Redefining Spring Break on My Terms
Dagnabit! I told those people BabyGirl could only work weekends unless school was NOT in session. And boooooy, did they take that literally. As soon as school let out for spring break, I’ll be daggone if they didn’t work my baby like a Hebrew slave! This was her schedule:
Saturday: 9am – 5pm
revised to 2pm – 7pm because she had a Delta GEMS meeting that morning
Sunday: 9:30am – 5:30pm
Monday: 8am – 4pm
Tuesday: 8am – 4pm
Wednesday: 9am – 5pm
When I saw her schedule, I had to run interference – again. If I keep it up, she is so going to get fired. LOL But I had a good reason though! Although she was off this past Thursday and Friday, they also wanted her to work 9:30a-4:30p on Saturday and 10-6p on Sunday. My gawd, this is her FIRST job people and she’s only 15!! If she didn’t have other priorities, she would have put in 40 hours by Wednesday!! I’m thinking, “do you NOT have other employees?” Geez!
I told her she was NOT available to work Thursday through Sunday because I’m snatching her up to run away. LOL Can a kid enjoy a few days of spring break? *roll my eyes* Besides, she has a few school projects that need some attention. Although she LOVES the idea of having her own money (her first paycheck was $135 by the way), some money isn’t worth earning.
[did I really say that?]
Anyhoo, I took an entire week off work to spend QT with my BabyGirl but she’s been working almost the entire time. Hmph! Forget that job! By the time this publishes, we will be enjoying the beautiful weather. I’m sure she’ll be off somewhere wreaking havoc with her cousins and I’ll be sitting on the beach with a book. Aaah, like a true Lady of Leisure.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend…and HAPPY EASTER!!
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I’m laughing while I’m reading this because it reminds me of when I was a manager at a retail store and we pretty much only hired high schoolers. The parents were a KILLER!!!! “My child can’t work this day”, “he has a project due”, “Does she have to work EVERY Saturday” LOL!!!…My other manager and I would just laugh and roll our eyes because we HATED dealing with parents. Our feelings were if you’re working, regardless of age, you’re grown in our eyes (as the employer) and we need to be talking to our employee and not to their parent. We had a business to run and pretty much when you allow your child to have a job, work is to be expected. But I DO understand what you are saying about her having to work so much because there should be a school/work/fun balance. There are other people working but maybe she’s that good that they need her there all the time. I know I had some 16 year olds on my payroll that I would rather have on my sales floor than 21/22 year olds.
It’s interesting hearing about your daughter’s first work experience – but I would question why you let her have the job? How many jobs can you set your own hours?
I think if she’s going to work part time then the store gets to set the hours.
Mike
Wow, I think that schedule is a bit much. Too many 8 hr days, imo. She’s still a teen with other responsibilities…the job isn’t her full time obligation. I thought when you work part time as a teen, you mostly worked 4-5 hr shifts?
I understand what you’re saying with that. At 15 I only worked during the summer because I had no car! At 16 I was working part-time and that was my choice and therefore my responsibility. If I needed less hours I would just tell my boss and they would adjust because as they saw it school came first and we could only have so many hours. I think that she should speak up for herself too!
enjoy your time off!!!!! :)
Wow! If the attitude expressed by Candace is typical (and I’ll bet it is), then I would say 15-year-olds should NOT be working — period. Let employers hire adults, rather than exploiting young kids.
A teenager has a job: it’s to go to school. Her job title is “student.” That’s all she should be doing. If she needs an income stream, let her start her own business where she can manage her own time (mowing lawns, babysitting, cleaning houses) or pay her an allowance in exchange for chores done.
Ten years of university teaching also suggest to me that college students should not be working during the academic year, either. There, too, the job title is “student.” Considering what a university education costs these days, a distraction that robs the student of any part of the benefit she or he might take from the college experience is counterproductive.
WOW- Yeah they are working your girl a little too hard…By the look of this post-she won’t be there long..because you are not having it-LOL. Enjoy your vacation!
Hmmm… I have to disagree. If she told her employer all the restrictions prior to being hired, that’s one thing. But in hiring young people (I’m including folks in their early 20s also), I often found they would tell me one thing to get the job but once they were hired, things dchanged.
My suggestion would be to be to keep one schedule with PT hours. It’s not fair to tell the scheduler you can work anytime when school is out and then change your mind when the schedule is posted. They are trying to run a business and there is no guarantee that other employees will be available to pick up the slack once the schedule is posted.
Enjoy your time off.. have a glass of moscato for me!