September 1, 2025 • 20 mins
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In this silly story, a brother and sister get to see what their parents’ jobs are like. It sounds like an easy day away from school. Their teachers even said all they had to do was watch. But when one parent ends up staying home sick, the rules suddenly change… and not in a fun way.
Warning: this goofy story for kids may result in smiles, snorts, and possibly some LOLs. Listen at your own discretion.
To see if the shout-out list is open, visit: lolstorytime.com/shoutouts
Visit lolstorytime.com for merch and other... stuff.
In this silly story, a brother and sister get to see what their parents’ jobs are like. It sounds like an easy day away from school. Their teachers even said all they had to do was watch. But when one parent ends up staying home sick, the rules suddenly change… and not in a fun way.
Warning: this goofy story for kids may result in smiles, snorts, and possibly some LOLs. Listen at your own discretion.
To see if the shout-out list is open, visit: lolstorytime.com/shoutouts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hellol story Times really not a glory time, Rabbits standing,
You'll be fine. Follow the whole storyline. Hellol story Time.
Might you love at least one time? Well time, Welcome
to the show. This is Lool Storytime, and today I'll
be telling you a story called take your Kid to
Work Day. This one features characters named after Jack and Quinn.
(00:24):
Some other listeners the shout out this week include Jake,
Oliver and Grace from South Germany, Zach Amelia, Sophia, Ozzy
and Mum and Dad from England, James, Meela, Alfie and
Mom Allison from Switzerland, Journey from the United States, Hessi
and pj from San Diego, California, Savannah Sutton from New Jersey, Greta, Milo,
(00:47):
Henry and Ingrid from Kansas, United States, and also a
Roar and Frieda from Newsa, Queensland, Australia, along with their
dog Winnie and their cousin Bambi, who lives in Brooklyn,
New York. More to come time, but for now, let's
get under the story. This is the story of the
(01:13):
first day back to school and how Jack wanted nothing
to do with it. I want nothing to do with
this day, he told everyone, that morning. His sister, Quinn, however,
was excited to go back to school. She'd never dare
say it out loud, but she'd been growing a little
bored of summarification. Come on, Jack, we'll get to see
our friends again. We'll get to meet our new teachers.
(01:34):
We'll even get to find out what kind of things
we'll be learning about this year. Jack already knew the
answer to that, words and numbers, Quinn, another year of
learning about words and numbers, Lots and lots of words
and numbers. Jack was known for asking lots of questions
at school, something you think teachers might appreciate. But here
(01:56):
were some of the questions that came out of Jack's
mouth on the very first day. How many seconds until recess?
How many more minutes until lunch? How many hours until
home time? How many more days until the weekend? How
many more weeks until the next holiday? How many more
months until the school year is over? This became the
first time that year his teacher had to give the look, Jack,
(02:19):
are you seriously asking me this on the very first
day back to school? You can't be serious? Are you
serious right now? Tell me you're not being serious? Jack
was being serious but now he felt like his teacher
wished he wasn't being serious, And yet he knew if
he told her he wasn't being serious, she'd be upset
with him for joking around. There was really no way
(02:39):
to win. All I'm saying is Jack paused to choose
his words carefully. He didn't want to dig himself any
deeper into a hole. All I'm trying to say is
that you were a wonderful and brilliant teacher. And while
I'm totally fine with being at school, it's you I'm
worried about. With how hard you work showing us all
those words and numbers, I want to make sure you're
(03:01):
getting plenty of breaks. Best way to dig yourself out
of a hole. Tell your teacher you've noticed how hard
they've been working. Miss Fable Babble was smiling. You know,
someday you kids will finish school, go off and get jobs,
and then wish you were back in school. Kids just
don't know how good they have it. Jack couldn't help
(03:21):
himself from laughing, and just like that, he was back
to digging himself into a hole. Okay, so I know
it's probably impolite to correct a teacher when teachers are
the ones who are supposed to be correcting us. But
there's just no way that can be true. I know
you work hard and all, but having a job is
so much better than being a student, you'll probably just
forget what it's like. Miss fable Babble didn't say anything,
(03:44):
and that made Jack nervous. She had the look of
someone who was scheming, the look of someone who had
a really good idea for making someone learn something the
hard way. Miss Fablebabble, I'm really not interested in learning
anything the hard way. You know. I'm more of an
easy way kind of learner. And if you really must know,
I do my best learning when watching funny movies with popcorn.
You should make a note of that. His teacher moved
(04:07):
on to an activity with numbers and words, and Jack
was left wondering what his teacher had been thinking about.
Hearing the bell at the end of the day was
to sound so satisfying. One day down and one hundred
and too many days to go. Quinn told her brother
after school that she had had a totally awesome day.
