Everything you know if you work for your parents
Think Pawn Stars meets American Pickers in a small Southern town with less drama and twice the fun
If there’s one thing that’s popular in the South, it’s local, family-owned businesses. Beyond the fact that it’s a common dream to be your own boss, what could be better than having a business filled with employees you know you can count on because they’re your own flesh and blood.
My family (and others) cutting the ribbon for the grand opening of The Past Time Antique Emporium
Two years ago, my parents bought out a really cool old building in our hometown of Marion, Va and opened an antique shop with my Aunt Kelly and grandparents. Getting it up and running was a long, trying process, but was so worth it in the end. I started working there part-time in June, while working at a bakery, then worked only there for the rest of that summer. When I travel home over breaks, it’s the first place I stop because I’m guaranteed to see at least some of my family.
The antique shop was by far my favorite job. Working with your family can be positively amazing and working at an antique shop even more so; you learn so much about interesting pieces of past life and culture.
When employed by your parents, the work tends to be easier and less stressful
My parents are the type of people that you can rarely take seriously. They’re always cutting up. As you can imagine, this made the work day seem light-hearted and enjoyable. It also made it go by quickly. I’d arrive at work in the morning and before I knew it was sent out for lunch.
Nothing is more enjoyable than quality family time during the downtime of a work day.
The customers tend to be more polite to the workers in family-owned businesses
Whether it’s because they have a soft-spot for family moments or a hatred for mass corporations, in my experience, the customers are far nicer to the proprietors of local, family-owned businesses than to say, fast food employees. They seem much more understanding and have a cheerier disposition.
Your bosses (aka parents) are very understanding with your schedule
My parents removing the “For Sale” sign from the building during renovations.
Parents know what you’re going through and how busy your school schedules are, so they’re usually more understanding with schedules. If you’re lucky, they’ll even consult you as they’re working out the next week’s schedule.
Depending on the type of business, they let you include your fur-babies in the fun
My sister’s dog in his “uniform.”
As long as they don’t wreak havoc, my parents allowed my sister and I to bring our small dogs into the shop. My dog adores this. She loves attention and isn’t very fond of being left behind, so my grandparents, aunt, and parents petting her and catering to her when we come in makes her day.
You get to spend a lot of time with your family
My dad, aunts, and grandparents.
My absolute favorite part of working for my parents was getting to see my family every time I was there. Hours usually sacrificed at work meant away from the family, but not at the antique shop! Anytime I went in, I was guaranteed to see at least one family member that, before the shop opened, I’d only get to see on holidays and special occasions.
When you work with your family, you get to spend all of your work day with them. This could be amazing or awful, depending on the day, but mostly amazing.
Family-owned businesses tend to bring families closer
Though renovations and everyday work-related stresses can break friendships into acquaintances, the persevering through them tends to bring families closer. You can’t toss away family connections like you can lousy friendships, so the trials just make your relationships that much stronger.
You get extra work to do when you need the money
If you have something coming up that you need money for, your parents find odd jobs for you to do to help earn that. For example, with antique shops there are tons of moving merchandise that has to be moved from flee markets, houses, etc. that my parents would hire me and some friends to do.
You call the store’s phone line more than your parents’ personal cells
When your parents are running their own business, they tend to spend all their time there. More often than not, they’re more reliable on the shop’s line than on their cells.
There are many things I learned from the antique shop, among them more than just things about every day life in the past. The fun part about working with your grandparents and parents in this setting is, when they see something that sparks a memory, they launch into wonderful nostalgic stories that might not have been triggered otherwise. It was on our slow days (usually spent cleaning up old antiques my grandparents or parents recently purchased and brought in) that I learned fascinating tales about my family’s lives before I was born. The family business was by far the best job I ever had.