Don't call me shiftless!

I once got fired from a job

     It was my fault.  I applied for a job as a delivery driver for a company near my house in Chicago.  They made Lava Lamps.  It was a summer job, filling in for guys on vacation.
     I had just gotten my license.  I wasn't married.  And I lied on the application.
     I said I could drive a stick shift.   It was not a total lie, I once shifted to reverse in a car with a stick.....and that's a stretch.
     But I figured if they hired me, I could figure out how to drive the van and nobody would be hurt.
     Then the man who hired me,  said "I want to go on your first delivery with you."
     Oops....
     I managed to back out of the space and put it in first.  I stayed in first for three blocks.
    The man finally said, "You don't know how to work a stick, do you?"
    I admitted I didn't, but I did tell him I would be a quick learner and a hard worker.
    Unfortunately he had just had a new clutch installed and had no intention of letting some nut case screw it up.  So, he fired me.
     But he did it in a nice way.  He let me work the rest of the week in the warehouse, running errands,  cleaning up, helping people.  He really felt bad about firing me but he said he could not justify keeping me on if I couldn't drive the van.
    Later in life I would drive several vehicles with stick shift.  And I would teach my girls how to drive stick.  But learning it was no picnic.