DD making her own way home from a bar job in the city centre.

They definitely do

Bar work at that age is the absolute best. It’s likely the type of part time work she’ll find at Uni too. The life and people skills she’ll gain will be amazing, OP! Sadly we can’t protect them from everything; when I did bar work frequently at weekends a few of us would all get home together. I became great, great friends with some of the staff and we’d go out together, get back to each others houses, etc.

Hmm my DS student accomodation was not near the city centre. He had a nightclub job. However he can drive

Can she cycle or get a licence to have a scooter?

My son is 21 but was 20 last summer. He had a very similar job with late finishes. He found that he could either stay at work until just before the hourly bus or go to the 24 hour McDonald’s near the bus stop. There’s also a licensed trade bar for hospitality workers in our city that’s near the bus stop so another safe place to wait. If there are options like this then she’ll be ok.

I worked in clubs during my twenties and at the end of the night the club organised taxis for staff to get home, there was a duty of care to ensure we all got home safe. That was in the 90s.

her interviewer did ask if she could finish at midnight on a weekday and DD rightly said no

She probably isn't going to get the job anyway then, there will be plenty who interviewed and said yes to midnight finishes. What is the point in a member of bar staff who leave a couple of hours before close/clearup

Depends on her degree?
I worked about 20 hours a week as a student but I only had 6 contact hours so could fit everything else (reading, essays, going out) in as and when. Also none of my lectures were at 9am!

If shes in uni she will probably be in accommodation much closer to the city centre than a 50 minute journey.

Getting in at 2.20am then getting up at 11 is a bit different to getting up at 7 for school, being there until 3.30, rushing to change, eat, and get into town by 6 (let alone squeeze in some homework), work an 8 hr shift until 2am, get home after 3am, then get up at 7am again for school....most adults don't do 20hr days with 2 "jobs".
Even with weekend shifts Saturday would be her only completely "free" day - she'd still have school before or after on Fri or Sun.

She’s an adult. How do you think other adults get home from night jobs?

You’re being ridiculous and infantilising. You cannot and should not be forbidding a legal adult to make her own way home from her own paid job.

How do you imagine uni students her age get around?

Do people who say this have any idea of

1 - how much taxis cost?
a 40-50 minute uber ride with the late night and surge pricing - you're talking about £60plus at least, that's if you get someone willing to go out that far- they don't get paid for the return journey so most drivers would prefer to be doing more frequent shorter journeys at peak club kicking out time, not basically writing themselves off for nearly 2 hours.

2- how much bar staff get paid?
As an 18 year old minimum wage is £8.60 - a six hour shift would be £51.60

The taxi could very well cost MORE than her entire shift (bear in mind bus fare there too) - thus rendering the job pointless.

I assume "your daughter and friends" are either very wealthy, live much closer to where they go out than OPs Dd or get sole ubers very rarely, not after every shift. So not really helpful or relevant in these specific circumstances.

She could cycle, its quick and streets would be quiet

I do think it would start to affect her motivation and energy levels during the week too.
How do you think that'll work once she's away at uni? that there will be no late nights out at the weekend?
I am as always amazed at the naïveté of parents on MN, she's an adult and needs to be treated as such.

Get her a rape alarm but let her do it.

I think often 'valuable life skills' in these situations means dodging weirdos. At 18 my friends and I had enough trouble dodging weirdos in daylight hours let alone at night on our own by potentially drunk men at a bus stop. There is no way I would be encouraging such a job as I think it sounds terrifying but then I'm a but of a homebody these days and being out at night isn't something I enjoy. Not sure what the answer is but ideally another job during daylight hours would surely be preferable even on reduced pay.

How will she get home at 10pm on week nights?
Is there the option of a taxi? Some places have staff rates or Uber might not be too expensive.

I think you need to look for ways she can give this a go. With it being Wetherspoons there might be the option to move to her uni one when she leaves home which might help her settle there too.

Get a moped/125cc motorcycle. All you need to do is to take the cbt course which is one day, then you can ride on L plates for a set period before even worrying about the full test. Bikes are far cheaper than cars but ensure that if she goes down this route she has proper gear (not plain black either, being visible is key but not feminine looking), a back protector in her jacket and a helmet rated well, ideally with a gold race standard sticker rather than a cheaper moped helmet. You can even get electric ones now.

Moped?

dd did this
how far to bus stop and work/home

i agree you could meet her off the bus as it is only once a week

100% agree. Poor kid. You should be happy she wants to work.

This is par for the course in these kind of jobs. My DD did it for years and it taught her valuable life skills.

I did it at that age, as did a lot of my friends. I don't see any problem with it.

@Theteenagerera would the job be on school nights at all? If so it would be a hard no from me. I'm sure there are teens out there who financially support their families by working during the night, but that doesn't sound like the case here, and I wouldn't want my DD to jeopardise her Alevels so she could have some spending money.

You are right OP, her going out with a group of friends till 2 am is a very different situation which is why many groups of young women have strict rules about sticking together. She will be leaving work on her own, to wait for a night bus for the 45 minute journey home and then of course have to make her way from the bus, when anyone else on the bus has seen she is alone, to home.

I wouldn't want to do that myself two or three nights a week on a regular basis.

Is she likely to dig her heals in if you talk about the risks for what is likely to be minimum wage? Would she stick it out so as not to lose face if she did find the journey home difficult?

I don't actually believe most of these posters who think you are being ridiculous. I don't believe for one minute they are all out at 2am wandering the streets or waiting for buses on their own. The only time I've ever seen young women alone at that time of night is on CCTV footage on true crime programmes and I'm quite often out at that time.

I’m presuming that they would live closer to the city centre as most students do when they live away from home and attend uni and in that case then they could walk or get a taxi.

I pick my daughter up!