A degree in work ethic from Country’s

It’s a job, but it is way more important than that.

Later this month, our youngest daughter, Joy Beth, will work her last shift as a waitress at Country’s on Mercury Drive. She will leave after earning a degree in early childhood education from Columbus State.

I am as sad about it as she is.

Country’s has become a family tradition — and I am not just talking about the barbecue, turkey and dressing on Fridays and the sweet tea that one of my friends calls “liquid crack.” All three of our girls worked as waitresses at Country’s.

And as I look at them with pride, I can’t help but give some of the credit to Jim Morpeth, Scott Ressmeyer and Griff Morpeth, the men who own and operate the three Columbus Country’s restaurants.

Over the years, hundreds of young women have worked for them, many using it as their first job while in high school or college. We were lucky to have three girls get a critical part of their education at Country’s. In many ways, it was as important as what they learned in the classroom.

Jennifer, the oldest, was the first to work there. It was her initial job when she was just 16 and by 17 she was assistant head waitress at Country’s on Broad. She worked there until she was 18.

“I learned how to manage different types of people,” Jennifer said. “I learned teamwork.”

As she worked her way through college, she was employed at other restaurants in Columbus, Atlanta and on Times Square in New York City, always with the foundation built on Broadway, where she learned the importance of doing it right.

Carmen started at Country’s on Mercury before her junior year in high school. She wanted gas money for the hand-me-down Saturn. She went to Georgia State for college and kept the door open for work any time she was home on break.

We tried to convince her to stay in Columbus for a year or two before tackling the big city. She would have none of it and embarked on her journey. After her freshman year, she locked down a GPA that would all but guarantee the HOPE scholarship for the next three years and had secured a job as a resident assistant with university housing. When I picked her up at the end of that second semester, I asked her how she had done it.

Her answer was quick.

“Columbus High taught me how to do research papers and I was way ahead of many of my friends in my ability to do that,” she said. “Country’s taught me the rest. They taught me how to multitask.”

Which brings us to Joy Beth. She has worked for Jim at the Midtown location for more than seven years. She started as a high school sophomore not long after her 16^th birthday. She worked there long enough to do a decent impersonation of Jim’s commercials, though she did not appreciate it when I told him that one day.

I asked her after she was well into her Columbus State experience why she didn’t pursue a job at another restaurant where she could make a little more in tips.

“Why would I?” she said.

She was right. Why would she? Country’s waitresses make decent money. They learn how to host and work the to-go window.

For years, Jim’s model has been to hire the young waitresses, train them well, then watch them move on to bigger and better things. I know he gets great enjoyment out of that because he has told me as much.

But I am not sure Jim, Scott and Griff realize how much the girls learn from them. Their restaurants really are classrooms of another sort. The work is demanding and the hours are tough. It is not for everyone — parents and kids.

But if you stick it out, there are few places better for young women to develop work ethic and life skills.

Thanks, guys.

This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 2:39 PM with the headline "A degree in work ethic from Country’s."