I have a problem that is driving me nuts. I posted this one the tractor board once, but did not get what I thought were very helpful replies. I do not need jokes or BS I would like some well thought out suggestions, and I know that I can count on you all. I have a young man that works for me and he is a sophomore in high school. You could not ask for a better kid. He is a hard worker and will try his best to do anything asked of him. The problem is his memory. Here is a few examples. Yesterday I went to town and got 2 drums of gasoline as my big tank was empty. I have an old hand pump for a transfer pump and I told him to pump the fuel out of the barrels into my big tank, so he did. Well after dark their is a knock on the door and this kid walks in with tears in his eyes, it was sprinkling out and I asked him what was wrong, He said that he made a big mistake and left the lid on the big fuel tank open and handed me $400 for the fuel. I told him to keep his money that the fuel was alright. Before he came to the house he had shut the lid on the tank. Last Sat. We worked on the garden and hoop house, he did a lot of tilling and I showed him how to make rows and how to plant onion set and water them in. About that time I had a hay customer come and I loaded out some hay. We did not work Easter Sunday and I have been fighting a bad cold, so I stayed in and drank coffee until late morning. When I came out I did my usual thing of checking the chickens and all around the shop and things. When I got to the garden area their were all those onions and not a one covered up, when asked, he forgot. I made my living my whole life working on heavy equipment. Being able to make top money means you have to be on your game. Their is nothing that pi$$es me off more than looking for tools. My thing is being able to go to my box and being able to put my hand right on what I want. When Andy gets done with something that's where it is, when I tell him to put stuff up God only knows where it will be. To put a stop to this I am going to set up a box for me and a small box for him. I just can not work this way anymore. What can I do to bring this kids mind in the game? He is not stupid, but instead he is a product of our education system in this country. The other day we had a ten foot piece of rebar and I needed two three foot pieces out of it. I have been teaching him how to use a chop saw so I gave him the assignment and I wanted to see how he used the saw. He got his tape out and measured off four feet and cut it. Then he stuck the four foot piece in the saw and started to measure, I said what are you doing, he said he was going to cut a three foot piece. I asked him how long was the other piece, and he said six foot, I asked how many three foot pieces do we need and he said two and I said cut the other piece in half, he smiled and said that's good thinking and pulled out the tape to measure half, the next thing I know he is pulling out that cell phone to find out what was half of 72 inches, that when I could not help myself I went off, I said what is half of six he said 3, I said how many feet in a yard and he said 3 and then I said how many inches in a yard, and that my friends stumped his a$$. I really like this kid, no I think I love this boy like a son. So fellas, where do I start this education process. Positive renforcement? Negativity? This is really overwhelming.