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Original poster

To think if you are that short of staff you should employ 15year olds?

261 replies

SunsetandCupcakes · 17/07/2021 18:19

I'm not that old, still old but in the v late 90s I had a job in the kitchens, my brother had a job selling ice creams at 14.
Catering near me is struggling to fill vacancies, it's the summer in a holiday town, two kiosks have had to close as no staff and yet my 15 year old isn't allowed to work.
How can working be more detrimental than sat at home on the PS4, we've ended up with a funny view on teenagers

OP posts:
Secondbellini · 17/07/2021 20:31

I don’t think under 16’s should be at work outside the home, apart from in very exceptional circumstances. They should focus on school.

Sparklingbrook · 17/07/2021 20:33

Some 15 year olds are incapable. But if places only take 16+ then there's not much you can do about that.

Bargebill19 · 17/07/2021 20:33

Are any of his friends working? If so, maybe they know if there is any hours going at their place of work.

Original poster
SunsetandCupcakes · 17/07/2021 20:40

@roarrlikeadinosaur

To be fair to the OP there is no way that anyone I know would let a 15 year old, boy or girl, babysit.

I was asking genuinely though OP. I get that it’s difficult if you’re short of funds but I think I’d be looking to increase my hours rather than ask my teen to do it. I get that’s easier said than done though.

I know MN think people should just upskill, or take more hours, because obviously the poverty is the fault of laziness ,but the reality is so far away. Thankfully my son realises that the reason I can't fund his social life is not because I do not care or do not try. I fucking break my balls to give him everything he needs I find your lack of understanding mind-blowing. Please go bed tonight and really feel the blessing of your life.
OP posts:
Original poster
SunsetandCupcakes · 17/07/2021 20:42

But those incapable 15 year old will be incapable 16 year olds.

I get what you are saying it just seems a shame.

OP posts:
roarrlikeadinosaur · 17/07/2021 20:42

That’s not what I said and you’re just being rude.

The law is what it is. And he’s got the rest of his life to work.

Sparklingbrook · 17/07/2021 20:47

@SunsetandCupcakes

But those incapable 15 year old will be incapable 16 year olds.

I get what you are saying it just seems a shame.

I think teenagers mature at different rates TBH. Some are immature and incapable, but lots aren't.

It is a shame if you thinks yours is capable and ready for a PT job but businesses want 16+. DS was applying when he was 15 and they all wanted to know when he was 16.

Original poster
SunsetandCupcakes · 17/07/2021 20:48

Roar you said I get that it’s difficult if you’re short of funds but I think I’d be looking to increase my hours rather than ask my teen to do it if I was rude it was because you were insensitive. I work hard to give him what he needs, he wants to earn so he can have what he wants. Yes he has a lifetime to earn but that is little comfort when he is left out because he had no money for the cinema/bowling/paintball/waterpark.

OP posts:
roarrlikeadinosaur · 17/07/2021 20:50

I didn’t once say or infer that you weren’t working hard, in fact I explicitly said that I get that it is far easier said than done.

But I do think it’s unreasonable for a fifteen year old to be having to get a job. That’s no criticism of you. It’s just I do believe the law is there to protect children. As sparkling has said it’s frustrating it you think yours is capable but I don’t really know what you want.

And I’ve worked two jobs myself in the past, it’s sucks, but sometimes needs must and all that.

gardeninggirl68 · 17/07/2021 20:52

He's too young op

I have 2 16 year old lads on my team. They are hard work as I have to rota around school/college and their extra curricular sports!

They can't do overtime
Cant train on equip as they only work weekends/eves and are incapable anyway
Need showing,explaining,show,explan.... it's tedious
They have no confidence with difficult customers

Never again. Sorry

HunterHearstHelmsley · 17/07/2021 20:53

I had my first shop job in 2002 when I was 16. I remember waiting for my 16th birthday so I could start applying so it's not a new thing.

Ragwort · 17/07/2021 20:54

Paper round? My DS did a paper round (on foot) at age 13 ... are those still available?

I totally agree with you OP that it is is a real shame that 14/15 year olds don't have the same work opportunities that we had at that age .... but that is the Law, we can't do anything about it.

Em8725 · 17/07/2021 20:59

We have strict rules and regulations to follow. Including obtaining permits, and no late nights. That’s absolutely no good to me in a restaurant that opens at 5pm and closes its doors after midnight. I can’t get the children to work during my busiest period because it’s against the law. I think 15 is too young for a restaurant but in a pub as a glass collector might not be too bad.

