So many Americans in here defending this, get a clue you idiots.
I’m Australian and this reminds me of working at the local fish and.chip store when I was 12. I asked the local general store, but they’d only pay me to do odd jobs, the local bakery said no,.and the local fish and.chip shop said I could help take orders and.package meals during their busy hours each evening.
My Lego collection grew, I got real good at Time Crisis 3, and I went to see a movie each Saturday. It was awesome. I didn’t see it any different to scoring cash for mowing lawns or washing cars, just stable and they appreciated my help so I felt good too.
If you’d told me I wasn’t allowed, I’d have done it behind your back and said I was going to friend’s houses.
Cool story mate!
Lots of people are fine with bad things they grew up with because it didn’t personally affect them.
Do you think kids shouldn’t be allowed to work in any capacity? What if they are self employed? Is that wrong even if they want to?
Yes, and yes.
I think children should be free to focus on more important things than working.
Do you think we should send the kids back to the mines? Some of them might prefer to be out of school. What if they’re a self-employed mine owner?
They wouldn’t call them minors if they didn’t like it.
Based and perfect-response-pilled
I think there’s a line somewhere and for me the line is whether the job is suitable for children. Like, doing chores around the house or on your grandparents’ farm. Paper route riding a bike. I worked summers at a carnival, and at a pool when I was a bit older. Low physical labor, low responsibility, low customer interaction, family friendly environments. You’re right it should never interfere with education.
If I saw a kid at the register of a fast food place or a store, I would turn around immediately and never return. Just leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.
Your example is very extreme. Having an after school part time job as you’re growing up will prepare you for quite a bit, and set us apart from our peers that didn’t work, and instead wasted their days after school or on the weekends. I take it you never worked growing up ? It’s building essential life skills, not inhaling noxious fumes working 16 hr days in mines, this isn’t the 1800’s. I loved flipping burgers and making a paycheck at 15
I wasn’t sure where I stood on this and read a lot of comments.
One thing that seems common is that many of those who worked young seem to think it made them better than the other kids somehow. They “wasted” their summer, while you built “essential life skills” unlike the person you’re replying to, who did not? Are you still “set apart” from the person you replied to?
I might think getting thrown into the system at a younger age is the real waste of life. I’ve had a job since I was 15, but I really don’t think it made me better than anyone.
It didn’t make me “better” but from talking to people I went to college with (that didn’t get jobs early), I’d definitely say I was more prepared for the workforce.
Also having money was dope and my fast food job was fun. I still enjoyed my life and summer outside of work, even more so because I could afford to do and get shit that my parents might not have been able to give me. It’s not an all or nothing deal it’s just a different life experience. I think it would be infantilizing to take the choice away from teenagers, though it is important to regulate it as shitty people will take advantage of it.
If by wasted days you mean cherished childhood memories then sure
I 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 student loans, it’s probably a good idea for them to have earned money on their own for a while.
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
You can learn valuable skills like how to replace the roof of a house.
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?
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.
Do you think we should send the kids back to the mines?
Well, I’m not fucking going down there.
First of all, I generally agree with you that child labor such as in the OP is bad.
That being said, responding to people who had positive experiences with it in their own lives by jumping directly to sending then to the mines is absolutely fucking insane. They are not the same thing.
I think children should be free to focus on more important things than working.
“Freedom” to do what you want them to and nothing more, not even to earn it over summer break or learn the value of money.
Fuck 'em, just wait until they get out of highschool at 18 before they ever even see real money and have no idea how any of it works, who the predators are, and what the risk is.
Fuck 'em, just wait until they get out of highschool at 18 before they ever even see real money and have no idea how any of it works, who the predators are, and what the risk is.
Why is this worse than the literal same thing at a younger age?
I don’t know why, but paper boys (yes we were all boys) were some sort of exception to child labour laws. I was selling newspapers when I was 12-13 for 5c ea.
The 80s was a wild place.
And what about those assholes that never wanted to pay? Just pay the kid you cheap ass. I see your cars, your lights are on, I know you’re home motherfucker.
I identified so hard with that “I want my two dollars” kid from Better Off Dead.
