Rushing my to the work to clock in on time wasn’t typical for me. Normally I’m on time or even arrive a little early, so me being in a rush, my day wasn’t off to such a great start I anticipated it to be. To top it off, my lunch break came around I realized I left my my food sitting out on the counter. Feeling even grumpier now; I thought to myself, “the kid who has me as a driving instructor today is going to wish they didn’t.”
It was that time of day to ride along with the kids trying to earn their license. You never know who you are going to get next, this is why I enjoy my job, there’s always someone new. Still in a cranky mood though, without even introducing myself to the kid I went right to work questioning whether or not the boy knew how to properly use the controls such as wipers, binkers, and mirrors. He seemed to know what he was doing, that was until we got inside the vehicle.
Before he even buckled his seatbelt, he went to start the engine. I cleared my throat and asked the boy, “Sir, your seatbelt?” Startled, the boy scrambled to put it on. I could tell he was on edge, but didn’t make it obvious. I just kept to myself and my paper most of the ride. For being so nervous the kid actually did quite well on the parallel parking. It made me think he had a good chance of passing his test the first time after all.

Once we arrived back to the DMV I got the feeling the kid wanted to get the test over with. He had pulled right into the nearest parking space followed by him taking the biggest sigh of relief. There was a moment of silence until it was broken by the boy yelping, “well, how did I do miss? Did I pass!” I could hear the anxiousness in his voice. “follow me,” I replied. Still not in the best mood, I blatantly told the boy, “Look kid you passed, but only by three points.” A proud smirk came across his face almost instantaneously. He said, “well shoot, three points or twenty, that is what I came here to do, now may I have my license please?” just like that, the boy was out the door and I was on the next driver.