my PRAO ...

i had a 12-year old assistant at work today. yes, i have such a luxurious job. well, he's what we call a PRAO-student. you see, in the swedish educational curriculum for primary school, they are given between 2 to 5 days a year to be away from school and instead report to "work" in their parent's workplace - or shall i say "observe" us at our workplace. this is one way for them to see and experience what is it like to be in such an environment, and then they get to tell more about it in their class when they go back to school. the PRAO are given very light and simple tasks as filing documents, tidying up the copy room, stacking new papers in the copy machine, filling up pen cases, etc.

my PRAO happen to be my boss' 12 year son - and he's such a sweet and polite boy, and very smart, too. i explained to him the tasks that i need help such as tidying up my product display, organising the products according to brands, labelling them (he loved the handy label machine he got to use during the task) and the usual clean up in the copy room. for a 12 year old, he was fascinated with the feminine products right infront of him ... at one point he asked shyly if he can take a picture of the sanitary napkin to show the class - i thought that was very funny. so, i helped him do that with his mobile camera. this kid is a quick learner, too - he did all his assigned tasks asking for very little help or assistance from me. after his "4-hour shift", i rewarded him with a big box of candies - boy was i very pleased with his work! and, he was very thankful for his little reward ... i'd gladly have him again as my PRAO at any given time at my workplace ... yes, anytime!

SIDESTORY - a true PRAO-story
this i've heard from a colleague in another department. he had his son for the day at work but hadn't really managed to get someone show him around our workplace. a week after that, he told us over coffee that he was a bit embarrassed to read his son's report to the class about his experience in our office (the class teacher has sent him a copy). it read that his dad doesn't do much in the office - "he talked mostly on the telephone, read the newspaper, sat infront of his computer most of the day, walked around the office, always going back and forth the coffee machine." he also added in his report that the best thing he liked the most during my visit is when he had lunch with his dad at the Burger King.

you might want to know, the kid's dad happen to be our company's Vice President for Operations in Research and Developement - and he thought his dad has a boring job!