Must. Not. Kill. Him.

Michael is doing his best right now to get himself fired.

When I picked him up from work last night it was obvious something was wrong. I could tell by the way that he called his boss a "b----"

It took some doing to get out of him what had happened, but finally he gave me at least the general outline and enough details that I'm amazed he still has a job to go back to, although, as I said, he's working hard on taking care of that slight problem.

It seems he was assigned to wash dishes last night. This made him unhappy. He feels he has been washing dishes entirely too much since he got this job. Being thusly displeased with the vicissitudes of working life he expressed his displeasure by telling his boss that it was obvious that he was just the "dish monkey" around there. Only, he told me, he didn't put it that nicely. I have a hunch he probably started swearing at her. He was certainly swearing about her.

Last night he was saying that he didn't feel like going in to work tonight. He's in for a nasty shock if he's still thinking that way when he gets up today. I told the husband last night and we both agreed that's not an option. He needs to suck it up, go back in there, apologize to his boss and learn to deal with the fact that a job isn't about having fun.

**Break**

I just took a slight pause and went off into thinking about how to talk with Michael about this and wound up getting into a diatribe in my head with him about the realities of the universe. I mean, honestly, when you get right down to it, no-one cares if you don't like your job. You're unhappy? Then get an education. Get the skills that will allow you to support yourself doing what you like. You don't want to do that? Then feel free to starve. That's just the way it is.

I've had jobs I've hated. The husband has had jobs he's hated. We did them anyway because, as one boss of mine used to say, "Working allows me the luxuries to which I've become accustomed - food on the table and a roof over my head." So, hate it or not, I did my job cheerfully and well. And it paid off. I got promotions, got raises, got great letters of recommendation when I moved on to jobs that paid more and were more fun. That's how it works. That's how you play the system and make it work for you.

Michael's way of approaching life - his temper tantrums, his insistence that things go his way or not at all, his refusal to play if he isn't perfectly happy - is going to leave him with nothing but a bloody nose when he gets out there in the real world. He is running out of time, too. So, how the heck do we get it across to this kid that he's throwing his life away before it's even started? How do we make him understand that he's going to be stuck washing dishes his whole life if he doesn't start participating in school? How do we make him see that all the luxuries that he likes so much right now, like his PS2, internet access, fast food, new clothes, new books to read, all this is dependent on being able to make enough money to afford them? And how do we get this across to him without triggering a temper tantrum that will lead him to refuse to participate, just like he's been doing with school?

Or can I just hope he'll grow out of it in another year or two?