Teens and Jobs.....

[yoopermom]

Shop has a pretty decent reputation for treating it's employees well. The one by us has very little turnover.

It's hard enough to get a job, best for her to tough it out for the month til school starts.

Terri

 

[Ceila]

Are we heading for that rare occurrence - unanimous agreement on a Dis thread??

I'm with everyone else - she should stick it out. As another poster mentioned, getting trained on cashier is usually a compliment. While it isn't unusual around here for grocery stores to have 16-year-olds on that duty, they typically start as baggers or on stock and get transferred once they've shown that they are responsible.

To help her feel better, I would encourage her to plan something fun to do with her first paycheck - shopping at the mall, getting a pedicure, going to a movie with a friend, etc. We all need that carrot at the end of the stick!!

 

[Tiggeroo]

cashier is considered a better job than stock. I would tell her to stick it out for July. Then give her the option of giving two weeks notice. This way she will already have a pay check or two and might be less willing to leave. But also make sure nothing is really wrong there, such as a pig mgr. or something saying rude things to her.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Most retailers around here start everyone with cashier training before they start training in their primary job.
This allows us to pull people from other locations to ring if it gets busy. And in my place, it allows workers in other departments a chance to get extra hours by picking up open cashier shifts on their days off.
I'd tell your DD to give it a week to see if they are just cross training her. And if it looks like they are keeping her as a cashier permanently she can start looking for another job.
My deal with my sons is that if they hate a job, they can quit after they find another job, I don't want them to get their minds set that they can quit at the first sign of unhappiness and mom will support them financially. I also want them to work retail for a while. And hopefully if they hate it that will spur them to get advanced degrees in their field and stay away from retail for life.

 

[Pembo]

I have one ds at the local grocery store, he is a cashier/carts/bagger and the other ds is a cashier at Target. The lesson they are both learning is they don't want to work retail forever. For every job there are parts you love and parts you don't - that's life. Hope your dd is able to appreciate this job and enjoy the rewards of a paycheck.

 

[HM]

My daughter's boyfriend is in his third summer without a job. He's 18 turning 19 soon.

 

[slo]

When I had my store I hired teenagers all the time.
All of them, each and every one of them, regardless of how smart they were, regardless of how good they were in math, were always scared to death about handling money and making change for people.
I understood, because the business type I owned I started in at 16yrs old (for someone else), and I remember these fears.
I would work with these kids to get them comfortable with money, because it's an important part of life.
After a few days and me creating different money transaction scenerios, they became comfortable with money.

Ask your daughter if making change scares her.
Ask her if handling other people's money scares her.
Ask her if she gives out the wrong amount of money, if she's scared she'll get in trouble by her employer.
There's many reasons why these kids are scared - the quicker you find out what it is, the quicker you can help her over come it.

As others said......have her stick with it.
She needs to give this job a chance.

 

[sam_gordon]

I had to laugh when I read the OP. My 17yo DD got her first job just over a month ago at Little Ceasars. She took a week off in June to go on an already planned mission trip with her church youth group. She's been allowed days off to go on college visits. She usually has two days off a week, but not always consecutive. On Sunday (after finding out her scheduled had been changed for this week) she was complaining because she "needs a break".

I should also mention her shift is 3pm to close (usually 10 or 11), so she gets to sleep in and has her mornings/early afternoon to herself. Of course, all she talked about the last year or so was how she couldn't find a job. Now that she has one (for a month), she's ready "for a break". lol.

 

[Mkrop]

I am in the suck it up buttercup camp. It is a job, if she wants spending money than she needs to work it out. I would ask what is the problem and talk to her about her fears but also have her confront them. I have told my son that if he hates a job he can quit but he needs another one lined up. I am not paying for everything since he has a car, wants to drive and wants to go out. School comes first but he can manage, especially a summer gig( and he has TONS of AP work but he can still work). DS17 is a dishwasher at a retreat house. He doesnt like it but it pays for his stuff and they are very flexible. I told him he is welcome to find another job, he just needs to find one that works with family vacations, college visits, school work, sports and play practice. This one does. Until he finds one that works with his crazy schedule, he can deal with being a dishwasher.

 

[MomofKatie]

Stick it out!! DD has not been able to have a paying job yet- she is 16, but goes to a boarding HS during the school year and doesn't have time to work or the means to get to a job. This summer, she is doing an unpaid internship in a chemistry lab at UNC. Great experience and great on her college applications, but no $$.

Most teens around here have a tough time finding work, especially just for the summer. OP's child is lucky to be working at all. Cross training is common- have her hang in there and she will adjust.

 

[scrapquitler]

I think she should stick it out for the summer. They may very well rotate duties and she could mention she would like to stock if anything opens up in the future. If she is still unhappy near the end of summer, she has the perfect reason to give her two weeks notice....saying school is starting and she has a heavy class load. If she does a good job, she is able to leave with her first good job reference! Good luck to your DD

I agree with this.

