Do you remember your first work experience? That glorious feeling that finally, you’ll be making your own money. And I guess, at that age, not a lot of people were thinking about what kind of job it’s going to be. By starting with waitressing, cleaning tables, washing dishes, working at a shop, carrying and lifting groceries, and other things, we all learned things like showing up on time, making sure that everything is done the way it supposes to be, taking more responsibilities, working as individual and being there for your team. For most of us, these were the first steps to learning about work ethics. No matter how things have changed throughout time, it seems that people still value people who work hard and start to take such responsibilities at a young age.
More Info: Twitter
Starting to work and earn your own money at a young age is usually very exciting for teenagers
Image credits: Kristian Lindqvist
Recently, a dad shared a Facebook post about his son starting to work at Burger King, a fast-food restaurant, being only 14 years old. He was very proud of his son, who, according to him, not only has a job, but he works every day, including weekends. He stays there from early morning until late at night. Dad says that his son’s dream is to finally save for a car and finishes his post with advice to adults “to take notes” from his son on how to be a respectable person. What at first looked like a nice appreciation post, soon turned to become a source for a massive discussion on child labor.
This Twitter user pointed out that it's not always a good idea to let your young kids work to the extent where they spend their whole free time at the job
Image credits: kittynouveau
This proud dad shares the moment when his 14 year-old son starts to work at Burger King to make his own money
Image credits: Chris Crawford
Twitter user @kittynouveau shared this post with a caption that says “god this is depressing” and soon her post became viral with 205.9k likes and 4k comments pointing out how this dad should be concerned rather than proud of how his kid is being exploited. The first thing to caught everyone’s attention was that even though the kid was supposed to work only part-time, but as stated by the parent, they were there every day, all day. What was also concerning is that the son is only 14 years old and as stated by the other social media users, he is still a kid and deserves to enjoy his youth before actually joining the workforce. Even though dad said that his son “loves every minute of it”, those who worked in such places as the service industry know how hard and nerve-racking this job could be.
As dad states that his son works there "every day", Twitter users are quite negative towards the decision to let the kid be a "slave"
Image credits: Ryancantsing
Image credits: manzirae
Image credits: gethappy12374
Knowing that the son is working every day, including weekends, sparks a debate of how "part-time" this job is
Image credits: bpsycho1
You might ask how 14-year olds can work in this industry? Well, they can. According to the law in the US, the applicants should be at least 16 years old. However, 14-15-year-olds also can be employed with a work permit. They also perform limited tasks. Bored Panda already covered a story on Burger King that was letting parents know that they would hire their 14-15-year-old kids. Once again, this matter was met with controversy, as it became a public secret that employees do not get proper salaries and work conditions.
Image credits: astr0anch0vy
Image credits: elidavistx
Image credits: rd1iemzcog54sk7
Image credits: IrateMaxwell
Of course, there would be no discussion without some people agreeing on how valuable this experience is to a young mind. But the main concern here is that there are flaws in such work industry and that young teenagers will be used rather than inspired to seek better things from early days. Maybe it is best to let kids be kids for as long as possible?
What are your thoughts on the topic? What was your first work experience? Share in the comments down below!
What are your thoughts on the topic? What was your first work experience? Share in the comments down below!
Image credits: aldristavan
Some people commented on the situation by sharing their own experience on starting to work this young
Image credits: morganeris83
Image credits: pyrrhl
Image credits: teensith
There were various opinions on whether it is a good think to allow your children to work from an early age. But it seems that to each his own
Image credits: Jezebirb
Image credits: DaddyMamu
Image credits: AugustBreak118