Her teacher was nice, she had three of her best
(04:27):
friends in her class, and best of all, her classroom
was right next to the custodian's room. Jack had been
nodding his head until she got to that last part.
The custodian like the person who cleans and fixes stuff
around the school. Why would you care about being next
to the custodian, Quinn seems glad, He asked, Well, there
are three reasons. First, if someone throws up in class,
(04:50):
you've got someone there within seconds to clean it up. Second,
custodians tell the best jokes. And third, if you bring
a toy to school even though your parents tell you
not to too because they're worried you might break the toy,
and then you bring it anyways because that's just what
kids do. But then, of course you actually do break
your toy because you let Wendy Wigglestaff, the clumsiest girl
in school, holds your toy and she drops it. And
(05:11):
now you're like, oh, man, mom and dad are gonna
be so mad at me. But then you remember you're
right next to the custodian, and who better to fix
your broken toy? And not only does the custodian fix
it for you, but they make it even better than before.
Jack looked exhausted, having just listened to all that, or
you know, you could just not bring toys to school.
(05:31):
The next morning, Quinn noticed that her teacher seemed a
bit agitated. Well, class, I just found out that our
principal wants to bring back take your kid to work day.
Apparently one of the teachers here wants to prove to
a student that having a job is harder than being
a student. Yeah, because that's what's important at your age. Anyway.
I know we're just getting back into the rhythm of school,
(05:52):
but it looks like you're about to have another day off.
You'll each spend the day following one of your family
members around their work. Well, they impossible try to do
their job and somehow answer a million of your teeny tiny,
pointless little questions. It did seem strange that they were
already having another day away from school. They just had
the entire summer off, and many of Quinn's classmates didn't
(06:13):
even want to go to work with their parents. Oh man,
my dad climbs tall ladders all day long. I'm afraid
of ladders. At least your dad gets to move around.
My mom just stares at a computer all day, no
videos or games. We're talking like eight or nine hours
just staring. Another girl said she'd happily try either of
(06:36):
those jobs. Her parents cleaned porta potties. Qwen's class was
suddenly interrupted by a loud noise from down the hall.
Another teacher had just told her class about take your
kid to work day. This one kid was cheering so
loudly you could hear it around the school. Quinn instantly
recognized the voice. It belonged to Jack. After the kids
(06:59):
arrived home later that day, that was when the fighting began.
It was the usual story where one sibling says they
want one thing and the other one decides they have
to have it too. Quinn, I'm going with mom to
the ice cream factory. Quinn stated that it made more
sense for her to go to the ice cream factory.
She always asked for a scoop of ice cream on
her pie, whereas her brother always ate his pie without
(07:20):
ice cream like some weirdo. Well, they got into it
all right. For almost twenty minutes. They went back and forth, yelling, No,
I'm going with mom and you're going with dad. No,
I'm going with mom and you're going with dad. Thankfully,
their dad wasn't in the room to hear any of that.
Jack eventually gave in, all right, fine, I'll let you
(07:42):
go with mom to the ice cream factory, but only
if you do all of my homework for the next
two nights and give me all of your dessert for
the next four nights. Quinn countered with one night of
homework and three nights of dessert. They shook on it,
and then Quinn left the room to tell their parents
the plan. Once his sister was out of sight, Jack snickered,
everything is going according to plan. Turns out Jack had
(08:06):
wanted to go to his dad's work all along. By
making a sister think the ice cream factory was the
better and more desirable choice, he didn't have to worry
about her trying to take a spot at their dad's work,
and he also scored some free dessert. Besides, it's not
like people at ice cream factories sit around eating ice
cream all day. Their dad, however, always seemed to have
an awful lot of time to play games on his phone.
(08:29):
The day before take your kid to workday, Jack asked
his teacher if he could borrow her phone. My phone,
Why do you want to borrow my phone? Kids aren't
allowed to touch my phone. Jack explained that he wanted
to take pictures during take your kid to Work Day
to show her just how good people with jobs have it.
And just in case my dad's playing on his phone
while I'm there, I'm going to need one to play
(08:50):
on too. Miss Fabolbabbel's eyebrow was starting to twitch. Jack,
work and play are two very different things. You're going
to be in for a mighty big surprise tomorrow. Miss
Fablebabble was the one who was going to be in
for the big surprise, thought Jack. He was about to
have a nice, relaxing day away from school, no boring
(09:11):
numbers and no mumbo jumbo words. Hey, maybe he'd impress
his dad's boss so much they'd change take your kid
to work day and to take your kid to work week.
Or better yet, maybe they would dedicate a whole month
to it. After all, ten months of school was already
nine and a half months too many. In the morning,
Quinn and her mother were the first to leave for work.
