Money Gossip: Overhead Money Conversation Between Two Teenagers
I was standing in line at Starbucks and overheard two teenage boys talking about money. They were both well dressed kids, “looked” smart (cussed like sailors though), and I assume they live in my neighborhood, which is pretty affluent. So I was surprised by what I heard:
Kid #1: Yo, which colleges are you applying to this year?
Kid #2: (seemed irritated) Man, I told you. I’m not going to college.
Kid #1: I know that’s what you said, but I thought you were just f*cking around ’cause your parents were riding you that day.
Kid #2: No a**hole, I was serious! College is for punks. Besides, I have a job already anyway.
Kid #1: (laughing) Working at Foot Locker?
Kid #2: Yea, so! Who’s the broke motherf*cker right now? (laughing)
Kid #1: True, true. So how much they pay anyway? I need a job.
Kid #2: I make like $9.75/hour plus commission. But they start you at like $8 and you can work your way up.
Kid #1: Yo, can hook me up?!
Kid #2: Yea, I’ll talk to my boy. Broke a**! (punch Kid #1 in arm playfully)
Kid #1: Thanks man, ‘preciate that. (punch Kid #2 in arm playfully)
Kid #2: While you’re in college next year and broke as h*ll, I’ll be making like $12/hour. Then when you finish college, you can come work for me. Be my little b*tch. (laughing and hit Kid #1 in back of head)
Kid #1: (turns to looks at me, then forces a fake laugh)
Kid #2: (steps up to the register and pays for both of their orders)
From that short 5 minute exchange, it was obvious to me that Kid #1 thought Kid #2 was full of sh*t. Peer pressure is a beast, so I understand why Kid #1 didn’t stand up to Kid #2, although I was hoping he would. Then again, Kid #1 was freeloading, so that would have been dumb. But at some point, someone needs to let Kid #2 know that working at Foot Locker is not a long term career plan. I wonder how Kid #2’s parents are dealing with him, he seems to be a handful. And I wonder if Kid #2 really thinks $12/hour is a lot of money.
Teenagers!
~*~*~*~*~*~Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And always, BE FABULOUS!
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Ah yes, peer pressure. I hope the Foot Locker kid goes back and get a degree once he sees how difficult it is to move up w/o one.
This very much describes my experience of living in America. So many of my peers worked in retail and restaurants and seemed to think they were in worthwhile careers. Might have just been Buffalo, NY though
Sadly, my brother has this mentality. He attended college but quit 1 semester before graduation. (Idiot) He feels you don’t need the college education to make a lot of money. For a few years, his theory proved correct when me & his girlfriend, (we both have BA degrees) made less money than him.
But not everyone wants a “career”. That’s fine. But EVERYONE needs to do something that will earn enough money to be self sufficient for the rest of their lives. [-SM]
Not everyone wants to be stuck with massive student loans, so they can toil away for next 30 years to pay off. Why assume everyone who attends college acquire debt? How about attending an affordable school, earning scholarships and working? [-SM]
Not everyone wants to be stuck in an office wishing their lives away. Scientists are not stuck in an office wishing their lives away. Doctors are not. Writers are not. Soldiers are not. Architects and engineers are not. Stop thinking average. [-SM]
What is a career anyway? Its a job where you get to wear a suit, and pretend to be important. Careers are traps. How one defines a “career” varies large and wide. Half the people I work with everyday do not wear suits. They may or may not be important, but what they contribute to the world affects YOU everyday. Pretty darn important I’d say. [-SM]
Security – forget it? Money – does a career give you lots of money? It might, it might not. But its not what you earn its HOW MUCH YOU KEEP. There are plenty of suits earning £100,000 plus but they dont have a dime, but they have plenty of debt. This is the only statement you’ve made that I agree with. Even in that regard, if it’s hard for someone earning $100k+ to live without debt, how do you think a person earning $12/hr will live? After paying basic living expenses, THERE ISN’T MUCH LEFT TO KEEP. [-SM]
The career is an illusion. Go to colleage, get a job so you can wear a suit and get a mortgage, get a loan for a nice car, so you can wear a suit and pretend your important and superior to the guys a footlocker. Hand over the keys to your life too cos it wont be your own when you get your “career”. A career is what you make it. Whatever that career may be, attending college will help you explore those options and expand your mind.
When one acquires debt, I agree, your life is not your own. It belongs to the creditors because you work for them. However, acquiring debt to buy “things” is choice that has no correlation to whether one has earned a college degree or established a career.
Although college isn’t for everyone, it is statistically proven to enhance your earning potential, which if managed properly, should ultimately improve your quality of life.
