snack.  He still likes a good joke but he has learned how to present himself as a young man.  When he came into the office to tell his supervisor that he "had bad news...my last day is Friday", he explained that his family was moving and he would be attending a new program.  He concluded his conversation with a spontaneous hand shake and a big "Thank-you John".

We wish you all the best.  It has been a pleasure to watch you mature and blossom while you have attended the vocational program.    

In the short time that he worked at Shell, he became quite comfortable as evidenced by his interactions with customers and staff.  Although he worked in the mornings at Shell, he would always greet customers with "Good Afternoon Mam/Sir" and when I brought it to his attention that it was not afternoon, he quickly told me that he had always wanted to say this.  He really seemed to come out of his shell as he became experienced with his off grounds assignments.  He would report to Voc with eagerness to get to his work site.  While working at Shell, he would address Cameron (Shell employee) as "Hey Boss" and enjoyed offering Cameron tips on "good" Japanese anime.  It's funny that on his last day at Shell, he approached Cameron to say goodbye and proudly shook his hand but when he was approached by the owner of Shell, he just gave a quick "see ya later" as he walked out.  He will be missed greatly and I wish him continued success in his new program.