One of my customers went and died owing me 80c. I just took the loss. But it would have been hilarious to see some young kid chasing the estate for his debt!
Amen.
Got money, bought a PC my parents couldn’t afford, learned to code, got a desk job.
Taught me life skills too, like dealing with dickhead managers and customers, time keeping, and just general responsibility.
That’s all well and good, but the necessity of child labor laws are not for the few who are doing it voluntarily.
Honestly it’s the uniform for me. It implies so much like maybe that kids gotta punch in with a time card of has their pay docked.
Yeah this is just going to make them soft. Send the little shits to the miners, like in the good old days!
You’d be aghast at the ages of kids I had pull pints for me when I lived in Europe, bro.
I’m American and I totally agree. It feels like there are two different countries here, with the red one generally mooching off of the blue one while simultaneously claiming they’re the “real America”. I’m so tired.
There’s hardly anything to defend because there’s nothing here other than a photo with zero confirmed information about what appears in the photo. People are just making baseless assumptions.
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No way to downvote your stupid ass enough.
Haha okay dumbarse.
Go love child labour some more, maybe enough kids b working low wage jobs and you’ll be a successful nation instead of the failure you are now.
No, only people from the USA.
Name and shame which Culver’s it is.
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you can work for your parents in many places regardless of age
I think many states allow children as young as 12 to work in specific non-dangerous jobs with permission from the parents. A company recently got in trouble when they had like 20 12-15 year olds working in a meat processing plant which definitely did not qualify for the “not dangerous” qualifier.
Yeah, I agree it’s fucked up but there’s almost no way that kid’s under 14, which is the youngest age Culver’s will hire at, he’s just a late bloomer probably. I think a lot of people would disagree with calling that age group a “literal child.”
A lot of people wouldn’t call a fourteen-year-old a child? Which people? I don’t know of any.
Assuming the literal meaning of “literal”, a child is, according to the OED, literally:
a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.
Can you explain how the pictured human being does not fit the description above?
Can you explain how the pictured human being does not fit the description above?
R Kelly has entered the chat.
Those people might say, back in my days I fought wars even though we know better.
Assuming the literal meaning of “literal”, a child is, according to the OED, literally:
a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.
I’m not in any way defending child labor in general or Culvers in particular, but factually speaking, a 14-year-old fits between those two definitions (above the age of puberty but below the legal age of majority).
So that’s an inclusive “or” in the definition. If EITHER of those criteria are fulfilled, then the definition can be applied. Since the criterion about the age of majority is true then the definition is true.
So conversely, a person above the age of majority who hasn’t reached puberty yet (medical condition maybe? Just suspend disbelief for the sake of the argument) is still by definition a child.
Could be a Shawna Rae thing
I have a 14 year old right now and I’d have zero issues with him getting a job. He’s already been eyeing some places. I know this isn’t what you’re exactly saying, but once they hit puberty they’re a bit different than young kids.
Getting a job as an indulgence because they are interested is fine. Getting a job because their parents are not capable of giving them a dignified lifestyle is downright disgusting and such kids should be rescued. Often greedy parents mask the latter as the former because they are scum.
Getting a job because their parents are not capable of giving them a dignified lifestyle is downright disgusting and such kids should be rescued
I just don’t understand this leap to conclusions that every young person is out there working because their parents aren’t feeding or clothing them. I grew up with rich friends, middle class friends, and poor friends. Random assortments of all three groups grew up working. The vast majority of the time it to earn money for themselves to buy luxuries. One friend was working to support their family due to a parental situation. There’s no way putting that person in the foster care system would have been better. They Graduated with decent grades too.
Don’t get too worked up over it. The average Stay-At-Home-Lemmy is completely unable to understand the concept that not everyone’s mom and dad will buy them an Xbox and that sometimes teenagers will get jobs to pay for things they want.
