"The Experiment" Part I

It was dinner around the table as usual, in home of Bill and Lori Keebler and their two daughters, Nancy 15, and her older sister Carmen, who had just turn 19. Bill and Lori always found it very interesting that every night like clockwork, their girls would get carried away with their timely banter, bickering and bitching on various topics that included - but were not limited to, who was more beautiful, who had more friends, who had more guy friends, and who made the most money - a topic that Nancy loved to rub in her sister’s face.

Nancy was always spearheading some plan or idea to generate money into what she liked to call her “Soon to be a million” account.  She held down many odd jobs that included, babysitting, dog walking, minor sewing and selling potted flowers that she would grow in a small area in the garage over the winter months, and would sell them to family, friends and neighbors during the spring planting season.  She clearly was the Donald Trump, of the family and if there was a nickel to be made, she’d be the first to figure out how, and then make it happen. 

Carmen on the other hand, was clearly one that was destine to be in the movies and there wasn’t a day that didn’t go by that she was either a part of, had been a part of, or was about to be a part of the latest Facebook school girl drama and end up on the twitter bus to hell. She never had a dime to her name, and when she did, she would find a way to get rid of it fast.

Bill always remarked that if it wasn’t for her acting skills, he honestly believed that she was never going to have a job, or at least one that lasted more than three days - which was usually the time span before the imaginary stress in her mind would have her believing that she was over qualified for the job and that people were just stupid.  Her replies to Bills remarks would always result in the same way night after night - roll of her eyes and a stern flip of her long auburn locks of curly hair over her shoulder she’d reply, “Whatever Dad!”

It was at this moment an idea had presented itself in Bills mind, but was he on the right path? You see, Bill and Lori were always so amazed at how their daughters, who have grown up in the same house hold, under the same daily routines with the same expectations, and having basically the same interests, viewed the importance of having a job like trying to merge motor oil with milk.  Where Nancy understood that being financially independent was an important part of life, Carmen honestly believed that things in life were owed to her, and that she could never understand why nobody could see that she was clearly manager material and would never lower herself to start at the bottom of any job.

Thus type of thinking, set the wheels in motion for Bill to try and figure out once and for all, was this mind set something he and Lori had created all these years, or was it just this generation, and with that “The Experiment” was born.

When the girls had excused themselves from the table and his wife went downstairs to do a load of laundry, his thought ravished brain began to morph his visions onto the blank pages of notebook paper he had taken out of Carmen’s book bag.  He continued to sit at the table intently drawing pages of charts and graphs all with columns with ample space for quality note taking. When his wife had returned to the dining room, she was amazed at the amount of work that had gone into his idea, but she feared asking what it was, like a mother being asked by a two year old, “Can you guess what this is?”  You know it’s a picture of something, but fear having to ask and putting their self-esteem at risk. She sat down and watched without question as he muttered and stewed over his creation.

“I’ve done it!” he shouted out loud with sheer excitement.

“Done what Mr. Einstein?” Lori said with a smirk. She had not seen him this excited since the time when he receive playboy magazine instead of the TV. guide, because she had put the wrong sticker on the – win ten million dollars a year for life - Publishers Clearing House order form. To Bill, he was the only winner that year, and was happy it came in the form of sexy women in tantalizing poses across the glossy pages that came in black plastic to conceal his erotic pleasure that had been mailed to him by his wife. She’d never make that mistake again and was glad when the two year subscription was over.

He rubbed his hands together and said, like a man about to dive into an uncut chocolate cake and grinned a sheepish grin as if Lori had told him, he’d gotten his playboy subscription renewed, “This experiment is going to shed some light on our situation.”

“Situation?” at this point Lori didn’t know what to think. “Bill, are you feeling OK?”

“Couldn’t feel better,” he said as he organized his pages and began to explain. “What we are going to do is go to twenty businesses over the weekend, and watch twenty boys and twenty girls while they are working.”

“Bill, um, hon, I think that is illegal and called stalking.”

“I don’t mean this is a negative way. Just hear me out. I want to understand what is going on with the young adults of today. We as parents have done all we can to instill in our children the importance of being respectful, honest, and what it takes to make it in life. I just don’t understand why it is so hard for us to get Carmen to understand that she needs to get a job. She has been out of High School for almost a year and still thinks that everything in her life is just going to hand itself to her.”

“Ok, but how does this influence all this creativeness on our dining room table?”

“I want to do an experiment and grade the new generation of males and females in today’s work force. No names will be written down, just check marks in the following categories”.

1.     Customer Service

2.     Attention to detail

3.     Respect for their employer

4.     Respect for others

5.     Ability to speak clearly and effectively

 

“And you want to do this when? It sounds more like a College thesis to me.”

“The sooner the better.” He replied with a grin, “But starting Friday night would be fine too. This is going to be great; I always wanted to know what it was like to work undercover.”

“Bill, this isn’t an episode of Nash Bridges or Hawaii Five-O. We are two adults wanting to learn more about helping our daughter succeed in life.”

“Two adults? Are you saying you’re going to go out on this undercover mission with me?”

“I guess so.” she replied, “But only if I get to play Ziva from N.C.I.S.”

“Ok, then I'll be Tony.” He said with a huge grin and a twinkle to his eyes. “Let’s set our watches. Friday our undercover project will commence at 18:00 hours sharp.”

“Bill...we watch way to much crime story television." Lori said followed with laughter, "What are the girls going to say when they find out what we are about to do?"

 

To Be Continued….