Teen walking 10 miles to job interview gets handed a job by stranger who saw his determination
He planned to walk 10 miles for three hours to interview for a minimum-wage job when the stranger offered him a ride.
An 18-year-old from Indianapolis found his life completely changed after a chance encounter while he was trying to get to a job interview. Jhaqueil Reagan had been out of work for nearly six months when he set out on foot to reach a thrift store for a cashier position. The distance was 10 miles, and it meant walking three hours through snow just to keep his word that he’d show up. "If I say I'm going to be somewhere, I'm going to be there no matter what," Reagan told ABCNews.com.
On the way, he stopped to ask for directions from Art Bouvier, a local restaurant owner who was laying down ice melt. When Bouvier told him just how far he still had to go, Reagan simply kept walking, and that determination struck Bouvier. A short while later, when he saw Reagan still trudging down the road, he pulled over and offered him a ride. Reagan made it to his interview, but the store had already decided on another candidate. When Bouvier learned that, he decided not to let the young man’s effort go unnoticed.
"I have employees who can't get here to work on time even though they have cars and very comfortable houses," Bouvier said. "Here's a kid who planned his morning to walk three hours and 10 miles in the snow just for an interview. If you'll do that, you'll definitely show up for work on time, so I thought, 'Yeah, I want you.'" He hired Reagan at his Cajun restaurant, Papa Roux. Within days of starting, Reagan impressed his new boss by keeping pace during heavy grocery loading and arriving early for shifts.
Bouvier also shared his story in a Facebook post (now-deleted), which soon received more than 15,000 likes. Customers stepped in to help, too, with one donating 13 one-month bus passes so Reagan wouldn’t have to worry about transportation. Reagan, who was staying with friends while saving for an apartment, was overwhelmed by the turn his life had taken. "I was completely surprised," he said. "I was ecstatic, surprised, and anxious to start working. Art paid it forward, and I'm going to plan on doing the same."
Bouvier recognized that Reagan's determination is something rare to see. That kind of persistence is what impressed his future boss and what ultimately changed the trajectory of his life, and researchers have studied how traits like persistence affect long-term outcomes. A 2020 paper titled The Development of Grit and Growth Mindset by D. Park and colleagues found that grit, defined as passion combined with perseverance for long-term goals, predicts achievement even more strongly than traits such as conscientiousness. The authors concluded that sticking with something over time matters more for success than initial effort or ability.
As the story went viral nationwide, Reagan and Bouvier appeared on the Steve Harvey TV Show. A local dealership partnered with the show to surprise Reagan with a car and asked him how he felt. "I was completely caught off guard… it was a great thing that he did," Reagan said. When asked where he planned to drive it, Reagan said, "Work," to which Bouvier laughed and responded, "That’s the right answer as his boss."
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