I respect that, but your 14 year old is probably quite unusual in that respect. To his credit, of course! Some kids mature faster, and in different areas at different rates. I have a 13 year old and a 16 year old and neither of them would be capable of paid work in my opinion. I love them from the bottom of my heart but they would crumble after a shift at BK
I got my first job in ‘95 when I was 13. This was in a Toronto suburb at a computer shop and it was awesome although only got $5 an hour and had to stay in the back mostly shrink-wrapping a million cd cases. There was a cute 16 year old older girl at the register that I still remember lol.
Didn’t love wearing a large Windows ‘95 box costume and standing at the corner like a hooker though.
Jeeziz. We’re about the same age and I was unable to even make a sandwich at that age I think. Mind you, I bet 13 year old you was ecstatic about that 5 dollars an hour in 1995. I hope you’ve got a picture of yourself in that box for the laughs.
My first job was call centre work at 16. I answered an advert in the local paper. Trying to use a script to swindle old ladies out of their pension for a commission, it was horrifying. I remember thinking “is this what adults do for a living? Cheat each other??” Looking back, I wasn’t that far off in a lot of cases I think.
I was laying lines blueberry raking at 14, and doing dishes in a restaurant at 16. I wanted money and it certainly taught me how difficult manual labor is without putting me in any real danger. The worst I got was bread cuts. I’d 100% put my daughter in the same situation when she’s older.
It’s really good life experience I think. I don’t want my kids missing out on it either.
From my reply to the other comment:
Fourteen
I don’t think most people would disagree that “teenager” is a more accurate word to describe that age. Trust me, there is plenty fucked up with the OP picture, we don’t need to resort to hyperbolic language to get our point across.
It is blatantly the opposite of accurate. When teenager describes both a thirteen year old who hasn’t hit puberty and a nineteen year old who could fight and die for their country, it’s obviously not an accurate enough term
14 and a bit is literally a child
Fourteen.
I don’t think most people would disagree that “teenager” is a more accurate word to describe that age. Trust me, there is plenty fucked up with the OP picture, we don’t need to resort to hyperbolic language to get our point across.
Its not hyperbolic, 14 is a teenage child. Teenager is not more accurate, because when you say a ‘teenage worker’ most would assume they were at least in the usually accepted ‘young adult’ range, 16-19, the image here is of a child worker. If they were 17 or 16 that might be different, though still literally, legally a child.
I agree with you and Priests and Republicans that 14 isn’t a Child. 😉
You’re getting a lot of down votes, but you’re spot on. I started working fast food at 14, and I looked like I was 9.
And you should have been given pocket money and sent to the playground.
I enjoyed it. The work was easy and it gave me a sense of purpose and I needed that. It taught me the value of my time, and enabled me to get a car when I turned 16. Some people grow up fast, simply because they have to, or sometimes because they just, do. One size does not fit all.
Shame them for what? You don’t know what’s going on in that picture.
They do this often at the Culver’s near me. It’s a fundraiser for school / extracurricular activities. The group works for a few hours and Culver’s donates the receipts for that time.
It’s better than having them go door to door selling wreaths and shit.
Somehow that made it even more dystopian. The school system is in on it
The children are working to fund the school.
Nuf said?
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The school is funded already through taxpayers. The fact that “the children are working to fund the school” is an acceptable line of logic is already dystopian.
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Traditionally, children do fundraisers to fund extracurricular activities, like a field trip. If the school is taking that money to add to their budget, that’s crossing the line into exploiting kids’ labor for money.
- The school is funded already through taxpayers.
Where do you live that public schools are properly funded by taxes? American schools are embarrassingly underfunded, and teachers are tragically underpaid and typically have to spend their own money to buy supplies for their students.
The fact that public schools used to be properly funded by taxes and aren’t any longer is part of the dystopia. Do you think I’m defending the current system?
https://usafacts.org/topics/education/
I was surprised to find out how much the U.S. actually does spend on education, given how shitty it is. Idk where the money is going, but it’s definitely funded
I’m not sure if I’m reading the data wrong or what, but that usafacts.org says 35% of people 25 or older have at least a bachelors degree. When I checked the census data, it says only 27.4% have that… https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2021.S1501?q=EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT&g=010XX00US$0400000&tid=ACSST1Y2021.S1501
Link doesn’t work for me, but I’ll look it up
The US spends the second most per student in the world.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/education-spending-highest-school-brazil-chile-italy-mexico/
Part of this comes from the fact that most public schools are funded from local property taxes, so naturally wealthier residents have better public schools due to better funding as they naturally pay more in taxes
Imagine if they spent anything on teachers
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Most School systems are financially gutted to the bone. It’s dark but most red counties school districts are near bankruptcy and blue areas are slightly better off. So expect more of this as public schools try to keep the doors open.
