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I don’t know how old you are (over 40?) but I suspect there’s a generational gap here. In the 1990s and before, in my part of the US anyway, a teenager without
by nsxwolf 4y ago
I don’t know how old you are (over 40?) but I suspect there’s a generational gap here. In the 1990s and before, in my part of the US anyway, a teenager without a job was seen as lazy or entitled.
Sometime after the mobile internet happened kids stopped working. They stopped driving cars and that was a big motivator for work. There was a lot of money flying around and parents just started handing spending money to their kids.
Now I read articles post-COVID that sound shocked that fast food chains are advertising jobs to 14 year olds. If you’re much under 40, this might seem like some terrifying Charles Dickens stuff.
- nverno 4y agoI was a teen in the early 00s, so just prior to mobile internet really taking off. Driving was a huge motivator for us to work (rural). I suspect your right about the generational gap. Perspective also seems to differ between urban/rural. I'd get it if there were some great alternative that teens were missing out on because they worked, but from my experience there was plenty of time to work, go to school, and still smoke weed everyday. Granted I didn't do 10-hour days 5-6 days a week all summer like the guy in the article, but normal 40-50hr/week full-time summer jobs was nothing.
- bigbillheck 4y agoMy first paid job was at 16, I'm pushing 50 and that's some terrifying Charles Dickens stuff.
- nsxwolf 4y agoI started food service work at 14 in the early 90s and it's some of the greatest memories of my youth.
- micromacrofoot 4y agoI've heard that there's also a perception that the work itself has become worse since the 90s. I don't know if this is actually true, but on the retail job level I've heard it involves more micromanaging, more rude customers, more work per employee, and pay is worse when adjusted for inflation.