Teens for Hire

When teenagers are in desperate need of a first job, we usually choose anything that seems convenient or easy. Fast food restaurants do the same. They choose teenagers with no experience to work for them rather than adults who had previous jobs because they are easier to control. Teens take a first or part time job usually to start paying for things they want such a a car or clothes, and they put making money before school which tends to back fire on them.

On page 78 from Fast Food Nations chapter "Behind the Counter", Schlosser says "As more and more kids work to get their own wheels, fewer participate in after school activities. They stay at their jobs late into the night, neglect their homework, and come to school exhausted." Teens are beginning to put work before school which effects their school work and may cause them not to graduate. Having a job but not being able to graduate high school have a big effect on your life. If you plan on getting a new and better paying job later in life, they see that you either dropped out of high school to work or couldnt graduate and will not hire you. Some places such as fast food chains or retail stores tend to over work teens because they know the teens will not say no. Since teens usually get bored at work, they tend to become interested in negative or illegal activity.

From previous experiences, I worked at my first job at a dance theater as an usher when I was in my senior year of high school for 8 months. I didnt have to work for a lot of hours but when I did work, it was at night during show times. Shows would start at 7 and would end between 10 and 1030 and by the time i would get home it would be 12. Sometimes they would ask me to stay a half hour later and I would say yes because I knew I would get paid more. Then I had to get home, finish homework get ready for school and had about 5 hours asleep. Even though there wasnt alot I had to do, I still felt tired. Sometimes I wouldnt do my homework just because I didnt want to stay up an extra hour and it began to effect my grades even more than they were already.

I cant imagine working more than just the little I did and having to maintain good grades in school, so I guess people dropping out or not graduating high school is one of the effects of this. Teens who are over worked especially by fast food chains are effected more becuase of demanding hours. Us teens usually dont say no to the amount of hours we need to work knowing well be able to have our own money and rather let it effect our school work. Learning to balnce out the two could be helpful but if work begins to overwork and tire you and effect your school work, you should look for a job that is not as demanding. Any pay would still be better than no pay!