Seventeen-year-old Andrew is used to getting what he wants and treating people badly when he doesn\u2019t get it, but his father decides it\u2019s time Andrew learned a lesson about respect when he mistreats a flight attendant.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think he\u2019ll be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
Steven had been watching his seventeen-year-old son walk toward the airport boarding gate, but now he looked down at his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course Andrew will be okay,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this new school can help him learn some humility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what if they treat him badly in the dorms?\u201d Steven\u2019s wife looked up at him. \u201cHe\u2019s never been to boarding school before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the point.\u201d Steven clenched his jaw. \u201cAndrew has become spoiled and he needs to learn some tough lessons about life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Months later, Andrew was flying home for the holidays after his first semester of boarding school. He\u2019d hated every minute of his time there and was eager to return to his high-powered computer and the luxury car he got for his sixteenth birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, you.\u201d Andrew waved to the flight attendant, a redhead woman with freckles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I help you, sir?\u201d The flight attendant smiled at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can get me something better to snack on than these peanuts.\u201d Andrew threw the bag of peanuts at her.<\/p>\n
The flight attendant\u2019s smile turned into a frown. \u201cSir, please don\u2019t throw things at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll do what I like,\u201d Andrew replied. \u201cYou\u2019re here to serve me, so stop complaining and do your job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t talk to her like that.\u201d The older man in the seat beside Andrew turned to look at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because it\u2019s her job to serve us doesn\u2019t mean you can disrespect her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers at the flight attendant. \u201cI\u2019m still waiting for my snack.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flight attendant walked away with her eyes downcast. The older man in the next seat shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour parents must be so disappointed in you,\u201d the elderly man muttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody asked you, old man.\u201d Andrew began scrolling through the movie options.<\/p>\n
After a few minutes, the flight attendant returned with a pretzel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere you go, sir,\u201d she said and held out the pretzel to him. \u201cIf there\u2019s anything else \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew sneered and slapped the pretzel out of her hand. \u201cI don\u2019t want a pretzel!\u201d<\/p>\n
The flight attendant recoiled, tears forming in her eyes. \u201cPeanuts and pretzels are the only snacks we serve on this flight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s pathetic, just like you.\u201d Andrew leaned forward in his seat. \u201cGo and fetch me a proper snack, now!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow dare you talk to her like that?\u201d A woman rose from her seat across the aisle and put a hand on the flight attendant\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she did her job then I wouldn\u2019t have to.\u201d Andrew pointed at the flight attendant.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a servant, and a bad one too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flight attendant burst into tears. The woman passenger tried to comfort her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody ought to give you a hiding, young man.\u201d The elderly passenger in the seat next to Andrew scowled at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree.\u201d Somebody placed a hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
At that moment, Andrew understood what his father had been trying to teach him.
\nAndrew recognized that voice. He turned and stared in surprise when he saw his dad behind him. His face was red with anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, what are you doing here?\u201d Andrew asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlying home from a business trip,\u201d Steven replied. \u201cI hoped we might meet on the plane, but I never imagined it would be like this. Apologize to this young lady and the other passengers immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew hunched his shoulders and mumbled an apology. He didn\u2019t see what the big deal was, but he knew better than to disobey his father when he was so angry.<\/p>\n
When Andrew and his father got home, Steven marched him straight to his office on the second floor of the luxurious house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis comes to an end right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steven shut the door and turned to point at Andrew. \u201cYour behavior is disgusting. I hoped that you might learn manners in boarding school, but it seems I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you making such a big deal out of this?\u201d Andrew threw out his arms. \u201cShe\u2019s just a flight attendant. It\u2019s not like she\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s your problem, Andrew. You think you\u2019re better than others because you were born into a wealthy family, and that you can treat others badly because of that.\u201d Steven crossed his arms. \u201cThat\u2019s going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t be going back to that school. You\u2019ll finish your education at a public school, and you\u2019re going to spend your holiday working.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking?\u201d Andrew straightened up. \u201cAre you giving me a job at your company?\u201d<\/p>\n
Steven smiled. \u201cYou could say that. I\u2019m going to give you a job in my cleaning company, as a janitor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew was horrified.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t do it!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will because I\u2019m also cutting off all your privileges. I\u2019m taking your bank cards, your computer, your car, and your cell phone. I\u2019m even taking your branded clothes.\u201d Steven put his hands on his hips. \u201cYou\u2019re going to find out what it means to respect people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew had no choice. His father took his possessions from him, and he started his job as an airport janitor the next day.<\/p>\n
Andrew knew nothing about cleaning. The older woman he was assigned to work with laughed at him for not knowing how to sweep or mop. He shouted at her for laughing at him and threatened to get her fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you won\u2019t,\u201d she replied, shaking her finger at him. \u201cYour father warned me about you, now get to work. These floors don\u2019t clean themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew sighed and started sweeping. He was clumsy, and his supervisor teased him about it. Andrew got angry, but there was nothing he could do about it.<\/p>\n
He was cleaning the trash cans when something hit him. He turned and saw that somebody had thrown an empty takeaway carton at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d Andrew shouted at the man who\u2019d thrown the carton. \u201cHow dare you throw that at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man ignored Andrew, so he ran after him and grabbed his arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking to you,\u201d Andrew said.<\/p>\n
The man shook Andrew off so hard that he fell to the ground. \u201cGet your filthy hands off me, you dirty janitor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew watched the man walk away in shock. Was this how it felt to be treated like you didn\u2019t matter? Andrew didn\u2019t like it. He looked around just as somebody kicked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet out of the way, you lazy bum.\u201d The woman who\u2019d kicked him sneered at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to report you for sleeping on the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that moment, Andrew understood what his father had been trying to teach him. He knew now how much it hurt to be mistreated by people who thought they were better than you.<\/p>\n
A flash of red caught his eye, and Andrew looked up. He recognized the flight attendant he\u2019d been rude to and hurried across to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d he said when he reached her. \u201cI treated you so badly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman was surprised to see him, but she smiled when he apologized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad you\u2019ve learned the error of your ways,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What can we learn from this story?<\/p>\n
Everyone deserves respect. It doesn\u2019t matter if somebody works a menial job; they\u2019re still a person and deserve to be treated respectfully.
\nSometimes children need to learn a lesson the hard way. It can be difficult for children to understand the true depth of important life lessons when they\u2019ve never experienced that situation.<\/p>\n
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seventeen-year-old Andrew is used to getting what he wants and treating people badly when he doesn\u2019t get it, but his father decides it\u2019s time Andrew learned a lesson about respect when he mistreats a flight attendant. \u201cDo you think he\u2019ll be okay?\u201d Steven had been watching his seventeen-year-old son walk toward the airport boarding gate, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}