Pushing a rich kid to an undesirable sales job

[Anonymous]

I am a shy, timid person. When I was younger I had a couple undesirable commission based sales jobs, but I learned a lot from them. I plan to push my kids to have similar experiences. My kids are timid too. A sales job will help them overcome this fear, especially since they live very sheltered lives. Such jobs could include door to door sales, selling shoes, used cars, insurance, timeshares, vitamins, cosmetics, etc. etc.

While they will likely be unsuccessful (like me) I hope they will learn how difficult these jobs are. They will also learn that many of these people lie or stretch the truth. Aside from being too shy, I know I failed because I was too honest. I am smart and I couldn't sell something to someone that didn't need it or couldn't afford it. There was usually a cheaper alternative to what I was selling too. The experience would also hopefully motivate them in their studies so that they can find a better job that is less difficult. Aside from the lying, I value sales skills. They will need to sell themselves to their employers and to their spouse. They need to have good speaking and presentation skills.

Another possibility is that they become very good at sales. Higher level sales jobs can be rewarding. For example, pharmaceutical sales, IT sales, real estate person specializing in million dollar homes, selling legal or accounting services, etc. etc.

My kids are well off and I could shelter them from all this, but I actually want them to suffer just a bit for the learning experience.

So do you approve of my approach or should I just protect them from these types of undesirable jobs.

[Anonymous]

Maybe skip the door to door sales. Don't want them going to the door or inside the home of a crazy by themselves. But otherwise, these might be good life experiences. Another thing that would help build character and empathy for those less fortunate would be to become regularly involved in hands on charity work.

[Anonymous]

I think it is beneficial for them to have an entry level job but I don't know that there is any real benefit in it being door to door sales. Let them work in a fast food restaurant, a clothing store, a coffee shop....

If you really want them to do sales, I would still stay away from door to door. They could work in a cell phone store/booth in a mall or in any store that is really pushing a product.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Sales can be pretty harsh. How about being open to fast food and other jobs, as well. They will get most of what you want from pretty much any low-skilled job.

I would not let my kid do door to door.

[Anonymous]

The think the most important point of a job as a teen is that they get customer service experience. Learning how to deal with the general public is such an important skill to have.

[Anonymous]

I agree with a PP that your kids could get similar life lessons from jobs that are sales but not so front-line as door-to-door or commission-based. Your kids might be introverts and the sort of sales jobs that you talk about would be painful for hem. I am an introvert and avoided this sort of job. I had other jobs as a teenager (had to if I was to have any pocket change) and I learned the life lessons that have helped me find a job that I value and that fits with my introverted personality. And earns me more than pocket change! So perhaps consider your kids' personalities.

[Anonymous]

I was also a shy, sheltered, from a well-off family teen. Working part-time at Macys provided me with a lot of life lessons.

[Anonymous]

Wow, just wow. It is one thing to have kids have summer jobs but another to want them to fail at jobs to learn life lessons.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the others that your approach seems weird. Were you forced into the sales job? Do you want them to suffer like you did? In this case, I think you should figure out how to do things better than the previous generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The think the most important point of a job as a teen is that they get customer service experience. Learning how to deal with the general public is such an important skill to have.

+1
When I was a teen, I got those life lessons and skills that you wanted by being on the debate team and working fast food and retail sales jobs. Retail sales gives you a lot of those lessons without some of the inherent dangers (i.e. door-to-door crazies) and with a lower expectation of failure.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. OK I agree my approach may be extreme. I'll reevaluate my ideas. Door to door sales was just an example. I actually had that job for a couple weeks, but I agree that it is dangerous. I actually liked that one because walking was good exercise and I met some interesting people that a rich kid doesn't normally meet. I hated it because I sucked at it. I didn't sell a thing. I actually think I sold a couple things. But I suspect my unethical managers took credit for the sale and told me that the customer cancelled. Luckily I didn't really need the money, but I was sad about failing.

[Anonymous]

OP again. I wasn't forced into bad sales jobs. I was just immature and couldn't find a better job. I didn't have the confidence or skill or patience to look very hard. I was shy and my parents were the kind that were busy and didn't really know what their kids were doing. But they gave me a nice place to live in and they put food on the table.

Without guidance from parents, I'm sure many kids don't know better and they trust the first employer that hires them.

[Anonymous]

Jobs are great for teens but there are two red flags here. The first is that you want your children to do exactly what you did. Its important to recognize they aren't you. Second, if they are shy a sales job can be excruciating. It sounds like it was difficult for you but you toughed it out. Not everyone can tough it out and it could cause anxiety issues.

Tell them you want them to have a job and let them choose what kind.

[Anonymous]

Op I'm not sure I understand. Do you want your kids to work so they have a bad manager and learn from that?

I was like your children and grew up in a wealthy family. I worked part time as a junior and senior in high school, and during winter/summer break throughout college. I did so because I wanted to be independent (and nothing screams dependency like having a credit card paid by dad) and because most of my friends had jobs. I had 4 different managers in this time and none of them were distrustful or bad. Fast forward to my first job out of college, and my boss was an absolute nightmare. Short of anything illegal, he was as bad as you can get.

So I'm not really sure how you can guarantee that your kids will have a bad manager and learn from that.

[Anonymous]

I was a rich kid. My mom did all sorts of crazy schemes and made all sorts of crazy rules just so we wouldn't grow up feeling we were entitled. Drove us nuts and really made it hard to take her seriously.

However, she did some real stuff that made a lot more sense through how she lived her life. THIS made the impression. What did she do? As a family, we weren't wasteful. We lived modestly compared to our means. We children did not have big allowances or a lot of cash on hand. That worked. Artificial jobs wouldn't have done anything.