(09:32):
Quinn was standing, but she didn't look fully awake. The
sun isn't even up yet, so why are we. Jack's
dad normally didn't leave for work until much later, so
this meant more time for relaxing. Don't work too hard
at the factory today, Quinn, he said, as his sister
stumbled out the door. But when Jack noticed his dad
(09:53):
wasn't getting ready for work, he decided to see what
was the matter. Uh, Dad, why does it look like
you're in bed sick because I'm in bed sick today. Boy,
this was quite possibly the worst thing Jack could have
been told. But what does this mean? Do I have
to go to school now? I'll be one of the
only kids there? Just me and the kids whose parents
(10:16):
forgot to get jobs where they have time to play
on their phones. Go without me, boy, urged his dad.
I've told them you're coming. They'll show you around and
take good care of you. Jack supposed that could work,
but his dad was missing one important detail. How am
I supposed to get to your work when I'm not
(10:36):
old enough to drive your car? Should you order me
a horse and carriage? You have to take the bus,
mumbled his dad. Oh, not the bus. The last time
I took the bus, someone sitting next to me told
me they were visiting Earth from another planet. Fortunately, when
Jack hopped on the bus a little while later, no
(10:56):
signs of space aliens, but there were a lot of
people staring and probably wondering why he was dressed in
a suit and tie and riding on a city bus
by himself. Jack pulled out the old phone his dad
had lent him for emergencies and pretended to make an
important business call. Johnson. I need you to close the deal.
Do you hear me? Johnson? Close the deal. We have
(11:17):
to make this happen or the whole company is gonna
go bust. And then what Johnson? I can't go back
to being one of those kids who goes to school.
I'm counting on you here, Johnson, close the deal. The
other passengers tried to act like they weren't listening in,
but he could tell they were impressed. Jack's father worked
on the thirty first floor of an office building with
(11:37):
a breathtaking view of the city. After the bus dropped
him off, he quickly made himself comfortable at his father's desk,
and it was just about to put his feet up
when the big boss marched in, Clark, you're late, and
why if you're not finished, not report our meeting starts
right after lunch. Jack wondered why this guy was calling
him by his father's name. Uh, sir, I'm not Clark,
(12:00):
I'm Clark's son. The big Boss seemed annoyed that Jack
hadn't answered the question Clark Clark's son, what's the difference?
Just get me that report before lunch. As the boss
stormed out, another person came in. Well, hello there, Minnie Clark,
glad you can make it. My name's Sally and I
work with your father. Hope you're excited for a busy day.
(12:23):
If Sally was referring to a busy day of playing
on his dad's old phone with his feet up on
the desk and his mouth stuffed full of free donuts,
then yes he was excited. And here's your coffee, as
well as the report your dad has been working on.
It's probably already finished, so you'll just need to look
it over. Sally hesitated for a moment, unless your dad
has been goofing off on his phone this whole time.
(12:45):
Sally chuckled to herself and then left Jack to finish
a report he had no business finishing. Without thinking, he
took a sip of coffee and then promptly spit it out.
Oh man, if you could choose between hot chocolate and
this why would anyone have choose this? Jack opened the
file folder Sally had placed on the desk, gross page
(13:07):
after page of words and numbers. On top of the
report was a sticky note Jack's father had put there
to remind himself that he had one final graph to
complete now. Jack specifically remembered his teacher saying that take
your kid to work day was just about watching and
observing the work, not actually doing the work. But with
his dad home sick, who else was going to get
the job done. He just needed to figure out what
(13:28):
sort of graph he was supposed to make. In school,
he had learned about bargraphs and pie charts and those
dot to dot thingama bops, but he also knew there
were so many more. After leafing through the report one
more time, it became obvious lots of words and numbers here,
but no colorful pictures. I bet this report needs a pictograph.
(13:51):
Jack remembered making a picturegraph, and he was in the
first grade. He had asked everyone in his class about
their favorite fruit. He then recorded the answers on paper
by drawing pictures of whichever fruits's classmates answered with. In
the end, he had a graph with eight strawberries, five apples,
six bananas, and seven blueberries. Jack called out to Sally, Oh, Sally,
(14:12):
could you please bring me some blank paper and maybe
some of those scented markers too. Unlike the pictograph he
had made in the first grade, this one was going
to need to be much much bigger, and getting it
done before lunch wasn't going to be easy. It also
didn't help that the big bosket walking by tapping his
watch to remind Jack that time was ticking away. Just
(14:33):
before lunch, Sally popped her head back through the door
to inform Jack that he could expect around fifty people
attending the meeting and it was going to be up
to him to lead the entire presentation. Jack tried, swallowing
the lump in his throat. Fifty people, Oh that's a
lot of people, wouldn't you say? Could you please get
my sister on the phone, and if there's time, maybe
(14:55):
you could take a picture of me pretending not to
look incredibly stressed out and nervous so I can show
it to my teacher tomorrow. Over at the ice cream factory,
Quinn was bewildered as to why someone was telling her
she had a phone call waiting. Hello, Quinn, it's me Jack.
