What started out as a miserable day battling an icy walk for a job interview, ended with a job offer and social media fame for an Indianapolis teen

WHEN teenager Jahqueil Reagan stopped to ask a man for directions, he unwittingly talked himself into a job.

Reagan was walking to an interview in Indianapolis when he came upon Art Bouvier, the owner of Papa Roux Po Boys and Cajun Food, and asked him how much further he had to walk.

That's when he revealed he was on was on a 10-mile (16km) trek, through the snow, to interview for a job. He didn't even have enough money for a bus ticket.

Guess who Reagan's working for now?

Bouvier and his wife then later spotted the 18-year-old walking to the interview and stopped to give him a ride the rest of the way.

They told him to take the interview as planned, but Bouvier knew then and there he'd found a new, dedicated member of the Papa Roux team.

"I'm thinking to myself, here's a kid walking almost 10 miles in the ice and slush and snow for the hope of a job at minimum wage," Bouvier told Fox 59.

"That's the kind of story your parents used to tell, my parents used to tell, up both ways in the snow."

There's even more to this incredible story than a long walk through the snow.

Reagan quit school two years ago to care for his siblings full-time after the death of their mother.

He obtained his qualifications while studying from home.

Bouvier was blown away by the teenager's work ethic, saying it's something you dream about as a restaurant owner when hiring young staff.

But it was the 18-year-old who was most grateful.

"I'm lucky I met him," Reagan said. "I'm really lucky I met him.

"It's crazy. I don't even know. It's really crazy.

"My heart's just racing right now. I'm just too excited, just excited to start."

He's too excited to start his part-time job at a restaurant. Jahqueil Reagen will go far.

In addition to a new job the local transit authority gave Reagan a one-year travel pass free of charge.