Life
Young man with special needs face lights up when he hears ‘you’re hired’ at restaurant
Moments like these are so important in a person's life.
Kirsten Spruch
12.28.20

This young man dreamt of having a job. For almost two years, he wished so hard to get hired somewhere. To be able to work somewhere is truly all he wanted.

So he chose a local pasta restaurant in the center of the town where he lived. “I still don’t know why he chose the place he did,” his mother told Love What Matters. But he did the research online and made sure he fulfilled all of their requirements.

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“Carefully, he printed out the application. He sat at the kitchen counter and answered the questions about his age, birth date, and previous experience,” his mom said.

“He asked if he was a US citizen. I assured him he was,” she added.

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To his surprise, he was hired. From there, he washed dishes from 4:30 to 6:30 every Tuesday, for almost a year. He wears their t-shirt, which reads “Table 8 Pasta.”

“This probably seems pretty simple. A teenager wanted a job. He filled out an application. They hired him. They gave him a t-shirt, and every week he showed up to work,” she said. “Except he isn’t an ordinary teenager.”

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“He is a teenager with autism,” the young man’s mother revealed.

Because he is autistic, there are a few things that, in the past, have made it hard for him to work. According to his mother, he obsesses over strange things, doesn’t have the best memory, and suffers from crippling anxiety. He also isn’t the best at reading social cues, she says.

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The restaurant environment is something that would normally have him running in the opposite direction. Loud talking, phones constantly ringing, and people bustling all around? Seems more like a nightmare for an autistic child than anything else.

Despite all of this, he still wanted to work. He still applied.

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“It took him four tries, two pencils, and a lengthy explanation of US citizenship to get the application right. We drove into town and dropped it off to a young girl standing behind the counter. He waited,” his mother wrote.

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She added, “He worried because that’s what my boy does. He worried they may never call and they would never hire him.”

But the owner called.

The owner then explained that they don’t have much experience working with autistic employees, however they were more than willing to give it a try.

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“He wakes up at 6:00 a.m. every Tuesday and puts on his t-shirt. He wears it to school. When he gets home, he reminds me he has to go to work and he will not be home for dinner,” his mom writes.

She goes on to share how he is very eager to get there right on time, to never be late. If his mom, who gives him a ride, is running a minute or two late, he will begin to get antsy even though it’s only a 7-minute car ride away.

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Then, one week, something incredible happened.

“This week was like every other week, except when I picked him up, he had something exciting to share. ‘Mom. For me. A promotion.’ His face was lit up and his eyes were bright and he was smiling. My boy was smiling,” she writes.

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Now, her son was the one making the pasta. He told her just how important this was for him.

This story is so heartwarming.

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You can read the rest of it over at Love What Matters and watch a video of him working below. Remember to treat people with kindness. It can change their life.

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