I also told my daughter: "Hey, we've all had crappy jobs that we've hated. It's part of learning what you want to do for real later, and will give you a greater appreciation of what a good job is when you get that one that makes you happy" Retail is a hell that everyone should experience at some point, if for nothing else than to make you a nicer customer later.

 

[morgan98]

She does need to stick it out. I work in an industry that hires MANY new college grads every year and so many don't make it past the first 3-4 years (CPA firm).

We currently have 13 interns from various universities and we have already had a couple complain that they may not have liked a particular assignment. The sooner they get used to the fact that jobs are not glamorous fun all the time, the better. These internships pay $25/hr by the way.

And, I will probably get flamed for saying this, this issue with complaining has been escalating over the past few years. This is part of the new workforce. There are articles everywhere about this topic. Please help your daughter become one who flies under the radar at least in terms of being a complainer.

 

[Mkrop]

She does need to stick it out. I work in an industry that hires MANY new college grads every year and so many don't make it past the first 3-4 years (CPA firm).

We currently have 13 interns from various universities and we have already had a couple complain that they may not have liked a particular assignment. The sooner they get used to the fact that jobs are not glamorous fun all the time, the better. These internships pay $25/hr by the way.

And, I will probably get flamed for saying this, this issue with complaining has been escalating over the past few years. This is part of the new workforce. There are articles everywhere about this topic. Please help your daughter become one who flies under the radar at least in terms of being a complainer.

I always tell mine to complain here at home, DO NOT complain there ever! and all jobs have "job duties as assigned" usually on the job description so yes they can ask you do most anything that isnt immoral or illegal. And you are the bottom of the totem pole so you need to pay your dues by doing the grunt work.

 

[soccerdad72]

I think she should quit.



























































Nah, not really - just wanted to be different.

 

[bjscheel]

First days are hard, but she definitely should keep trying. A PP mentioned doing something fun with her first paycheck...when my mom convinced me to work as a nurse aid at the nursing home where she was DON, I got to spend my first whole paycheck at Maurices, my favorite store. It was a good motivator.

I did kind of hate that job- it was tough! Super early mornings, poopy messes, heavy lifting, learning the daily routine for more than 50 residents, dealing with Alzheimers and diabetics, etc. I can't imagine my teens working there now! But I did continue to work there in various capacities from ages 15 to 21.

I have to say I did quit two jobs after the first day as a teen. One was at a friend's parents' ice cream shop/café. There was only one paying customer all evening- the rest was family coming in to mooch. My friend's mom sat at a table all night smoking and surrounded by her prescription meds. The whole thing was stupid, so I told my friend my mom needed me back at the nursing home.

The other was when I thought I wanted to try the dietary department at the nursing home. After one day I wanted to be back out on the nursing floor. Our pastor's wife wanted a job in the kitchen, so since they could replace me, they let me go.

Hope she gets to like it better soon.

 

[jt'smom]

I'm also in the suck it up camp. It's like I tell my kid, "you're a teenager, you get the crap jobs, that's just life, deal with it!" I think it's good for kids to have to deal with coming to terms with not loving everything about your workplace. Even the most wonderful, high paying career jobs suck at some point, and that's just part of working for any company, unless of course you are self-employed.

But that said, I totally understand feeling sympathy for your daughter. My kid is a busser at a yacht club, so he comes home covered in sushi, seafood and all manner of smelly sauces, and I sometimes I get so grossed out at how he stinks. This weekend, he and another busser had to clean up the floor where some drunk guy pooped in his shorts and it fell through the leg holes. Poor kid, lol!

 

[Dancind]

DD24 worked at Target at age 16, to fund half of a school trip to Europe. She actually enjoyed the cashiering, because alternately they would put her in the food court, which she hated. Once they found out she could handle the food court by herself, she was truly stuck. She really wanted to move to the Starbucks. She had to threaten to quit to get time off to go to Europe! She pretty easily got her dream job at a "real" Starbucks after that, and eventually moved on to the Apple Store. She is now training to be a mid level Applecare manager.

Tell your DD that each experience teaches her something that will lead to the next one. A summer job is especially hard to replace. This will be good training for when she wants to do the WDW CP, and is offered food service!

 

[traces7]

I agree with everything everyone said, thanks again so much! Here's an update: DD worked last night, seemed to go much better. She didn't cashier, she did more of the floor job, stocking etc. I think she was just having a bad day the other day and feeling sorry for herself. She's getting excited now about her first paycheck! So I think she'll be ok. It's all new for her, welcome to the real world right?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Great update--thanks for coming back

 

[mamamary]

My dd who is 16 got her first job the end of March. The choices were cashier or kitchen worker. She chose kitchen worker since she did not want to be a cashier so I know I would feel bad if they changed their mind and moved my dd to being a cashier. For what it's worth, about two weeks ago they had my dd learning how to make french fries. They told her they were cross training everyone. Well she hasn't been back to the fries yet so maybe your dd will move to stock. It can't hurt to ask them what is going on. And I agree with everyone else about sticking it out. I know my DD's first day of work was prob. one of her worst days and then she just got into the routine.