I remember having school assemblies in middle school with some third party fundraising company trying to get us to sell…I don’t even remember what as a fundraiser for the entire school. At the time it felt weird and as an adult looking back I find it far more concerning that that’s how they made up the budget shortfalls instead of raising property taxes by fraction of a percent
This made it worse for me
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They got mad at her when an item was missing out of a 4-bag $80 order (they unbagged and checked everything there on the counter).
That one seems valid. That person got burned before with the staff not bothering to do their job and were NOT going to short their friend whatever item(s) the staff kept for themselves. Sure, you can say the counter girl didn’t do the bagging, but she’s the one that the customer is supposed to tell, and it is hard not to be angry when you’ve paid for stuff and you’re getting shorted – AND there’s almost surely another person relying on you to get it right this time. It shouldn’t take so much effort to just get the stuff you paid for.
But you can nicely check your items and say “ope looks like one of the fries got missed” and not make a big stink about it
That’s true, but I don’t know how much of a stink was made. If someone is unbagging everything at the counter, they’ve probably been burned before, so I can see some reason to take a harsh tone – enough to show they’re tired of the BS. If, instead, they started throwing things and screaming obscenities, yeah, that’d be an overreaction.
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Be Polite and don’t come back. That’s my rule of thumb.
Meanwhile on the other side of the coin, people have literally been shot and killed for having an extra item in their bag that they didn’t pay for.
… but they WEREN’T doing their job. I’ve been a counter cashier at a burger joint. Most of the job was getting the order correct and taking in money properly, but I also has to to things like add extra relish packets and see that I was giving them the correct food. That’s the job. You give the customer what they ordered. That is the EASY part. The hard part is dealing with the people trying to scam you with bill-switching/wrong-change schemes (though I suspect those are less common as fewer people use cash now).
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This is Culver’s. They’re a burger fast food joint located throughout the Midwest and have things called “Scoopy Night” where a percentage of the proceeds go toward a specific cause. Schools, dance groups, etc can partake and the kids who attend that school/dance group/etc help take orders and deliver food to tables. Not quite as dystopian as OP has made it seem.
Whoa whoa whoa, how dare you provide context! I want to be rage baited into thinking America Bad!
Don’t worry, America still Bad.
Well that’s a relief.
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of legitimate outrage to be had without manufacturing it…
If you think this context makes it OK, you’re fucking delusional lmao.
Honestly… the idea that they do this work, and the money goes to a school instead of them, makes it even worse to me?
It’s a fundraiser likely for an after school program. It typically pays out a lot better than a car wash or brat fry. Typically the students run orders out to cars.
And yeah, we probably should put more funding into schools for stuff like this instead of asking kids to fundraise.
Are the kids required to work in order to get the money? Because that sounds like a job with good PR.
My thoughts exactly. If it’s optional, cool, the kids get some experience and maybe takehome money. If it’s required, fuck that shit.
The one near me that does fundraisers doesn’t have any students working. Usually the teachers go to say hi to families that come.
That’s just child labor exploitation with extra steps.
This is what it is, and it’s sad that it’s so normalized that people are defending it.
Everyone knows the kids aren’t technically required, but they’re “required” by social pressure.
I remember having to go door to door selling things when I was a kid. It may have been voluntary in a technical sense, but I was pretty well mandated to do so if I wanted to be part of that group with my friends. And there was even more pressure from my mom and dad because they didn’t want to be the family whose kid didn’t do the thing.
I think it’s time we start taking a long hard look at some of these things like fundraisers and de facto coerced employment of youth (without pay) and ask ourselves if a healthy system would allow this.
