Comment on A literal child taking orders in a fast food restaurant in the US
roscoe@startrek.website 5 months agoI had a paper route when I was 12.
The work itself wasn’t important but learning responsibility and the value of money was important.
It was the first time I did anything completely on my own without being directed in some way by a parent, teacher, coach, etc. Without that job and after-school/summer jobs I had when I was older there is a good chance I would have made poor financial decisions in early adulthood.
With 18 year-olds getting credit cards shoved in their face the day they show up for orientation, after probably signing up for college loans, it’s probably a good idea for them to have earned money on their own for a while.
grff@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I don’t understand the people down voting you. Having a job growing up taught me a lot of responsibility and how to manage my own money and act in a professional environment. Invaluable skills that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, certainly not school
Witchhatswamp@lemmy.world 5 months ago
These jobs you are speaking of–washing cars, mowing lawns, even kids working in their parents’ store–do you think that is the same as working for a multinational conglomerate handling food with no breaks and minimum wage?
roscoe@startrek.website 5 months ago
No they’re not the same. The multinational conglomerate is way better.
Chores for the neighbors and the paper route paid peanuts. Once I was old enough to work for the conglomerate (where I received food safety training) my pay more than doubled, I started contributing to my future social security check, I received paid breaks and there was a maximum amount of hours I was legally allowed to work.
Flipping burgers beats the hell out of lugging Sunday papers around the neighborhood or knocking on doors to mow lawns in the summer heat or shovel driveways in the freezing cold. Back then I counted the days until I was old enough for a “real” job.
garbagebagel@lemmy.world 5 months ago
This is what I don’t understand about all the angry people in this thread. Of course it’s not okay to have children working in like fucking coal mines and not regulating the hours they can work and the pay you can give them. Of course that’s not cool and should be stopped. But the people doing that (and there are many) aren’t the ones doing it out in the open in a fast food restaurant.
workerONE@lemmy.world 5 months ago
You can learn valuable skills like how to be a roofer.
phillaholic@lemm.ee 5 months ago
All this constant hyperbole for every single issue is exhausting. No one is defending sending 13 years olds out to replace someone’s roof. We’re talking about “unskilled” labor like taking orders, stocking shelves, running registers etc.
workerONE@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Immigrant children are already being exploited and dying doing roofing work. You want to put children in the workforce but they would not be safe. If we had a pilot program in place and had some successful results that would be a different situation, but we have kids working 30 feet in the air with no safety gear. nytimes.com/…/roofing-children-immigrants.html
roscoe@startrek.website 5 months ago
Right?
Learning things a little at a time, when the stakes are low/non-existent is the way to go. From early teens to partway through college when you get an off campus apartment you can learn how to apply for a job, how to interview, responsibility, managing your money, responsible credit use, professionalism, bill paying. All this over the course of years, with a support system when you make mistakes (hopefully).
I guess some people think you should just have all that dropped on you like a ton of bricks the day after you get a diploma.