To be annoyed by all parents of 16-18yos

[MortifiedAdams]

Who insist on calling up their DCs place of work / potential place of work to do the following:

*Ask about job vacancies
*Ask how to apply for jobs, what the pay is, hours and holiday
*Ask how their dc did at interview / when their dc will hear back from HR
*Ask how their dc will get to work in the snow / on the bus etc
*Ring in sick for their dc
*Call in to speak to management about shifts, hours worked etc

IN short, everything a person actually IN (or applying for) the job should be doing.

Part of working is being responsible for doung this not having Mum and Dad doing it for you. And I dont even work in HR, must be worse for them!!

[Thisvehicleisreversing]

I work with an 18 yo who's mum works in the same shop but on different shifts. Whenever the 18 yo has a better offer or is hungover, her mum covers her shifts AND hands over the money she's earnt!!

Some parents

[AnAirOfHope]

I once had a mum of a 16 yo call me up and complaine that the entre exam for an apprentiship was to tough and "even her dd at uni couldnt answer the questions in the booklet". Its a national exam, the booklet was given out two months before and it had the sample questions and answers in it - you just have to read!

Yep I will change the exam because your son cant do the workbook!

[Thisvehicleisreversing]

Please ignore that random apostrophe

[BeautifulBlondePineapple]

I work with a woman who has a 17 year old daughter who has just finished a beauty course and is looking for her first job.

The mum phones up around 3 salons every day from our work asking for jobs for her daughter. Nothing has come up yet so the mum has now resorted to pretending she IS her daughter to get an interview. She puts on a "young" voice and everything.

[Misfit13]

Ah, I would have done this, I think. I won't now, tho! But he can't iron, so if I don't do his uniform, he'll look scruffy. And he doesn't spread the butter to the edges of the bread, so I have to do his lunch. Besides, he'd just take 3 bananas and a packet of biscuits if I didn't!

[meganorks]

I think sometimes its because the kids don't actually want a job and the parents are doing everything possible to make them. I used to work in a cafe in a posh area and the mums who used to spend half their life in there were always asking if there were any jobs. And when their kids turned up they were usually less than keen. I think they were wondering why they were working there when their folks were loaded!

[Lancelottie]

Oh god, I could be that parent. But DS has Asperger's. He is very capable of doing Things, but less capable of arranging to do Things. being his de facto PA is going to be a hard habit to break.

For example, yesterday he was coming out of school and spotted someone from a club he'd missed. He stood and jittered and then said 'I need to ask her about the lunchtime meeting and I don't know how to do it.'
I had to tell him to say her name to get her attention, then say 'About lunchtime-- ' and then ask the question.

You would mock, I'm sure. But in fact he's the president of the club in question, elected in by the student body, so presumably he copes rather well once he's got started.

I do worry about him though.

[mamachelle]

i didnt want to go to college after finishing school so after my last exam my mum handed me the local phone book and home phone and told me to find a job. I had a job the following week and moved out shortly after. Think she would have laughed at me if i had asked her to contact potential employers.

[Theas18]

Yup it's live the uni communications thing isn't it. It's a learning experience and your mother can't do it for you (evn if inm guilty as on a previous thread,of being a taxi service lil)

[scarlettsmummy2]

I work in youth employment- I actually really like it when parents phone up as at least it shows the young person has support at home and is more likely to engage with us. There is a line though.

[LeGavrOrf]

God how annoying of them. My dd is 17, I have never had anything to do with getting her a job and have not spoken to her employers, wouldn't do so to call in sick for her either. Kids of 16 are perfectly capable of looking for a job, completing an online application etc. Daft parents.

[thebody]

No never done this though have assisted kids with their CvS and driven them to interviews, waited in the car of course out of sight.

I imagine those parents asking re jobs have got lazy arse kids who don't want one or have lied about asking for one.

[noisytoys]

I didn't realise parents actually did this. I would be mortified if my parents did that and certainly won't be doing it for my DDs (although DH works in recruitment for a place that hires a lot of students so I would imagine at least one of them will work with him when they are older as a first job because most of the young people of the town work there at some point).