We need to switch places. Jack forgot to hide that
he was in the middle of a crisis. What's going on, Jack,
(15:18):
she asked, Well, you know nothing's going on. I'm just
bored of playing on dad's phone over here and thought
you'd maybe like to have a turn. Quinn tried to
explain that factory where it was no walk in the park.
She didn't think he'd be able to handle it. Please, Quinn,
I'll do your homework for a week and let you
eat my dessert for two weeks. Quinn agreed to the switch,
(15:40):
but only because Jack hadn't mentioned anything about what the
afternoon would entail. Thank goodness, he said, after hanging up
the phone. I'd have given her my dessert for a
month to get out of this place. When Quinn arrived
at her father's office, Jack had already left to make
his way to the ice cream factory. She didn't even
have a chance to sit down before south I started
(16:00):
bringing her up to speed. By now, there was only
five minutes until the meeting. Meanwhile, at the ice cream factory,
Jack rolled in, pulling out a spoon from his pocket
and announced that the taste tester had arrived. His mother
handed him a mop. Uh, what is this? I thought
we were making ice cream. His mother led him to
(16:20):
a series of large, stainless steel tanks. The ice cream
that we prepared this morning is now going through what
is known as the aging process. It shall remain in
these tanks overnight, So for now we clean. Jack tried
handing the mop back. But remember how I've told you
many times at home that I don't really like cleaning,
(16:41):
Well that kind of applies here too. Jack's mother shook
her head. Jack, this is work. You don't just get
to pick and choose what you do based on how
you feel. Jack edged the mop a little closer to
his mom. Are you sure, though, Becuz I could sit
over there and help you invent a new ice cream flavor.
I'll call it the really good and yummy new ice
(17:03):
cream flavor. His mother suggested he takes some more time
to work on the name. He never did get to
invent a new ice cream flavor that afternoon, and he
never got so much as a glimpse of any ice
cream being made. Instead, he mopped and scrubbed and washed,
and then mopped some more. When his mother finally drove
(17:23):
him home. He was exhausted. He wasn't sure he'd be
able to stay awake until dinner. Quinn was already on
the couch watching TV when he got home. Oh no,
thought Jack. He'd forgotten about what he'd done to his sister.
All at once, the heavy weight of feeling like the
worst brother in the world crashed down upon his shoulders.
She deserved a lifetime of his dessert. Quinn, I owe
(17:46):
you the biggest, most hugest apology in the universe. I'm
so sorry take your kid to work day. It was
a terrible idea, Like what are all these grown ups
thinking with these jobs? Jack inspected his sister's face for
signs that she may have been crying that after, but
she actually looked pretty happy and relaxed. Jack. I know
you're just joking with me. You were right. I was wrong.
(18:08):
I didn't think we needed to take your kid to
work day so soon after we got back from summer break.
But I just had the best day ever at the
ice cream factory. I learned so many things about how
ice cream is made. I got to help add the
flavor and candy chunks to the ice cream from the
day before. I did so much taste testing I was
worried I was going to get sick, but I didn't,
And then I got to help start a whole new
(18:28):
batch of ice cream for the next day. Not sure
what there would have been left for you to do, though.
Before Quinn started talking about her afternoon at their dad's work,
Jack's stomached at a little flip flop. So at first
I was like, what did Jack just get me into?
I was ready to put snakes in your bed, But
then the meeting turned out to be fun. I told
everyone just to pass that boring report thing around and
(18:51):
give it a quick look. I think they all agreed
it was boring too, but we shared a good laugh
when we saw that silly graft Dad made as a joke.
It didn't even make sense. It was just a piece
of paper filled with random pictures of hot dogs, hamburgers
and French fries. Her dad is such a clown. Anyway,
I spent the rest of the meeting telling them embarrassing
stories all about you, and they loved it. Then, after
(19:12):
the meeting, while poor Sally sat there redoing that graph,
I got to sit at her desk and play games
on her phone. They even let me go home early.
Oh and did I tell you about the free donuts?
It was awesome. I did find it a little strange
that everyone kept calling me Clark, though. This was not
what Jack had expected to hear. Well, Quinn, not every
(19:33):
day of work is fun. You know. Jobs can be
a lot of hard work. I for one, can't wait
to go back to school tomorrow. Quinn was surprised to
hear that too. So if you were offered another take
your kid to work day, you wouldn't go. Jack shook
his head. Put it this way, unless they make a
go to work with your favorite soccer player day that
(19:54):
I'm staying right where I belong in school. Just don't
tell miss Fablebabble. I said that the end. That's the story.
