Remember all the drama - finding a summer job?

[Pegasus]

I made my DD quit her job today.  She worked so hard at the end of spring term to find a summer job. She finally got one and was very upfront about being a college student and having limited hours available once the school term started back.  Well, they continue to be short handed and kept scheduling her for too many hours, not giving her the one weekend day off per week she requested to study, and even scheduling her during class time.

 

DD was really stressing over getting her coursework completed to her normal standards and no matter how many times I told her that her studies come first, she couldn't bring herself to let her co-workers and supervisor down. So, the job had to go.  She had the conversation with her supervisor today and will finish out the next week. Her last day will be next Saturday.

 

She is already feeling calmer, currently curled up on the sofa with a textbook, sharing tidbits of art history with other family members.

 

 

[emzhengjiu]

Studies come first!  Are there any work-study positions on campus that would have flexible hours?   I hope she finds something that allows her to work and study.

[Harriet Vane]

Unfortunately in minimum wage jobs, the company tends to think they own the staff. They schedule as they please with little regard for the life their employees lead.

 

(Yes, there are good managers out there too. And I know managers struggle to find good help. Unhappiness exists on both sides. But it is quite true that minimum wage jobs often come with unreasonable intrusions and a distinct lack of regard for the employee's life.)

[teachermom2834]

Even good managers need to be kept in check sometimes. Seems they will more often than not keep pushing the limits. My 16 yo ds went to work today ready to quit if required to work over to cover a sick co-worker. He has sweet owners/manager and reminded them how much he had already worked this week and that he was still in high school. The manager actually came in to cover for the sick kid and it worked out OK.

 

His employers are great but will still push the limits. It was stressful for ds to go into work not knowing how it would work out.

[hillfarm]

My dd had to quit a job due to similar circumstances. She worked at the local Kroger grocery store. Although she provided correct availability information for their computer system on three separate occasions, they could not accept that her dual enrollment class schedule was not the same as that of the local high school students. They kept scheduling her to work based on times when the high schoolers would be available, totally ignoring the fact that she had a 4:30 class 4 days a week. When she would tell them that she had been scheduled in error, their response was always that it was her responsibility to find someone to replace her. Each time she went back in to the computer system, with her supervisor watching, and reentered her hours of availability. And each time, I later got a call here at home, wondering why she had not reported in to work for her shift.

 

I finally had enough and told her to quit. Then I called the manager and explained in no uncertain terms that it would have been illegal for her to work the hours they kept trying to force her to work and that it certainly was not the responsibility of a 16 yo girl to solve their scheduling problems. It was a very good thing that I was busy that week and couldn't go in person to have the conversation, or a good bit more would have been said.

[KathyBC]

It seems like chronic understaffing leads to more understaffing as people quit to avoid being overworked. It's sad. I'm not sure how to inspire employers to seek more part-time staff; maybe it's harder than it looks. But it certainly can be a vicious cycle.

[Pegasus]

Studies come first!  Are there any work-study positions on campus that would have flexible hours?   I hope she finds something that allows her to work and study.

 

I agree completely.  DD applied for every on campus student job that showed up on their system last year.  She interviewed for a couple of them but wasn't offered a position. It's a small campus and I suspect they prefer to give the few jobs to students with more financial need.  I did encourage her to let each of her instructors know that she was interested in a campus job but she did not follow up on that brilliant advice. :closedeyes:

 

Unfortunately in minimum wage jobs, the company tends to think they own the staff. They schedule as they please with little regard for the life their employees lead.

 

True.  Short sighted in my opinion, but what do I know.

 

His employers are great but will still push the limits. It was stressful for ds to go into work not knowing how it would work out.

 

Exactly.  The stress was getting to be too much for DD. She liked the job fine, but dreaded the continuing battle about her scheduled hours.

 

My dd had to quit a job due to similar circumstances. She worked at the local Kroger grocery store. Although she provided correct availability information for their computer system

 

I finally had enough and told her to quit. Then I called the manager and explained in no uncertain terms that it would have been illegal for her to work the hours .

 

Amazing!  DD's job is at Kroger.  Not an isolated management philosophy, I guess. DD is 19 so I was really pushing for her to handle things herself. I did call in for her once when she was genuinely sick because the supervisor was known for insisting that co-workers come in anyway when they were sick.  They worked at the DELI!  Ugh.  Sounds like a health violation to me. Anyway, he didn't even try to pull any nonsense like that on me which tells me they take advantage of the young/desperate when they can.

 

It seems like chronic understaffing leads to more understaffing as people quit to avoid being overworked. It's sad. I'm not sure how to inspire employers to seek more part-time staff; maybe it's harder than it looks. But it certainly can be a vicious cycle.

 

Exactly.  DD's co-workers who have been there longer say she isn't the first college student to be driven away by the scheduling nonsense.

 

DD has an 8-hour shift today.  They are having a "taste of Italy" theme this week and have colorful hats and aprons for employees who will wear them, which is few according to DD.  She is going to have fun with it for her last few shifts. 

[teachermom2834]

We live in a state with no limit on number of hours teens can work. When I was in high school I remember there was a limit of 28 hours students could work per week during the school year. I went to look up the law thinking surely he couldn't legally work as much as he was asked to but I was wrong. No limit for 16 year olds.

Edited September 18, 2016 by teachermom2834

[Rebel Yell]

I once worked a job where the manager didn't understand that "weekend" was Sat/Sun and weekdays were Mon-Fri. I said I could work after 7pm on weekdays, and anytime on weekends. He kept scheduling me at 4:00 on Fridays. 🙄 When I told him my classes did not end until 5:00 and the bus did not get me home until 6:45 he actually asked me what was more important, school or my job.

 

Seriously!

 

I informed him that I went to school so I wouldn't have to work in a restaurant forever, not to keep me busy when I wasn't working.

 

And even without having an degree in restaurant management I somehow figured out that if he would just not schedule me before 4 on Fridays we wouldn't have the weekly problem of figuring out who to switch shifts with and maybe he should try that. 🙄

[G5052]

This was (and is) a big concern of mine with my DC. Here it is also the horrible hours for the college kids.

 

The bakeries seem to schedule their college kids either early, early when they doing a lot of their baking or late at night cleaning up.

 

The conference center sometimes keeps their college banquet servers until 2am.

 

Some of my DC's friends working at the grocery stores end up with double Saturday shifts when people call in sick. One routinely works 14 hours on a Saturday.

 

I told mine that they need to work fairly normal hours and only for employers that will listen to their scheduling requests.

 

DS is working at the gym, and thankfully they're very reasonable. They've never scheduled him for a time when he has class, and their student hours are 5-10pm during the week and Saturday/Sunday noon-5. Usually it's 10-15 hours a week. One time they had a major water leak and had everybody stay late to move equipment and clean up, but that has only happened once.