Children do work at McDonald’s though
Just they would keep them in the back so they can’t be seen
yup. 10 year olds running deep fryers.
scoopie night The abuse has to stop. Look at those abused kids. The horror.
Would you want your child working at a fast food restaurant? Doesn’t matter what kind of cutesy name gets attached to child labor.
Yes, of course I would. It’s a great experience. We actually did that back in school, had a week when we all went out to check out different jobs. It was a great thrill and fun for all. Certainly not labor. We got to do grownup things. That was shortly before seventh grade, iirc.
And then, we’ve had school things where we would bake and cook and sell it right there on campus. Is that labor as well? Oh, and when I was in the boy scouts, we sometimes went door to door raising funds and selling trinkets. Child labor?
It’s not like we had to do eight-hour days, week for week. A few hours, once in your life. That’s not labor. That’s a fun thing to do.
No, that’s still idiotic. It doesn’t matter what the context is of why a child is working at a fast food restaurant. There’s a child working at a fast food restaurant. This isn’t selling chocolates to raise money for a class hamster.
Honestly, I would err on the side of caution anyway. The worst that can happen is minor embarrassment that came from good intentions.
Being intent on remaining outraged is idiotic. Spending a few hours doing a handful of minor tasks at a fast food restaurant for fun is worlds apart from being required to labor for day after day for a pay check.
“no, no, its not bad! The child worker is working for charity!”
Oh nice, so its worse
“Child labor is ok if the money goes to a school!”
- the user who wrote this comment
It’s indicative of a larger effort by republicans to force children back to work, this is part of that dystopia even if it’s on the “light dystopia” side of the spectrum.
Fuck off whiteknight, keep enabling corporate’s ability to normalize and capitalize off of child labor. This ain’t no goddamn bake sale or car wash.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/04/18/child-labor-returns/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-immigration-hyundai/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html
Keep downvoting, bootlickers
Work experience at school is legitimately a thing though here in the UK.
In germany as well. We had a week where we could try out a few jobs and occupations hands-on. It was great. Seventh grade, I believe.
And that was 33 years ago.
I had a paper round at 13 and washed dishes in a pub at 15. It was my choice to work and earn money. Not sure what’s so dystopian about that.
when we needed to do fundraisers THE PARENTS IN THE PTA DID IT FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS.
We had plenty of ‘kids’ working at fast food and grocery stores but not until 15 minimum. this kid looks like he’s 9. that’s too young to be fucking around near fryers and hot grills.
This kid is way too young to be taking verbal abuse from customers. I remember being 19-but-looked-15 and grown-ass adult customers calling me stupid and useless, and generally speaking to and looking at me like I was a piece of dung stuck to the bottom of their shoe. People who thought I was a literal child behaved this way. Not to mention all the perverts. Kids shouldn’t be working customer service, not in a world where adults have such disgusting behavior.
I’m sorry that this all happened to you. I know this happened in the past, but you deserve a little hug. I hope things are better for you on a day to day basis. ♥
Thanks, that’s sweet of you. <3 Things are much better for me now that I’m out of that line of work, so I do my best to stand up to trashy customers on behalf of the people who can’t.
Fuckin same. Honestly no age is old enough to take shit working at fuckin Office Depot.
Nah, you got the wrong end of the stick, this is an uplifting story - it’s a kid working hard to provide for his mum’s cancer treatment that in any other developed nation would be covered by taxes. Uplifting. Right? So Uplifting. He doesn’t need to be with his mum in her time of need, he should be suckin that capitalist dick.
The orphan crushing machine is at it again!
Is there a orphancrushingmachine community yet?
I’m unsure I haven’t looked for it yet.
“We made this shitty thing legal, so you can’t disagree with it. Checkmate athieists”
ps5 wont buy itself keep hustlin
Rise and grind and watch spongebob
gotta work hard to play hard fr fr
When I was 13 I was ‘encouraged’ by my family to get a job. I had no interest. They pulled some strings and I began illegally working (14 was the legal age) for a small family diner. At this time I just wanted to fiddle on my tech as I was very nerdy, but my family didn’t want me to “stay in my room all the time,” so pointless labour it was.