And here's your question of the week. How would you
feel about spending a whole day watching one of your
family members do their job. Well, that's a wrap on
(20:17):
episode one eighteen. Hopefully I'll catch you on the next one.
Hellol story Times really not a glory time, Rabbits standing,
You'll be fine. Follow the whole storyline. Hellol story Time.
Might you love at least one time? Well time, Welcome
to the show. This is Lool Storytime, and today I'll
be telling you a story called take your Kid to
Work Day. This one features characters named after Jack and Quinn.
(00:24):
Some other listeners the shout out this week include Jake,
Oliver and Grace from South Germany, Zach Amelia, Sophia, Ozzy
and Mum and Dad from England, James, Meela, Alfie and
Mom Allison from Switzerland, Journey from the United States, Hessi
and pj from San Diego, California, Savannah Sutton from New Jersey, Greta, Milo,
(00:47):
Henry and Ingrid from Kansas, United States, and also a
Roar and Frieda from Newsa, Queensland, Australia, along with their
dog Winnie and their cousin Bambi, who lives in Brooklyn,
New York. More to come time, but for now, let's
get under the story. This is the story of the
(01:13):
first day back to school and how Jack wanted nothing
to do with it. I want nothing to do with
this day, he told everyone, that morning. His sister, Quinn, however,
was excited to go back to school. She'd never dare
say it out loud, but she'd been growing a little
bored of summarification. Come on, Jack, we'll get to see
our friends again. We'll get to meet our new teachers.
(01:34):
We'll even get to find out what kind of things
we'll be learning about this year. Jack already knew the
answer to that, words and numbers, Quinn, another year of
learning about words and numbers, Lots and lots of words
and numbers. Jack was known for asking lots of questions
at school, something you think teachers might appreciate. But here
(01:56):
were some of the questions that came out of Jack's
mouth on the very first day. How many seconds until recess?
How many more minutes until lunch? How many hours until
home time? How many more days until the weekend? How
many more weeks until the next holiday? How many more
months until the school year is over? This became the
first time that year his teacher had to give the look, Jack,
(02:19):
are you seriously asking me this on the very first
day back to school? You can't be serious? Are you
serious right now? Tell me you're not being serious? Jack
was being serious but now he felt like his teacher
wished he wasn't being serious, And yet he knew if
he told her he wasn't being serious, she'd be upset
with him for joking around. There was really no way
(02:39):
to win. All I'm saying is Jack paused to choose
his words carefully. He didn't want to dig himself any
deeper into a hole. All I'm trying to say is
that you were a wonderful and brilliant teacher. And while
I'm totally fine with being at school, it's you I'm
worried about. With how hard you work showing us all
those words and numbers, I want to make sure you're
(03:01):
getting plenty of breaks. Best way to dig yourself out
of a hole. Tell your teacher you've noticed how hard
they've been working. Miss Fable Babble was smiling. You know,
someday you kids will finish school, go off and get jobs,
and then wish you were back in school. Kids just
don't know how good they have it. Jack couldn't help
(03:21):
himself from laughing, and just like that, he was back
to digging himself into a hole. Okay, so I know
it's probably impolite to correct a teacher when teachers are
the ones who are supposed to be correcting us. But
there's just no way that can be true. I know
you work hard and all, but having a job is
so much better than being a student, you'll probably just
forget what it's like. Miss fable Babble didn't say anything,
(03:44):
and that made Jack nervous. She had the look of
someone who was scheming, the look of someone who had
a really good idea for making someone learn something the
hard way. Miss Fablebabble, I'm really not interested in learning
anything the hard way. You know. I'm more of an
easy way kind of learner. And if you really must know,
I do my best learning when watching funny movies with popcorn.
You should make a note of that. His teacher moved
(04:07):
on to an activity with numbers and words, and Jack
was left wondering what his teacher had been thinking about.
Hearing the bell at the end of the day was
to sound so satisfying. One day down and one hundred
and too many days to go. Quinn told her brother
after school that she had had a totally awesome day.
Her teacher was nice, she had three of her best
(04:27):
friends in her class, and best of all, her classroom
was right next to the custodian's room. Jack had been
nodding his head until she got to that last part.
