My latest episode for Momversation focuses on whether or not kids should work for their discretionary funds. CHILD LABOR FTW! I kid.
I didn't get my first job until I graduated high school and that first job was as a salesgirl in a retail store at the mall. I'm not really a fashionista; I wear black because I have the styling ability of Rainbow Brite, and not in a cute-and-freckles kind of way. I was too buys playing the part of an angst-ridden teen to really do my job well, unless anyone tried to sell more than me, in which case I got really competitive because I took it as a personal offense if anyone sold more than me. Hi, 17, I don't miss you at all.
My next job was as a waitress at a restaurant in the very same mall. I actually liked that job; I was really good on it and got a perfect rating from the secret shoppers. But OMG: you really don't realize how much you dislike people until you get a job in the service industry. I once had a table of frat boys throw a wadded up napkin to me as they exited upon finishing their meal. They hadn't paid their tab. I ran out to the parking lot after them, at which point they went off on me because HOW DARE I not unwad the dirty napkin to see that they paid the bill and left me a modest whole 8% tip!
"We're going to want some of that tip back now," said one.
"Take all of it," I replied, throwing it in their faces and turning to walk back inside.
The church people who came in on Sundays were my favorites. They'd eat their lunch and argue Scripture over coffee and always left me a big tip because they occupied my tables for so long. Jesus saves, Jesus pays.
Working as a teenager made me realize that the world isn't paved with peppermint and that while jerks are annoying, they provide all the best fodder. If the economy doesn't kill our family business, I'd like for the boys to someday work there if they've earned it. In the meantime, I agree with Giyen in this episode: EVERY KID SHOULD WAIT TABLES.
What do you think? Did you work in school or through the summer? What was the job you hated or loved the most?
At age 10, I worked for my Grandfather, who managed a small restaurant. He paid me $10 and hour for wrapping silverware in napkins. IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES. AND I DID IT WRONG. But he was my Grandpa.I was also allowed to eat all the chocolate bars I wanted.
It was great, but set me up for some serious and unpleasant surprises when it came to pay and employee/employer relationships in my later years!
sunday nights...i really look forward to hearing you scream and yell. i love it
Growing up at the Lake of the Ozarks, you work. I worked in my parents Real Estate business on the weekends answering the phone and fielding faxes (the kind on the slick rolls of paper, btw) when I was 12 and worked for them until I was 17. It was great experience (how many kids come through high school with administrative experience?) and I learned how to handle myself in adult sitations.
I also worked in a music store through high school and college and it was by far my favorite job. The pay wasn't bad, you hang out with cool people and get a discount.
I have never really hated a job. I suppose I'm pretty lucky there.
I think it's good for kids to work especially in the summer. You get out of the house, learn a little about money and that it's not just your mom and dad that you'll be taking orders from in this world.
I've worked retail, waitressing and at a gym. I think EVERY SINGLE PERSON should have to work six months in retail (preferably around the Holidays) and six months waiting tables. You'll treat service industry people completely different after that.
And my kids? Will totally work at least part time doing something like that.
I come from a long line of food-service employees and restaurant owners, so I knew from an early age that I never ever wanted to work in a restaurant. :-) Instead I started baby-sitting and pet-sitting when I was 10, and did both all through high school on a regular basis. I never waited tables but I wiped butts and scooped poop!
In addition, I worked as a library page for two years (mainly reshelving returned library books, which has given me a lifelong habit of PUTTING BOOKS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG in libraries and bookstores). I worked at several after-school program for kids in high school and college. I worked at Children's Museum one summer, which I thought I would love and sadly, I hated. It was boring work because (1) I wasn't supposed to interact with the kids, I was only supposed to clean up after them, and (2) it was a clique-ish staff and I had no patience for that. I only lasted there one summer. I worked as a camp counselor another summer, at the same church camp I attended while growing up. I worked as a Resident Assistant to pay my room and board during college, and later worked as a middle-school tutor to help pay my tuition. Those last three jobs were the BEST JOBS EVER for growing me up and just plain old fun.
I definitely want my daughter to work when she's old enough. She's been doing some chores since she was 4, and I think learning to work hard as a child and teenager gives her a better chance of success later in life.
I teach college comp., and too many of those students refer to themselves as "kids"--because, one had the audacity to say, "I can't take care of myself, yet." That left me slack-jawed! 18 and can't take care of yourself? 18 and a kid? Give me a break!
I babysat when I was 12, read to a blind girl at 13, 14, and worked tabulating bills at a coutnry club from 14-18. I waitressed, worked in a department store, a newspaper (yeah!). It's a shame that most places won't hire anybody under 18 today. Young men, (and women) need to learn how to work before they're 18! They'd probably gripe about their parents less,too!
I teach college composition. Too many students refer to themselves as kids. When I asked why, they replied, "I can't take care of myself." I had to pick my jaw up from the ground.
When I was 12, I babysat. When I was 13-14 I read to a blind girl who was in college. From 14-21 I worked at a country club either working in the office tabulating billing or waitressing. I worked in a department store, watiressed more, and finally landed a job at a newspaper.
If young men and women(according to Jewish Tradition, 13 is the age of accountability), don't start working until 18, they are tremendously uneducated. Too many stores won't hire anyone under 18. That leaves too many adults believing they are children!
I want my sons to work, learn somebody elses rules in the workplace. Your post is on target!