If a person chooses not to attend college, s/he should have higher aspirations than earning $12/hour. If working for Foot Locker is your desire because you happen to like selling shoes, then be the best damn sales person anyone has ever seen so you can run the place! [-SM]
Not every one wants to move up a ladder.
Complacency and mediocrity have their place in the world, I suppose. [-SM]
Some people have their own benchmark for “success” that doesnt involve a “ladder” or a job with a suit.
Whatever one’s benchmark for “success” may be, self sufficiency and financial freedom should be a #1 priority. If $12/hr is enough for you, then make sure your standard of living is consistent with your earnings.
To put my response back in context with the original post, this teenager is accustomed to a higher standard of living, so $12/hr won’t scrape the surface of self sufficiency. [-SM]
umm yeah – $12/hour – approx $25k a year IF he works 40 hours a week. If this Kid is accustomed to the finer things in life, he’s in for a rude awakening. That $12/hr is good as long as he’s living with his parents though.
SM – You should totally submit that over to Eavesdrop DC’s blog
http://eavesdropdc.blogspot.com/
I love you commentary! Totally agree with it. That kid is going to find out fast how expensive life can be!
His lifestyle is not supplemented by living with his parents. That is not sustainable. Of course there are those who exist on this amount of money because they have to, but I am willing to bet that they feel it is not enough to live comfortably on.
Oops. His lifestyel *is* supplemented….
Yea, $12 and hour is plenty of money when your parents are giving you free rent and food. Then when you want to get your own place, or even move in with your friends instead, or when you start working your retail job full time and it gets old, or when your hours keep getting cut for no reason, you might change your tune. Plenty of people learn this the hard way.
There’s a great bio on Teddy Roosevelt where his father told young Teddy, “When you decide on career, always be aware of the consequences along with the benefits of your decision.” If you become a beach bum, don’t complain about never making 300,000 bucks a year. If the teen was happy making 12 bucks an hour more power to him…though I wonder if was ever exposed to other opportunities???
Interesting exchange, but sadly it happens everyday. It always amazes me that kids in affluent neighborhoods want to be underachievers. It is a badge of honor to not do well or be as successful as their parents. It don’t get it. Like everyone else said, $12 and hour is not enough to sustain a lifestyle and if lil dude wants to be a baller then he’ll have to step up his game.
Going to college doesn’t necessarily equal financial freedom, but at least get a trade or certificate to build on and advance with. Retail leads to dead ends unless you are smart enough to take advantage of company stock options as well as educational opportunities…oh wait, that means going to school. Might not work for him.
Hopefully one day he will wake up and his friend will recognize that he is planning to put himself in a better position.
I love your blog…and do I always have to say this..YES! I have mixed feelings when it comes to College…I didn’t feel this way of couse until I went to College and was left with mounds and mounds of debt. Who’s really the winner? I agree $12 is not alot of money but if the does work his way up in the company and manage his money correctly he can become management within a 5 year period and probably end up making the same amount of money or more than the kid that went to College UNLESS he goes for a specialist type education ( Doctor, Lawyer..blah blah blah) and then even that’s doesn’t even out when student loans kick in. Now we can take the scenerio as if the kids parents will pay for college or he’ll get scholarships…while that may be true for him that’s not always the case..how do you think Sallie Mae became so popular * shrugs*
(If I ever won the lottery my 1st check would go to Sallie Mae)
I’d bet even if they went their seperate ways one to the workforce and one to College there is a STRONG chance they’d end a very close race.
I am diving in here; it’s my first comment in your blog (which is great). I have 3 daughters who either went to or are still going through the college experience and each of their college situations has been different. My oldest has graduated as an engineer and she got a job fairly easily (she was an A-type personality). The 2nd daughter just graduated with a business degree(it took her 5 years to do a 4-year undergrad program) and she’s now a full-time nanny because she couldn’t get a job. My 3rd girl loves animals and wants to be a horse vet but she also wants to be more financially independent now so she is working full-time at a vet hospital and taking a class or two at the local community college. I think the college experience has to be looked at in several ways. Obviously it expands your knowledge. It also introduces you to a wide range of new students and teachers and opinions, and allows you to pinpoint your interests. Attending college teaches you independent living, brings you new friendships and relationships and broadens your horizons. The cost is a separate consideration. Student loans are a pain and you can never get rid of government loans, (like death and taxes). But you should try very hard to go to college.Do your research on possible schools, pick one that will match your personality, factor in the cost, and then work on the financing, the best way you can. You can always work while in school, too.
Where you go to college, as long as it’s accredited, doesn’t matter as much as what you want to get out of it. Basically, even if you want to work at Micky D’s after you graduate, your perspective will be entirely different and your options much greater.