Sparklingbrook · 17/07/2021 21:01

@Ragwort

Paper round? My DS did a paper round (on foot) at age 13 ... are those still available?

I totally agree with you OP that it is is a real shame that 14/15 year olds don't have the same work opportunities that we had at that age .... but that is the Law, we can't do anything about it.

Yes DS2 did a local paper (weekly) round. Basic pay plus extra for leaflets. Not brilliant pay but gave him so extra money he felt he'd earned.
thinkingaboutLangCleg · 17/07/2021 21:02

I agree, Sunset. I was delighted to have my own (tiny) income at 15, working Saturdays in a shop. I loved being part of the adult world too. There was nothing exploitative going on.

gillysSong · 17/07/2021 21:02

16 used to be the end of compulsory education.
Now it's 18 so they are presumed children at 16.
Safeguarding, insurance and only employable for a few hours a week, doesn't make a teen a good prospect.
I have one as well, in the end she started cleaning for friends and family. Nobody we dont know, she's 17 and making more than friends doing 2x4 hour shifts in hospitality. They all provide their own cleaning products too. Grin

Ozanj · 17/07/2021 21:07

I’m probably the same age as OP and by 14 I was working a few hours each week at a nursery. My job was to set up at the beginning of the day, and tidy up at the end because a nursery practitioner was seen as too valuable to waste her time on that. Something like that is now just part of the job.

Kanaloa · 17/07/2021 21:08

@roarrlikeadinosaur

You wouldn’t let a 15 year old babysit? How old would you expect a babysitter to be, just out of curiosity?

Things seem so much more expensive nowadays. When I was a preteen/young teen I spent a lot of my time going round the estate with friends, friends houses, just hanging out. Nowadays it all seems to be going to Nando’s, cinema, theme parks etc, which would have been a big treat to me rather than an everyday occurrence. If your son is almost 16 it might be worth looking at McDonald’s for when he is 16? My sister worked there at that age, said it was fab and very flexible around sixth form.

roarrlikeadinosaur · 17/07/2021 21:11

I don’t know to be honest kanaloa. I probably would hesitate to use one so young, though. It might be different if he or she was known well by our family. But I’m not sure people use babysitters as they once did, really - perhaps they do but I don’t personally know of it.

The problem is while I massively sympathise with the OP, any work he has may well impact on his GCSEs next year, unless he’s a late july / august born boy who is 16 in a few weeks, so I think he might be better hanging on.

Paper round is a good suggestion?

GrasssInPocket · 17/07/2021 21:18

These days it's usually insurance that's the issue. The employers wouldn't be covered in the event of a claim in which the under-age employee was involved. It makes it very difficult for summer-born kids trying to build up essential (and usually unpaid) work experience to apply for highly competitive university courses such as veterinary medicine. Insurance is often given as the reason for refusal.

Oblomov21 · 17/07/2021 21:25

Interesting. Ds1 has never had any trouble getting jobs:
Fish and chip shop, top golf, then admittedly now 17 at Sainsbury's and screwfix.

mogsrus · 17/07/2021 21:33

1hour break every 4 hours= awkward

ChrissyPlummer · 17/07/2021 21:35

@AlexaShutUp I take your point but the state didn’t support us. My parents both worked, my DF in a lower paid job than he’d previously had due to redundancy and my DM part time as, she hadn’t worked since I was born. There was no safety net available back then, just Family Allowance.

It was made clear to me that if I wanted/needed money I needed to go and earn it, unfortunately for me, in a job of their choosing. I’d rather have been ‘exploited’ in a better paid role, working indoors with regular hours that would have given me money to go into town with my friends and buy bits of make up and stuff from the Body Shop. I remember being insanely jealous that my friend who waitressed managed to buy two lipsticks from Boots!

theheartofthematter · 17/07/2021 21:42

I find it funny that they can't employ under 16 because of the regulations about breaks etc. I live in a seaside town and my daughter works on our pier. She is 16 and regularly works 8 hour days with no break or up to 10 hour days. They do not give 2 shits about the regulations really because they know they can always replace staff with the next gullible 16 year old!

theheartofthematter · 17/07/2021 21:44

Also my daughter is left on her own to work and supervises others, sending the team in breaks etc but can't be paid as a supervisor until she is 18🙄