The custodian like the person who cleans and fixes stuff
around the school. Why would you care about being next
to the custodian, Quinn seems glad, He asked, Well, there
are three reasons. First, if someone throws up in class,
(04:50):
you've got someone there within seconds to clean it up. Second,
custodians tell the best jokes. And third, if you bring
a toy to school even though your parents tell you
not to too because they're worried you might break the toy,
and then you bring it anyways because that's just what
kids do. But then, of course you actually do break
your toy because you let Wendy Wigglestaff, the clumsiest girl
in school, holds your toy and she drops it. And
(05:11):
now you're like, oh, man, mom and dad are gonna
be so mad at me. But then you remember you're
right next to the custodian, and who better to fix
your broken toy? And not only does the custodian fix
it for you, but they make it even better than before.
Jack looked exhausted, having just listened to all that, or
you know, you could just not bring toys to school.
(05:31):
The next morning, Quinn noticed that her teacher seemed a
bit agitated. Well, class, I just found out that our
principal wants to bring back take your kid to work day.
Apparently one of the teachers here wants to prove to
a student that having a job is harder than being
a student. Yeah, because that's what's important at your age. Anyway.
I know we're just getting back into the rhythm of school,
(05:52):
but it looks like you're about to have another day off.
You'll each spend the day following one of your family
members around their work. Well, they impossible try to do
their job and somehow answer a million of your teeny tiny,
pointless little questions. It did seem strange that they were
already having another day away from school. They just had
the entire summer off, and many of Quinn's classmates didn't
(06:13):
even want to go to work with their parents. Oh man,
my dad climbs tall ladders all day long. I'm afraid
of ladders. At least your dad gets to move around.
My mom just stares at a computer all day, no
videos or games. We're talking like eight or nine hours
just staring. Another girl said she'd happily try either of
(06:36):
those jobs. Her parents cleaned porta potties. Qwen's class was
suddenly interrupted by a loud noise from down the hall.
Another teacher had just told her class about take your
kid to work day. This one kid was cheering so
loudly you could hear it around the school. Quinn instantly
recognized the voice. It belonged to Jack. After the kids
(06:59):
arrived home later that day, that was when the fighting began.
It was the usual story where one sibling says they
want one thing and the other one decides they have
to have it too. Quinn, I'm going with mom to
the ice cream factory. Quinn stated that it made more
sense for her to go to the ice cream factory.
She always asked for a scoop of ice cream on
her pie, whereas her brother always ate his pie without
(07:20):
ice cream like some weirdo. Well, they got into it
all right. For almost twenty minutes. They went back and forth, yelling, No,
I'm going with mom and you're going with dad. No,
I'm going with mom and you're going with dad. Thankfully,
their dad wasn't in the room to hear any of that.
Jack eventually gave in, all right, fine, I'll let you
(07:42):
go with mom to the ice cream factory, but only
if you do all of my homework for the next
two nights and give me all of your dessert for
the next four nights. Quinn countered with one night of
homework and three nights of dessert. They shook on it,
and then Quinn left the room to tell their parents
the plan. Once his sister was out of sight, Jack snickered,
everything is going according to plan. Turns out Jack had
(08:06):
wanted to go to his dad's work all along. By
making a sister think the ice cream factory was the
better and more desirable choice, he didn't have to worry
about her trying to take a spot at their dad's work,
and he also scored some free dessert. Besides, it's not
like people at ice cream factories sit around eating ice
cream all day. Their dad, however, always seemed to have
an awful lot of time to play games on his phone.
(08:29):
The day before take your kid to workday, Jack asked
his teacher if he could borrow her phone. My phone,
Why do you want to borrow my phone? Kids aren't
allowed to touch my phone. Jack explained that he wanted
to take pictures during take your kid to Work Day
to show her just how good people with jobs have it.
And just in case my dad's playing on his phone
while I'm there, I'm going to need one to play
(08:50):
on too. Miss Fabolbabbel's eyebrow was starting to twitch. Jack,
work and play are two very different things. You're going
to be in for a mighty big surprise tomorrow. Miss
Fablebabble was the one who was going to be in
for the big surprise, thought Jack. He was about to
have a nice, relaxing day away from school, no boring
(09:11):
numbers and no mumbo jumbo words. Hey, maybe he'd impress
his dad's boss so much they'd change take your kid
to work day and to take your kid to work week.
Or better yet, maybe they would dedicate a whole month
to it. After all, ten months of school was already
nine and a half months too many. In the morning,
Quinn and her mother were the first to leave for work.
(09:32):
Quinn was standing, but she didn't look fully awake. The
sun isn't even up yet, so why are we. Jack's
dad normally didn't leave for work until much later, so
this meant more time for relaxing. Don't work too hard
at the factory today, Quinn, he said, as his sister
stumbled out the door. But when Jack noticed his dad
(09:53):
wasn't getting ready for work, he decided to see what
was the matter. Uh, Dad, why does it look like
you're in bed sick because I'm in bed sick today. Boy,
this was quite possibly the worst thing Jack could have
been told. But what does this mean? Do I have
to go to school now? I'll be one of the
only kids there? Just me and the kids whose parents
(10:16):
forgot to get jobs where they have time to play
on their phones. Go without me, boy, urged his dad.
