Sometimes It's A Parent's Job To Make Their Kids' Lives Miserable...

Back in the late 70's and early 80's our family owned a stereo store in Skokie, IL.  My father, brother and I worked at the store selling mid to high-end audio gear.  It was a lot of fun working in a business where I got to play with the latest stereo equipment and listen to music all day long.  Many "regular" customers of our store would come in to just "shoot the breeze" with us and listen to music and play with the new gear too.

Since our store was in Skokie, many Jewish families frequented our store since Skokie (at least at that time) had a large number of Jewish families living in the town.  If you know anything about Jewish culture and stereotypes (no pun intended), you'll know that sometimes it was the Jewish mom's job to try to make their kid's lives miserable.  It wasn't done to be mean... it was more like a game they played with their kids.  While I am not Jewish, many of my friends were and so I got to see how all this often played out.

Anyway, I recall one incident where one of our regular store customers named Joel came into the store one day with his mom.  Joel visited quite often and so my brother and I knew him well.  He was about our age and was still deciding what to do with his life, so he thought he'd go to college and take up "Business" as his major.  Well, the decision to go to college was probably the best thing he could have done and I'm sure his mom knew that and was proud of it too.  But it was her "job" to make his life miserable, right?  So here's what his mom did right in front of us at the store...

Joel: "Ma, I'm going to go to college and major in Business."
Mom: "Business?!  Are you crazy?  You don't need to take business to be in business!"
Joel:: "Ma, I"m going to take business."
Mom: "You don't need business!  Business?  Why take business?  Here, look at these two guys (my brother and me)...  did you guys take business?"
Russ: "No 'mam."
Mom: "See, HE didn't take business.  But he's IN business!  Isn't this a business?  (referring to our store.)
Joel: "Well... yeah..."
Mom: "HE didn't take business, but HE's in business!  You don't need to take business!"
Joel: "Ma, it's not the same thing..."
Mom: "What do you mean?  This is a business!  Is this not a business?  What are you talking about?  This is business!... You don't need to take business to be in business!"

With that, she gave us a sly smile while Joel squirmed around trying to figure out how to cope with his mom.  My brother and I were doing our best to hold in the laughter.  :)

Sometimes, you just gotta love 'em.  I love Jewish moms!  :)