My Attitude to Small Towns
First off, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here, my name is Jacob Walker, I'm eighteen years old and I grew up in a smallish town called Mexico, Missouri. I've lived in Mexico my whole life, and it's helped form me into the person I am today. With a population of 11,000, it may not seem small but when I wasn't in Mexico, I was either in Centralia, Hallsville, or Sturgeon. Each of these towns being no bigger than a population of 7,000. Spending most of my time in small towns helped show me that if the town is small, the heart is bigger. That mentality has played a big role in my life.
As long as I can remember, my father has worked at Hubbell. I grew up watching him wake up at 4 a.m. everyday to go to work. He's been my role model my whole life. Recently, he accepted a job as a maintenance mechanic. He's busted his tail off for 28 years to get this job. This showed me that if you work long and hard, day in and day out, things will pay off in the end. It's also taught me to keep your nose to the grindstone whether the times are tough or not.Within the 18 years of life I've been granted, I have experienced some hardships. In 2012 I faced the hardest thing I've ever had to tackle. In the summer of 2012 my grandfather's health began to deteriorate. He would forget things he was talking about in the middle of a conversation, which is very unlike him. Out of concern, my grandma took him to University Hospital. There they found a large tumour in his brain. I still remember the day my dad told me the news. I came home and cried all night. Things weren't looking good. As a young 8th grader the word "cancer" is very unfamiliar and outlandish. As time went on, things never got better, in fact they got worse. Unfortunately in Mid-December, my Papa Larry passed away.
After overcoming the death of my grandfather, I met a group of friends that helped me feel like myself again. These friends had my back the same way I had theirs. My friend Sam had this very crappy Chevrolet Tahoe. The fuel pump constantly went out, no matter what they did to fix it. For three weeks straight Sam called me at all hours of the night and no matter where he was, how long the drive was, I would always help him out. I always made sure he made it home because I knew that he would do the same for me. Luckily, my fuel pump never went out.I've worked at Goldcrest Distribution for almost right at a year and a half. Over this year and a half, I've met tons of new people and have been exposed to a whole new community of people. While some people are nicer than others, I treat them all the same. Everyday when I walk in, the receptionist, Debbie always asks me how my day is going, and I ask her the same. It's repeated when I leave. When October rolls around, we have our annual "Wild Bird Expo" and tons of customers visit our warehouse to converse with hundreds of vendors. Last year I received multiple comments about my manners, respectfulness, and customer service. My supervisor recognized this and gave me a 100 dollar bonus. I wasn't doing this for the money. I was acting the way my parents raised me, the way I've learned from small towns, and the way that I am today.
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