25 Cents Story - Spring

The 6-year-old daughter wants to have a puppy. One Saturday morning, she asks her Dad, "How can I get one?"

"You have to buy one." Dad replies.

"Could you buy one for me as my birthday gift?" She pleads.

"No, but I can help you make money to buy one." Dad insists.

"OK. Please show me how, Dad." Daughter is eager to learn how to achieve her goal, no matter what.

"One way is that you can use your weekend time to help Mom do some house keeping work, such as to clean all the toilets every week." Dad starts his first business plan to Daughter, "For each toilet you clean, you will receive 25 cents. 3 are on the second floor and 1 is on the first floor, so you will receive a dollar for all 4 of them. In addition, if you take care of the one in the basement near Dad's office, I will pay you another 25 cents on top of 25 cents. So you will make a dollar 50 cents for all toilets in the whole house."

"OK, Dad, but the one in basement sometimes is so dirty. " Daughter seems accepting the proposal yet with some reservations.

"I understand. That is why it pays higher price than the rest. And the additional 25 cents can help you save more for your puppy. Would you like to take it?" Dad asks.

"Alright. I take it. " Daughter nods.

"Good. And I will help you setup a bank account to save your earnings. " Dad offers another help.

The plan has been carried out by Daughter since the day one. As a bonus, when Dad is on business travel, if she behaves well in the house or takes on additional task to help Mom, she will receive certain number of points that one day can be transformed to coins in her piggy jar, which Grandma brought to her as a gift from China.

Over a year has passed since then. Although she sometimes frowns about the sloppiness her little brother made, she has not given up this valuable toilet cleaning job. It is still far from enough for a true puppy, but she can now once in a while afford herself a stuffed puppy with unspeakable joy. Believe or not, she now has over 60 dollars in her account.