I did appreciate the liberation I gained from my family, even if I didn’t have the knowledge of what to do with it; How to expand upon it. Probably for the best imo. I spent my whole first paycheck on some games that me and my homies would play in the garage and made great memories. If there was a life lesson to be learned during this whole experience, I never understood it at the time. Eventually I was let go from work since no-one taught me how to perform my job duties well enough. That’s life, though!
By luck, one of my caring high-school teachers managed to slip-in his own curriculum. He taught a class of ~15 students some important financial skills… how mortgages work… how to create and manage savings… credit building… Bunch of important life stuff that I would consider essential knowledge in our society was an optional course I learned through word-of-mouth/happenstance.
???
why
Meanwhile and my ultimate gripe with this thread and tying this back into a dystopian - I see some people mention they learned valuable life lessons and a bunch of other copium. Witness me and your kin around you. Is the knowledge you gained - the wisdom acquired through action and experience - is it gained through labour? No. I didn’t and others didn’t either. Can it be taught safely without forcing children with a young developing brain into dangerous work environments? Yes. I gained such wisdom later from the safety and comfort of my school. And we rest on the final point with a question:
How many opportunities in the common layman eye are there for children to receive education on the matter?
If your experience had 1 or more, I’d love for you to share such experiences here as it’s eye-opening to those who received and did not receive such privilege. I’m certainly interested! :)
As someone who was pulled out of school at 14 and sent to work rebuilding old houses and breaking my back for $100 a week, education is where it’s at.
Appalachia is a whole different world (especially 25-30 years ago, the internet is changing it though).
The dude I worked for was molesting little girls and using the boys to stand up for him in court later to talk about how great he was. Unfortunately (for him that is) he made some mistakes and didn’t get our support, but boy he tried.
I remember one time he took us to the lake. He said, “I’m psychic, you know. I know things that no one else knows.” I replied, “there’s no such thing. Prove it.” He said, “Ok, when you and Regina sat on the train tracks and you ate her pussy and she sucked your dick. I just seen that in my mind.” He blew my mind in that moment.
I grew up and realized, Regina put my penis in her mouth because someone was teaching her that shit. I put my mouth on her vagina because she instructed me to do it. She did so because someone taught her this stuff. We were 11 and 9.
I know that’s disturbing and I’m sorry.
Kids shouldn’t be handed over to strange adults to work. If I’m not proof of that I don’t know what is.
Holy shit, man, you okay?
Oh yeah. Life is great these days bud. Thank you for asking.
As someone who was pulled out of school at 14 and sent to work rebuilding old houses and breaking my back for $100 a week, education is where it’s at.
I’m just gonna say if they got me building houses for a day or two each week, I would’ve loved that shit and might’ve stayed in school.
The rest of the story is beyond me.
How old are you now?
She pressed the little pictogram squares on her till. (Literacy was no longer a requirement for employment in these restaurants. Smiling was.)
Good reference to a great book. Anyone who hasn’t read it, should. In a similar vein, anyone who hasn’t watched the streaming adaptation with Martin Sheen and David Tennant is in for a very nice surprise!
Martin Sheen!?
That’s President Kennedy, you idiot!
Well same difference! He played Kennedy once!
Legal working age of 15 1/2 (in my state) plus a kid who looks young for their age - may not be the most appealing situation, bit this probably completely above board.
No age restrictions if family owned business, that’s a federal law no state can bypass, but I doubt the owner of Culver’s needs their kids to work to support the family.
I’m assuming it is the franchise owner’s kid. Not the owner of Culver’s.
I mean still…
That’s a federal law aimed at farm families from back in the day. And farm kids are still helping and working along side Grandpa and Dad. And where I live, in the middle of a forest, they also help and work along side in logging families also.
Growing up on a farm, my earliest memory in life is walking behind a tractor pulling a ‘stoneboat’ and picking up rocks in the fields along side my father and grandfather. I was driving a tractor pulling wagons and hay trailers by 8 years old and by 12 I was driving trucks hauling grain from the field to storage bins and unloading them. Plus getting up a 5AM to help milk cows every morning and again at 5PM. It was absolutely crucial when my Grandfather got sick with “Farmer’s Lung” and couldn’t work much anymore. I pretty much started running his farm at 14.