I've told them you're coming. They'll show you around and
take good care of you. Jack supposed that could work,
but his dad was missing one important detail. How am
I supposed to get to your work when I'm not
(10:36):
old enough to drive your car? Should you order me
a horse and carriage? You have to take the bus,
mumbled his dad. Oh, not the bus. The last time
I took the bus, someone sitting next to me told
me they were visiting Earth from another planet. Fortunately, when
Jack hopped on the bus a little while later, no
(10:56):
signs of space aliens, but there were a lot of
people staring and probably wondering why he was dressed in
a suit and tie and riding on a city bus
by himself. Jack pulled out the old phone his dad
had lent him for emergencies and pretended to make an
important business call. Johnson. I need you to close the deal.
Do you hear me? Johnson? Close the deal. We have
(11:17):
to make this happen or the whole company is gonna
go bust. And then what Johnson? I can't go back
to being one of those kids who goes to school.
I'm counting on you here, Johnson, close the deal. The
other passengers tried to act like they weren't listening in,
but he could tell they were impressed. Jack's father worked
on the thirty first floor of an office building with
(11:37):
a breathtaking view of the city. After the bus dropped
him off, he quickly made himself comfortable at his father's desk,
and it was just about to put his feet up
when the big boss marched in, Clark, you're late, and
why if you're not finished, not report our meeting starts
right after lunch. Jack wondered why this guy was calling
him by his father's name. Uh, sir, I'm not Clark,
(12:00):
I'm Clark's son. The big Boss seemed annoyed that Jack
hadn't answered the question Clark Clark's son, what's the difference?
Just get me that report before lunch. As the boss
stormed out, another person came in. Well, hello there, Minnie Clark,
glad you can make it. My name's Sally and I
work with your father. Hope you're excited for a busy day.
(12:23):
If Sally was referring to a busy day of playing
on his dad's old phone with his feet up on
the desk and his mouth stuffed full of free donuts,
then yes he was excited. And here's your coffee, as
well as the report your dad has been working on.
It's probably already finished, so you'll just need to look
it over. Sally hesitated for a moment, unless your dad
has been goofing off on his phone this whole time.
(12:45):
Sally chuckled to herself and then left Jack to finish
a report he had no business finishing. Without thinking, he
took a sip of coffee and then promptly spit it out.
Oh man, if you could choose between hot chocolate and
this why would anyone have choose this? Jack opened the
file folder Sally had placed on the desk, gross page
(13:07):
after page of words and numbers. On top of the
report was a sticky note Jack's father had put there
to remind himself that he had one final graph to
complete now. Jack specifically remembered his teacher saying that take
your kid to work day was just about watching and
observing the work, not actually doing the work. But with
his dad home sick, who else was going to get
the job done. He just needed to figure out what
(13:28):
sort of graph he was supposed to make. In school,
he had learned about bargraphs and pie charts and those
dot to dot thingama bops, but he also knew there
were so many more. After leafing through the report one
more time, it became obvious lots of words and numbers here,
but no colorful pictures. I bet this report needs a pictograph.
(13:51):
Jack remembered making a picturegraph, and he was in the
first grade. He had asked everyone in his class about
their favorite fruit. He then recorded the answers on paper
by drawing pictures of whichever fruits's classmates answered with. In
the end, he had a graph with eight strawberries, five apples,
six bananas, and seven blueberries. Jack called out to Sally, Oh, Sally,
(14:12):
could you please bring me some blank paper and maybe
some of those scented markers too. Unlike the pictograph he
had made in the first grade, this one was going
to need to be much much bigger, and getting it
done before lunch wasn't going to be easy. It also
didn't help that the big bosket walking by tapping his
watch to remind Jack that time was ticking away. Just
(14:33):
before lunch, Sally popped her head back through the door
to inform Jack that he could expect around fifty people
attending the meeting and it was going to be up
to him to lead the entire presentation. Jack tried, swallowing
the lump in his throat. Fifty people, Oh that's a
lot of people, wouldn't you say? Could you please get
my sister on the phone, and if there's time, maybe
(14:55):
you could take a picture of me pretending not to
look incredibly stressed out and nervous so I can show
it to my teacher tomorrow. Over at the ice cream factory,
Quinn was bewildered as to why someone was telling her
she had a phone call waiting. Hello, Quinn, it's me Jack.