I've been working non stop since I was 15 1/2. My first job was as a Page at the library (ACTUAL JOB TITLE). I shelved and repaired books. It was a good job. I learned a lot (especially in the 100 stacks: psychology AKA sex books!) and they worked around my drama and choir schedules.
@Jinx That may not be me, though. I don't scream and yell.
My first job was at a record store in the mall when I was 16.
CAN YOU SAY PERFECT????
I got my first job 2 weeks after turning 16 @ JCPenney in the mall. It was a good job. Intimidating at first. I had to become a really good "folder" also had to deal with crazy people. But I met some really good friends in my department..so work was almost always fun to a point. Then after working there 3 years all through HS..I applied for a Bank. And now that is where I am currently working. In between had some part-time positions. But I am really thankful my mom taught me to work. I felt very ready for the world when I moved out etc. :)
I started working when I was 12, in our Church nursery. It evolved into babysitting for about 6 different families and then per diem nannying for a family with infant twins once I hit 16 and could drive.
I also worked in a Chinese restaurant as a hostess, a fast food joint owned by a family whose kids went to my school, and as a lifeguard at Six Flags every summer. We competed in the national lifeguard competition and won twice. *flex* All before I left for college at 18.
I went to a private Jesuit highschool and later attended a Jesuit university (SLU) and absolutely LOST MY MIND everytime I heard that so-and-so's daddy/mommy/grandpa/aunt Sue had bought them their new SUV/BMW/other acronym for a vehicle, or were paying their way through college while the student didn't even have to pay for their own gas. I earned a full academic scholarship but did workstudy all through college to pay for my room and board and spending money.
I absolutely think that ALL kids should have to work for their discretionary money. It prepares you for the world that's waiting for you once you're out of school and teaches you how to begin managing finances before it becomes absolutely necessary. Not to mention the great feeling one gets after a hard, sweaty, tear-jerking day at work where you realize that after $7.50 an hour, you only made $60 for the entire day pre-taxes. Ahhh, to be young again.
You do realize, Dana, that you can enslave, ahem, I mean employ your children in the family business at age eight? You could have them do a little for each of you...
I began babysitting at age 12, then a real job in a deli at age 14. I plan to steer my child away from food, instead looking for work in an office setting or tutoring. Most of my friends that did this sort of work early on seemed better prepared for the real world of work. Most of the servers I know turned into crazy bartenders who didn't really grow up until they hit their 30's.
Hmmm . . . church people always left me crappy tips, but boy were they sure to slip a tract in behind their 10%!!
Because THAT is exactly what I needed to be saved. A lousy tip and the Four Spiritual Laws.
If they would have just asked, they would have known that they were wasting their time. I was already one of them.
I agree; you never realize how much people can SUCK until you work in the service industry. Save for working at a little (read: shithole) cafe, I never had to wait tables but I DID work the phones/register/customer service counter at a car dealership. Not just any car dealership, mind you, but a full blown yuppie-infested BMW dealership in Fairfield-effin-County, CT. I REALLY hated people then.
I worked my ass off; some of the people I went to high school with STILL have never had to work hard for anything but, for as much as I hated that job sometimes, I loved it because I actually earned something. I may have only spent it on gas and car insurance and clothes that really didn't look good on me, but I was proud of that. I think I have a better idea of myself and my parents because of it; my parents gave me so much that they didn't have to give but they also taught me the value of taking care of myself. Definitely something to be proud of.
If more teenagers actually had to work, there'd be far fewer liberals. I've long maintained that the difference between a liberal and a conservative is three, real, hard-earned paychecks.
A few jobs I had between fifth grade and the 4-year degree:
Hauling hay
Mowing lawns
Dance DJ
Running the scoreboard for school sports
Tuba player in a German polka band
Boy Scout camp counselor
Newspaper reporting
Cleaning the school cafeteria
Night janitor
Selling term papers
Night manager of a casino
Pizza delivery
Furniture delivery
Asparagus picking and sales
Fireworks sales
Cafeteria dishwasher
Short-order cook
Hotel night auditor
Behavioral therapist for developmentally disabled convicted sex offenders
In short, you learn that you do what it takes. That's the same attitude for which employers in the "grown-up world" pay a serious premium.
I've been working since I was 14 and by my own choice, not through my parents encouraging me. My parents paid for things they felt I earned and were necessary. I paid for extras. I have a while before I have to worry about this with my own kids, but I hope to be in a position where my kids will work to pay for extras, if they choose to. I didn't have the burden of having to pay for car insurance (though, I did pay for gas) or necessary clothes (anything trendy or dance dresses was on me). But I did gain a sense of pride and responsibility by working.
I have no doubt that it helped me be a better student and it definitely taught me to follow the golden rule. I STILL work in the service industry and have since I was 14! While you encounter a lot of bad apples, nothing beats a genuine thank you from someone you've helped.
At age 14 I began working for my dad on his pecan farm and I worked hard. By age 16 or 17 I was working 10 hour days! I loved working. It kept me from being bored during my school break and gave me a sense of accomplishment. However I HATED working for my dad. It was too weird. He's my Dad, but he's my boss....i just didn't like it.
I wish I would have been allowed to work for someone...anyone else.
Now that I am an adult with a husband and family I am about to start my first real job and take online classes. It will be a whole new thing for me and a juggling act. I wish my parents would have made me have a part time job during the school year so I would learn how to juggle big responsibilities.
So YES, CHILDREN SHOULD HAVE A JOB AND WORK FOR SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEIR PARENTS! Just my opinion on the subject. Loved the video.