[thefuturesnotourstosee]

we once advertised an office junior job and short listed a 17 year old girl for interview - reasonable GCSE results, good covering letter, had had a couple of part time jobs.

Her mum and dad turned up to the interview with her. The mum actually came over to the reception desk to let us know her DD had arrived and her dad was there tweaking at her collar and visibly going over her CV with her. It looked like they were going follow her into the interview but thankfully SHE told them not to.

We took a gamble and she's with us 9 years later but she did have to keep her parents in line. They'd do things like turn up with packed lunches for her at reception at first

[IloveJudgeJudy]

I know when DS1 when to an interview to change schools he was the only one there without his parents! I haven't found any of his jobs for him. He found his paper round. I did tell him to call in every week so that his name would be the first they would think of when a round came up, but I didn't go into the shop for him; he went on his way home from school. He found his present job himself by going around the town with his CV.

DD is now (post GCSEs) looking to find a "Saturday" job. She needs to type up a CV. DS1 is going to help her as he's much better at that than I am. She'll go around the town herself and go on the net herself, too.

[mummymeister]

I was the manager of a father of 3. his wife rang in for him all the time. when he broke his arm and I told him he still had to come in and do some work she actually came into the office to have a meeting with me. nearly fell off my chair laughing and had absolutely no respect for him after this so I am with you all the way OP. if you are adult enough to be in employment then you are adult enough to take this responsibility. sadly though some people just never grow up.

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

I think calling in sick is OK if employee is genuinely very sick. The other things are wrong. Checking CVs and circling possible jobs in the local paper OK. Anything above this is not on.

[DizzyZebra]

Apart from the calling in sick one yanbu.
Calling in sick is understandable - my other half would do it if I'm busy throwing up or on the loo with the runs so I don't see how that's any different.

[MammaTJ]

It's often in your contract or employee handbook that you must personally call in yourself.

What if they are unconcious, or otherwise unable to ring? I ring in sick for my DP and would for teens too, for genuine illness. I drew the line at phoning in sick for my DStD when she was a lazy teen as she would ask me to because she couldn't be arsed to get out of bed.


The rest of it, I agree with. I did go with my DD when she was 14 and looking for a job and the man who employed her said it meant to him that she would be reliable as she had her parents backing.

[Bakingtins]

I was going to say you are BU for being annoyed by all parents of teens, but I think (apart from the phoning in sick) you are right.
We have endless parents phoning for work experience placements and getting all huffy when we say the young person needs to phone up, speak to the relevant person, send in a CV and come for an interview - because it's experience of applying for a job and they learn nothing if the parent does it for them.

[Burmillababe]

My place of work insists that the employee themself ring in sick, they don't allow someone to do it on their behalf! Seems fair to me!! I live alone so would have no choice. I do remember having to go to the phone box (before everyone had mobiles!) with cystitis though......

[plieadianpony]

No you are not being unresonable. Stupid parents. I would perhaps go through the paper with, or point out vacancies for dc, coach them how to make a call the first time. Do it for them? Not a bleeding chance!

(Though i'm not even there yet so it doesn't matter really!)

[MardyPants]

I am a manager and have had to deal with parents coming in to have a go at me because their precious child has been treated 'unfairly' (has been treated perfectly fairly in line with procedure / policy but has gone home crying / ranting to mummy and daddy when they can't get / don't make it clear what they want, often with false bullying accusations thrown in)

These parents are invariably INCREDIBLY rude and patronising. The employees involved have all been in the age 20-30 range!

Dear aggressive, overbearing parents - you have embarrassed yourself and your precious, perfect child and made yourself look like a dick, and the person you had a go at is now sniggering at you and thanking their lucky stars they don't have you as a parent

[zoraqueenofzeep]

I don't know whether it's a new generational thing or whether there have always been overly dependent child-adults like this but I don't remember anyone being this useless 15 years ago. I think perhaps a part of it is a mobile phone generation where many are so used to having their parents on 24 hour call that they never had to use their own initiative or learn to be properly independent and the parents never learn to let go.