We need to switch places. Jack forgot to hide that
he was in the middle of a crisis. What's going on, Jack,
(15:18):
she asked, Well, you know nothing's going on. I'm just
bored of playing on dad's phone over here and thought
you'd maybe like to have a turn. Quinn tried to
explain that factory where it was no walk in the park.
She didn't think he'd be able to handle it. Please, Quinn,
I'll do your homework for a week and let you
eat my dessert for two weeks. Quinn agreed to the switch,
(15:40):
but only because Jack hadn't mentioned anything about what the
afternoon would entail. Thank goodness, he said, after hanging up
the phone. I'd have given her my dessert for a
month to get out of this place. When Quinn arrived
at her father's office, Jack had already left to make
his way to the ice cream factory. She didn't even
have a chance to sit down before south I started
(16:00):
bringing her up to speed. By now, there was only
five minutes until the meeting. Meanwhile, at the ice cream factory,
Jack rolled in, pulling out a spoon from his pocket
and announced that the taste tester had arrived. His mother
handed him a mop. Uh, what is this? I thought
we were making ice cream. His mother led him to
(16:20):
a series of large, stainless steel tanks. The ice cream
that we prepared this morning is now going through what
is known as the aging process. It shall remain in
these tanks overnight, So for now we clean. Jack tried
handing the mop back. But remember how I've told you
many times at home that I don't really like cleaning,
(16:41):
Well that kind of applies here too. Jack's mother shook
her head. Jack, this is work. You don't just get
to pick and choose what you do based on how
you feel. Jack edged the mop a little closer to
his mom. Are you sure, though, Becuz I could sit
over there and help you invent a new ice cream flavor.
I'll call it the really good and yummy new ice
(17:03):
cream flavor. His mother suggested he takes some more time
to work on the name. He never did get to
invent a new ice cream flavor that afternoon, and he
never got so much as a glimpse of any ice
cream being made. Instead, he mopped and scrubbed and washed,
and then mopped some more. When his mother finally drove
(17:23):
him home. He was exhausted. He wasn't sure he'd be
able to stay awake until dinner. Quinn was already on
the couch watching TV when he got home. Oh no,
thought Jack. He'd forgotten about what he'd done to his sister.
All at once, the heavy weight of feeling like the
worst brother in the world crashed down upon his shoulders.
She deserved a lifetime of his dessert. Quinn, I owe
(17:46):
you the biggest, most hugest apology in the universe. I'm
so sorry take your kid to work day. It was
a terrible idea, Like what are all these grown ups
thinking with these jobs? Jack inspected his sister's face for
signs that she may have been crying that after, but
she actually looked pretty happy and relaxed. Jack. I know
you're just joking with me. You were right. I was wrong.
(18:08):
I didn't think we needed to take your kid to
work day so soon after we got back from summer break.
But I just had the best day ever at the
ice cream factory. I learned so many things about how
ice cream is made. I got to help add the
flavor and candy chunks to the ice cream from the
day before. I did so much taste testing I was
worried I was going to get sick, but I didn't,
And then I got to help start a whole new
(18:28):
batch of ice cream for the next day. Not sure
what there would have been left for you to do, though.
Before Quinn started talking about her afternoon at their dad's work,
Jack's stomached at a little flip flop. So at first
I was like, what did Jack just get me into?
I was ready to put snakes in your bed, But
then the meeting turned out to be fun. I told
everyone just to pass that boring report thing around and
(18:51):
give it a quick look. I think they all agreed
it was boring too, but we shared a good laugh
when we saw that silly graft Dad made as a joke.
It didn't even make sense. It was just a piece
of paper filled with random pictures of hot dogs, hamburgers
and French fries. Her dad is such a clown. Anyway,
I spent the rest of the meeting telling them embarrassing
stories all about you, and they loved it. Then, after
(19:12):
the meeting, while poor Sally sat there redoing that graph,
I got to sit at her desk and play games
on her phone. They even let me go home early.
Oh and did I tell you about the free donuts?
It was awesome. I did find it a little strange
that everyone kept calling me Clark, though. This was not
what Jack had expected to hear. Well, Quinn, not every
(19:33):
day of work is fun. You know. Jobs can be
a lot of hard work. I for one, can't wait
to go back to school tomorrow. Quinn was surprised to
hear that too. So if you were offered another take
your kid to work day, you wouldn't go. Jack shook
his head. Put it this way, unless they make a
go to work with your favorite soccer player day that
(19:54):
I'm staying right where I belong in school. Just don't
tell miss Fablebabble. I said that the end. That's the story.
And here's your question of the week. How would you
feel about spending a whole day watching one of your
family members do their job. Well, that's a wrap on
(20:17):
episode one eighteen. Hopefully I'll catch you on the next one.
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