AIBU to suggest my child quits a zero-hours fast food job?

[ShouldHeQuit]

My young adult child has worked a job with a well known fast food chain for a year.
its a zero hours contract and despite requesting full time hours they have never been given more than 12 hours in a week.
Most weeks it’s between 2 and 6 hours, frequently no shifts at all in a week!
The majority of the shifts are 2 or 3 hours long. We live 10 miles from the workplace and due to public transport finishing early (rural location)it means me having to drive them there then collect later so driving 40 miles for 2 hours minimum wage.
The job satisfaction is shit as well, the people they work with are a not very nice bunch and are drinking pals so look after each other. My child’s mental health is quite bad partly due to this.
They are applying for numerous other jobs but with no joy, don’t even get a rejection just ghosted which seems to be the norm nowadays
Would they be unreasonable to quit the job and claim JSA? Can you even claim JSA if you quit?
YABU don’t quit
YANBU quit

And the moaning about smoking by the door? What's that then?

And why was your kid telling the manager what they need to do? Not their pjace

Of course the child can 'afford' to quit. On an average week they get 2hrs work, so about £21. Mum drives 40 miles to make it happen, so 40 miles worth of 45p per mile 'going rate' for expenses today and the cost of fuel and wear on tear on her car is £18.

If mum gave that 18 pounds to her child upfront, the only discernable benefit of 'working' is £3 and a reference that makes absolutely no difference to the next employer... The £3 is only a 'profit' if mums time for driving the 40 miles is free. Otherwise, the 'job' is a net loss for the family as a whole as it engages 2 adults, fuel, wear and tear on a car, for £21.

This is a no brainier. Quit. Immediately.

For those banging on about JSA, that's peanuts for younger people with no responsibilities etc. Without having a car, being a driver, being mentally well, any of these part-time zero hours contracts are pie in the sky without heavy reliance on another adult for free (mum).

This avenue doesn't work. Time to try something else.

You say 'manager'.

The fast food places I know, the 'managers' are the children of the franchise owners, straight out of school or uni, 18 or 21. Hardly experienced adults to look up to, fluent in employment legislation...

It's rife with bullies. I think McDonald's has just been battered after an undercover operation and court cases revealed repeated sexual harassment of younger workers by managers...

I use the term 'managers' loosely....

How would she be able to claim benefits by ending her employment. I thought if you make yourself unemployed you cant claim benefits.

"my mum lost her driving license. There is no public transport. I live 20 miles away each way. I can't get to work."

Done

There will be a sanction, but they will eventually be paid.
And if they have a good reason to leave a job, then a sanction might not apply anyway.

It doesn't sound like a workable job for someone without transport living 10 miles away, never mind anything else. Maybe sorting out their own transport (bike or car) is the first thing DC needs to do before seeking work.

I think unfortunately its quite a modern thing to use it lightly. People use the term to mean that they feel so intensely about something or are upset about something and its expressed that way

MH practitioners will often talk about this being behavioural rather than a MH condition in itself such as depression.

Its hard to hear someone say it but its fairly unusual that being pissed off and frustrated in a job leads to someone actually planning to end their life.

I get what you mean, but someone expressing suicidal intent (even if they wont do it) should still be listened to.
Whether it is genuine or not, talking and feeling that way about a job means they need to leave. Feeling suicidal, or talking about it, is a not a normal part of hating a job.
I have been there. I just got told to put up with it as "everyone hated their job", and just "dealt with it". No one believed how bad I was feeling... I was also told I was not resilient etc. I ended up making an attempt and was sectioned.

DS 19 works at a bakery. He does 10 til 6pm 5 days a week via a job agency. The site manager said he's welcome to work Saturday and Sunday too. He turned them down. He wants to enjoy a bit of life in the summer before college starts again next month.

They're desperate for staff where he is. He doesn't have a problem getting full time hours.

Listened to, yes

Do they need to act on it, debatable

If it isnt this job, it will be something else

Someone that feels so extreme that they express that feeling by saying this, without experiencing a major depressive episode, is likely to use this method to manage their feelings about anything they find awkward or uncomfortable.

They obviously need to have help with their emotional regulation.

DS will come home with boxes of cakes that didn't quite make it out to the shops aswell. I suggest looking into a bakery or biscuit factory for your DC OP as they are absolutely desperate for staff. Working in a factory has some advantages.

Well, I do agree with you on the point about needing help with emotional regulation.
But insisting they stay in a job that is causing them to dysregulate is not the answer either.

The OP and her child live in the countryside. Rural. No factories, mostly sheep, hedges and grass.

Large bakeries employing people don't exist in the middle of nowhere.

Half if not more of the oroblem here is the family home isolation, lack of a car and independence of child, reliance on mother and lots of mileage for almost no wage...

If only bakeries and free cakes were the answers to all our problems :)

Young people just don't get it, do they? They are competing against people from the emerging nations, people who want to work and who are prepared to work hard. Nobody wants your snowflake DC.

OP's "snowflake" child is expressing thoughts of suicide.

I really hope you don't have kids that could potentially go through the same.

Employers just don't get it do they? Employing someone for two hours one week then no hours the next doesn't inspire employee loyalty. Nobody wants their Mcjobs.

Yep, it is a piss take.
I bet if OP's kid had proper decent hours... like a full time job, and one where their superiors were not treating them like shite... they would be happy to stay there.

Are you serious? Somebody is contemplating suicide because they can't hack a job in McDos.? I have 2 kids, one is a dentist and one sets up call centres in Spain or somewhere like that. I gave them good genes. That's about it, really. I have exceptionally intelligent grand children as well.

Have a medal 🏅
Because I am not sure what you were seeking from that other than "look at my awesome life and my awesome kids who dare not work in fast food and feel bad about it".

My life is the most awesome life that anyone has ever lived. My children have benefited from the awesome genes that I have bestowed upon them. That is reality. You can slag me off as much as you like. It changes nothing.

Lucky you. I hope that luck does not run out

Donald , is that you ?

I think some people are willfully ignorant how difficult it is for a lot of young people to get a job. And if they get a zero hours job ....they get eg 4 hours a week because thats all thats available to them not because they are lazy/a snowflake etc
DD says all her colleagues want more shifts....she does too, but the managers say there are no more hours....
One day she woke up at 8.30 to find they had sent a message at 6am to ask if anyone wanted an 8-12 shift or a 9-1 shift....which she would have done if she knew about it the day before...

Yep, they are also expected to be on call, in case they need to cover a shift.
People used to be paid extra for that as it was classed as on call and overtime.
Now, they are just expected to be available for no extra whatsoever.