Teenagers and working , opinions please

[hahahavefun]

Your 14 yr old is given a job but only for school holidays and weekends , your child is not given a roster as to what weekends or when they are to work but are asked if there is a weekend they cant work please give 2 weeksnotice of this . If they are given the day to work but the weatner is **bleep** boss will ring and say dont come in .    Your child give notice about an upcoming family wedding and wont be available for that weekend and another family engagement 4 weeks after that . Your child then gets a phone call saying we have employed someone else so please bring the shirts back as your not reliable .   This boss will ring your child on the Friday wanting them to work a day that weekend . I dont believe this is fair are they supposed to not make any plans and sit around in hoping they might get a phone call . In my opinion the boss should be giving them a roster and if she wants 2 weeks notice if they cant work the kids should be given 2 weeks notice if they are wanted so not to make any plans .

[shoptilludroptara]

hi

i had a job like that they would call me (say monday and say come to work now)

was hard a i had 3 younger kids at the time

they assume you have nothing else to do lol

because they can get lots of workers their is not much choice if you want to keep a job

as for teenagers and working.its up to the boss how he runs things its his business

and its up to your child and you if you want him to be available or not

maybe find a job that does supply rosters and notice for them

tara

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

Life is not fair.

The boss no doubt saw a pattern of time off so early on.

If you want to work, you have to be available.

By the way, it's awesome your son is so keen to work at such a young age.  Your son obviously has a strong work ethic, and their next boss will treasure this.

Son or daughter......?

[cherry*135]

The business owner isn't doing anything wrong. Not all casuals work to a roster.

If it is a small business then the owner wouldn't want to be paying staff on a day when he doesn't really need too, if he doesn't expect many customers( which means low takings for the day).

The fast food chains do weekly rosters.. any of them near you?

[kengillard]

My grand daughter has had 2 interviews for this job...and they'll let her know this coming week.  it's only weekends ...she's 14.  hope she gets it, as it's good life training.  Teaches them lots.   not a fast food chain either thank goodness.

[**meep**]

I don't believe the employer's conditions are unreasonable.

I was thinking about my 15yo  when reading your post.  She had to inform her employer about a family's commitment which won't allow her to work, however, she has often filled in for others.

Please explain to your child that he/she should not be discouraged.   Turn this into a positive, valuable lesson.

[hahahavefun]

Its my daughter . She got the job the last Friday before the start of school holidays and was supposed to be going away to her adult cousins place for a week and they were going to take her to the Theme parks on the Goldie but given that she just got the job she had to tell her cousins she couldnt make it .

She did every shift they asked her to over the school holidays was about 11 of them so its not as if she wasnt reliable  , then she had one about 2 weeks later then heard nothing . She got a phone call to work on a sunday but was actually up in Rainbow Beach with a friend and her dad and said she didnt know what time they would get back . That was about 4 weeks ago and hadnt had any phone calls . Till the one this week asking for the shirts back .

She is off to put in a Resume at another couple of places that actually do have rosters so im hoping for her she gets something . She is keen to work and was upset at loosing this job .

[***super_nova***]

Unfortunately, that is how many employers treat their staff nowadays, and not just young kids.  That is what is called "flexible" workforce.  They expect you to be available 24/7 at couple of hours notice - at least that was the way Ansett treated their casual cabin crews in the last few years before they went bust.  I know, my daughter did it - very much against my advice.  The contract she signed was that she must be available 24/7 every day of the year at 2 hour notice.  That basically meant she would have to spend her life waiting for call; take her uniform with her if she would go out, and never go away for the weekend, and never drink alcohol, because you cannot work if you had even one drink.  After while they did allow them to block days out if they did not want to work that day, and put their names up for shifts they did want to do, and there was minimum (I think 8 hours) time they had to have off between shifts.  But sometimes she would get no shift for more than week.  She had couple of other part time flexible jobs, like doing accounts for friend's business, which could be done any time , but it was very insecure life for somebody with large mortgage.

[i-once-was-bump]

As an adult I used to do temp-ing and I would get a call at 8 am that I was needed to be somewhere by 9 am, I never knew where I would work next but I was available everyday for 6 months at a time, and I made sure I was paid well to turn up at a job with less than one hour notice.

[cherry*135]

Casualisation of the workforce.I have seen office jobs recently advt as casual. Which is not good for adults if you want to have some stability/security in your life