On this Labor Day Monday, I am reminded once again of my life as a kid growing up in Haven, Kansas. It was a place where my parents, John and Lois Scott, ran our family business for over 10 years. Scott's Cafe and Service Station was located at the corner of K-96 and Kansas Avenue, a near perfect spot for traffic back in those days. It was 30 years before the KDOT ever thought of turning K-96 into a four-lane highway and the old highway ran adjacent to my family's business. Every day the parking lot was filled with cars heading east or west and semis hauling goods throughout Kansas. Mom and Dad insisted on keeping everything open 7 days a week, opening at 6 in the morning and closing at 10 in the evening. Sometimes they even stayed open later if the need arose and they were busy. I'm not sure how they did it in the early days. Both of them must have grown so weary and tired but they would not have said or done anything different. It was their passion to own a business. This kind of business. They wouldn't be giving up any time soon.
There were seven children in the Scott Family and by the time we got to Haven in 1964, the restaurant was still 3 years away from opening and only 5 of us remained at home. My mom took a job as a waitress over in Halstead, Kansas and my dad would drive her there every day. He found employment at a filling station in the very same little town, so they would travel the 20 miles to work each day together. (I can see in my mind now some "little kid" out there reading this~someone under the age of 40 saying "what the heck is a filling station?" It's a gas station, you know one where they actually came out and filled your car up for you?) Both of my folks wanted to gain some practical work experience doing the kind of jobs that they were hoping to devote the rest of their "working" lives to. By 1967 the restaurant and service station opened up and I still remember the pride they felt when the doors opened for the very first time. For John and Lois Scott, it was their own piece of the great "American Dream".
The five of us kids that still remained at home were recruited immediately to join the ranks of workers that my parents employed. My two older brothers worked at the gas station and my older sister Sherry and younger sister Cindy worked at the restaurant with me. I was only 11 when I first learned how to remove dirty dishes from a table and wipe it clean with a cloth. Looking back now, I realize how much they depended upon us to help them make things run smoothly. I'm not even sure we had much choice in the matter. If you were a "Scott kid" you worked at Scott's Cafe. No questions asked. I never, not even once as a young kid in high school, entertained the notion of looking at my mom and saying,
"Mom, I've been thinking about applying for a job at Gibson's in Hutch. What do you think?"
I didn't realize it at the time but boy do I ever know it now. I learned the value, the real gift, of knowing how to work hard from my parents. It was the very greatest of things that they could have ever given to me. It took me a while but I learned the importance of doing a job "all the way", of never cutting corners to save time or effort. The young woman that I used to be was always very shy and didn't like to talk all that much to strangers. But if you are working with the public, you had better be prepared to get over that little issue rather quickly. Working out in public taught me the importance of customer service and that without the customer, I wouldn't have a job to begin with. My tired feet and aching back paled in comparison to the value of the life lesson that I learned during my 10 years of being a waitress and a dishwasher and a "sometimes fry cook". With deep gratitude in my heart for what that experience taught me, I give thanks to my parents who knew how important it would be for their children to learn the work ethic at a very young age. I didn't always see it that way, especially when all of my friends were out having fun on a Friday night as they drug Main Street in Hutch looking for cute guys to talk to, but I know it now. I'm thankful that I told my parents how much I appreciated what the experience of growing up in a restaurant did for me before they both passed away.
I chose not to remain a waitress for my life's goal but then I was never meant to any way. Having "been there and done that", I am always appreciative of the good service that I receive when I dine out at a meal. It's hard work! That 10-year stint of working behind the counter and waiting on customers was a good job, one that provided me funds for going to college and becoming a teacher. Although so many years have gone by now, I can still close my eyes and remember what it was like to be there. I can just about hear the clanging of the dishes as they washed in the dishwasher, the voice of Mike the bread guy as he delivered our morning order from the bakery in Hutch, the sound of the dinging bell when an order was ready, and the music from the juke box as it played in the background. The people, so many now already gone from this earth, who used to be not only our customers but our dear friends as well, will always remain in my memory. It was the best life ever for a kid to grow up in and I have my mom and dad to give thanks for it.
Whatever your job is on this Labor Day Monday, I say "thank you" for doing it and for doing it well. Each vocation, every career within the work force today is most important and if you think one is not as important as another, just try having someone stop doing their job for the day. To my folks in Heaven, I give thanks. They did the right thing by us kids. We grew up as workers, a character trait that I hang on tightly to this very day.
Have a great Labor Day everyone out there! Take a moment to rest this day if you are able to. You deserve it.
Haven, Kansas is my hometown and the best place ever for a kid to grow up in. I was raised there by an entire town of people who really did care about what happened to me and every other kid that called it their home.
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