So they should just make the legal working age 12 and the problem is solved
I was at a tim Hortons in Canada. Had this experience seeing a youngin’ working, except it literally seemed like the whole staff was this age. It was enough kids to prompt us to ask what the working age was in Canada. The young lady informed us it was 13 or so
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This photo was taken years and years ago, look how young Neil Gaiman is in it.
In pretty much every state you can legally work limited hours at 14. Considering this is a Culver’s, I highly doubt they illegally hired this kid.
There’s nothing wrong with a part time job at a place like this at 14. I’d argue it’s better than having no work experience at all as a minor.
Is that kid 14 or 10?
Hard to tell from all 16 pixels. I’ve seen some pretty young looking 14 year olds though.
Additionally, I looked it up and in some states you can work at a family business at 12.
work at a family business at 12.
I’m assuming that store is a franchise, that’s the only way I can think of it being technically a “family business”?
Yeah, I’m pretty sure all Culver’s are franchises. I don’t know why a franchise owned by one’s parents wouldn’t be considered a family business.
Can confirm at least some of them are franchises, for sure (if not all of them).
Nope, that’s little Billy Culver in that picture
Loopholes, baby!
I work in the Media Center of a High School. Some 9th and even a few 10th graders definitely look like they still belong in middle school, some kids mature late. I’d totally believe that there’s a possibility this person is actually at least 14.
I worked as a waiter at a retirement home at 14, and definitely looked younger at the time, so I think there’s a good chance this is the case.
NO ONE HERE ACTUALLY KNOWS.
I’d argue that kids are not fit for the stress put on people in service positions with customer contact. It’s fine if they have a holiday job cutting grass or delivering newspapers or something like that but standing behind a counter taking orders from people that often don’t even acknowledge that you’re human, too? That’s hard enough on adults already - I definitely don’t think it’s the kind of job for kids.
Also which business is hiring kids to work a couple of weeks during school holidays and then is fine having one less worker again? The time spent on teaching the child what to do and how to handle different situations as well as the paperwork probably takes more time and money than not having the help for a couple of weeks - even less so as you probably have to have another person nearby in case of customers overstepping so I’m not sure this is just some holiday job for the kid to earn pocket money or get job experience
Judging by the comments here, everyone is going to be thrown off sufficiently to watch their behavior.
You’d think so, but people can be downright cruel to those they think are ‘under’ them, and guess what every person working a job that can’t get them fired (so no business-to-business contacts) is to them?
I remember working in a customer facing role when I was a teen, and occasionally had to tell people the place was closed due to weather. They would accuse me of being everything under the sun and personally on a vendetta to make their lives miserable… and there was nothing I could do about it aside from calling the police if they actually started making threats.
I’ve always been about kids getting out there early and getting a taste of working, but these days feel different. I wouldn’t want to go back into customer service now and I’ve got experience and age to back be up in dealing with customers.
I do think that people who cause the disruptive behavior that I’m referring to should be required to serve time doing those jobs, as I think part of their entitlement is ignorance of what’s it’s like behind the counter.
I mean service jobs are never great, but most of my jobs from 14 through early adulthood were all service and they weren’t that bad.
You encounter plenty of rude and unpleasant people, but you just get on with it. It’s not traumatic for the vast majority of people. Learning to handle people like that is a good skill to have.
I totally agree that people would be better to each other if everyone had so service job experience.
Waiting tables at the tail end of high school and throughout college really boosted my intrapersonal skills. I have no problem interacting with most anyone and can usually pick up on cues that go beyond what the person is saying. I work in engineering at a fortune 500 now it’s really amusing how bad a decent swath of employees are at getting their point across, understanding what someone else is trying to tell them, and reading the room.
That said, I had a stint in retail. Waiting tables was more stress, but the people were generally quite a bit nicer.
I got my first real job at 15. I might have looked like this kid. Lol
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The children yearn for the fast food jobs, Overcooked and Roblox games have proven that.
