For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 06, 2020

Isn’t he too young to work in a bar, or are the laws different in Canada?

it would’ve awesome it I lived in Graham County, Arizona and helped run my great-grandfather’s and granduncles’ pharmacy by being a soda jerker (the edifice is long closed… even before COVID-19)

That’s a huge turnabout Mike. Once you couldn’t stand Fiona now you want to work for her???? :/

You know that story John told about how Michael is allowed to skip working for his uncle on a farm if gets a job? Michael is about to find out whether or not his father is a man of his word.

Mike. You are 15. You can’t legally work in a bar. Not until you are of drinking age. Would Fiona fake his age and get him hired? I wouldn’t put that past her. However, I doubt John and Elly would allow it anyway. While John is naive about how cool a pool hall, he knows how tempting a bar would be for a 15 year old. Elly will be just absolutely NO just for the very illicit principle of working there at all. Drug dealers. Bikers. Criminals. Prostitutes. College coeds. Alcohol. Cigarettes. Vape. Sex. A mother’s nightmare.

Work experience, no matter if menial, will open doors.

You’ll actually have to do some work, Mike. You won’t be able to play pool all day!

He can work as a chef. As long as he’s not serving drinks and is not behind the bar.

No kid of mine would be allowed to work there, no matter the age. :P

This is not a completely wrong idea.

I’m sure she can find work for him. He can come in after hours, or before opening, to clean up and stock the place. Minimum wage and all the pool he can play. Off hours only.

Lynn’s Comments:

Aunt Margaret’s assortment of regular customers would arrive every day. It was a social hub. These regulars would spend their time playing pool or sitting in the coffee shop. It was my job to make and serve them breakfast or burgers and fries. If they ever took a good look at the griddle we used, they might not have swallowed their lunch.

Your not working in a bar just to be closer to Martha

and thus begins a transition toward Hemingway…

ptomaine outbreak waiting to happen…

That place looks pretty beat up, and the kitchen area looks filthy. He’ll love it there!

The hot dog cart he ran last year was not a grill. It had boiled (or possibly steamed) hot dogs in a bin that he put together for the customers. He has never run a grill like that one.

Mike if you go to work there, you might lose your girlfriend once her parents find out where you are working.

Interesting—when I was in Jr Hi, my Mom worked at the downtown Woolworth’s store. When I got out of school, I walked to the Emporium which was 2 blocks from Woolworth’s. When Mom got off work, she walked down the street, got me, and we rode home. Saw lots of beer, pickled eggs, pickled sausage, cigarette smoke, and guys, but never saw a woman in there other than my mom hollering at me from the door to leave. Once I was driving, that was always my stop on nights I didn’t have a date or a fishing trip planned—-and I never left there drunk or under the influence of drugs, etc.

I worked in a Pool Hall for one summer when I was 17. There is a lot more to this story than I am willing put down in a permanent record.

Since Fiona has “cokes and smokes”, it is evident what she really sells. Everyone know what coke stands for, and the crack pipe to “smoke” it in. Michael will “cook” for Fiona for sure. Meth and PCP are on the menu.