Towards the beginning of my freshman year, I was eager to take my first steps towards independence. In my mind, that entailed making money for myself instead of relying on my parents.
I needed a job and finding a place that would hire a 15-year-old with no work experience turned out to be harder than I thought.
Just when I was about to throw in the towel and wait until July for my birthday, I stumbled upon an ad in the classified section of the Tribune. Â The ad was for the Country Harvest Pumpkin Patch in Glenvil, Nebraska. Â The owners were looking for high school students willing to give up their weekends for a month to work.
I called the number given in the ad and scheduled a date to drive out to Glenvil for an interview with the owners.
On the day of my interview, I was a tad bit nervous. This was going to be my first actual job interview and I had no idea how to dress or what to say. In spite of my nervousness, I put on my best clothes and assured myself everything was going to be okay.
My mom and I pulled into the parking lot of the pumpkin patch and the owners, Paul and Ronna Fredricks, greeted us. Ronna led me inside and we started my interview.
The interview was fairly simple. Ronna told me a little bit about the gig. I would work Friday from 4 pm to 7 pm, Saturday 10 am to 7 pm, and Sunday 12 pm to 7 pm. My duty would be to run the attractions that range from giant jump pillows to a zip line chair.
My interview must’ve gone reasonably well because a couple weeks later I got a call saying I was hired. It was around this time that I realized how sweet of a job this is. Sure, it was going to suck missing out on my weekends for a month, but who cares? I get to work at a pumpkin patch!
Getting hired was just the start of my adventures in pumpkin patch working. Check back next week to see how my training and first day went!
