Teen job woes

[Anonymous]

My 17 year old volunteered at a museum (a smaller one far out, not at all one of the main DC ones) for two summers, worked for pay last summer and is working for pay again this summer. She worked about once a month during the school year this year. This summer, she's closer to full time (30-40 hours a week) and is getting extremely bored. They get school/daycare groups once or twice a week, and then it is solely walk-in customers, maybe 5 or 6 individual groups per day. That is her primary responsibility, to welcome them to the museum, take their admission, and the do "special" activity they have that requires staff assistance. The rest of the museum is self-guided. So, if she's working 6 or 7 hours a day, it's a LOT of downtime. She asks for things to do, and they'll give her a project that takes maybe 30 minutes at most, and something pretty mindless like putting price tags on merchandise or stuffing envelopes, and says she feels bad asking them if there's anything she can do because they always look busy and seem to have to come up with the things she can do. She's not had any added responsibility or enrichment since she started at the age of 14. Sometimes she brings a book or homework to do but now that it's summer, she doesn't have homework she can bring and feels bad just reading.

To add salt to the wound, they just hired a girl this past winter who's two years older than her (college sophomore) and she apparently gets to plan out all the activities, attends staff meetings, works on documents and although they're technically the same position, she has much more responsibility than DD who has been there much longer. I think that bothers DD a lot who feels like she's capable and could manage doing that kind of stuff.

So, what's appropriate in this situation? I don't have much experience in dealing with these kinds of issues.

[Anonymous]

Nothing. Let her figure it out. Being bored at a summer job is not a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

DD needs to step up her game and look for her own opportunities. What does she like to do best? Maybe she could create new programs for the Special Activities. If she can identify any areas that need improvement, she could create a simple proposal and ask if she could manage that project.

Just from what you said, it sounds like they could benefit from some marketing. Could she set up a social media presence for them?

Maybe she could identify grants that might be available to the museum and help write a grant proposal.

Those are all things that would improve her resume, give her something to do, and challenge her to learn something new while adding to her existing skill set.

[Anonymous]

She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

Agree. This is not your problem to solve. What does SHE want to do about it? Get a new job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

Agree. This is not your problem to solve. What does SHE want to do about it? Get a new job?

Yeah, I know it's not my problem but she reached out to me. She doesn't want a new job because she gets paid more than what most summer jobs pay And she's been there for so long that she feels like it would be weird to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

Agree. This is not your problem to solve. What does SHE want to do about it? Get a new job?

Yeah, I know it's not my problem but she reached out to me. She doesn't want a new job because she gets paid more than what most summer jobs pay And she's been there for so long that she feels like it would be weird to leave.

If I were her, I'd go to the boss and lay this out. She's been asking for more work for two years, she's very willing, and is a bit puzzled that a brand new employee got more responsibilities right off the bat. I'd take it as an opportunity to ask the boss if there's something lacking in her work performance or attitude, or whatever, and ask for suggestions as far as improving.

NOT that she has to improve. It's just an easy way to call the boss on such a hiring disparity, while letting the boss save face.

[Anonymous]

...this is what it is like to have a job at 17. If she doesn't like it, she can apply for something busier like at a fast food chain

[Anonymous]

OP - It could also be that they met/hired your daughter when she was a a fourteen year old young teen who was not expected to take on responsibilities that a newly hired 19 year old college sophomore would be expected to be able to do. So it could simply be they were used to your daughter in one role and had never really considered that she has matured over the last couple of years, gained an array of computer skills as well as most likely writing skills.

She might in talking to the person who could give her more specific tasks to do bring with her a list of computer skills, multimedia skills that she has acquired over the last couple of years as well as the suggestion of a couple of tasks that she sees has been given to the new hire AND which might be shared at times by her as well. Then she might give a request for one or two specific jobs that she feels quite capable of doing.

On the other hand, it also might be that a position was advertized specifically seeking a college student who was interested in the area the museum covers such as American history or art and/or one who was interested in gaining experience in museum management. If the college student is attending staff meetings, again the museum staff may well assume that such meetings are not suited to a high school student.

She may as well explore what additional tasks she can take on this summer and what opportunity there might be for advancement in the future. If none seems forthcoming, then finish out this summer, but certainly polish her resume to get out there early to find a more responsible, if not quite as well paying position, for next summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

You never talked to your parents about work, and never asked for advice or guidance? I thought most kids did. It's ridiculous to let that resource of experience go to waste, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

You never talked to your parents about work, and never asked for advice or guidance? I thought most kids did. It's ridiculous to let that resource of experience go to waste, IMO.

LOL, right. My parents were wonderful folks - they could offer big pic advice, but they never held professional jobs. They were always grateful when I had work and always fretted when I didn't. While there were times I wished they were able to do so, I also grew up fast, was self-reliant from an early age, and adjusted to the work world much more quickly than my more affluent classmates - some still trying to find themselves after 20 years....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 17 year old volunteered at a museum (a smaller one far out, not at all one of the main DC ones) for two summers, worked for pay last summer and is working for pay again this summer. She worked about once a month during the school year this year. This summer, she's closer to full time (30-40 hours a week) and is getting extremely bored. They get school/daycare groups once or twice a week, and then it is solely walk-in customers, maybe 5 or 6 individual groups per day. That is her primary responsibility, to welcome them to the museum, take their admission, and the do "special" activity they have that requires staff assistance. The rest of the museum is self-guided. So, if she's working 6 or 7 hours a day, it's a LOT of downtime. She asks for things to do, and they'll give her a project that takes maybe 30 minutes at most, and something pretty mindless like putting price tags on merchandise or stuffing envelopes, and says she feels bad asking them if there's anything she can do because they always look busy and seem to have to come up with the things she can do. She's not had any added responsibility or enrichment since she started at the age of 14. Sometimes she brings a book or homework to do but now that it's summer, she doesn't have homework she can bring and feels bad just reading.

To add salt to the wound, they just hired a girl this past winter who's two years older than her (college sophomore) and she apparently gets to plan out all the activities, attends staff meetings, works on documents and although they're technically the same position, she has much more responsibility than DD who has been there much longer. I think that bothers DD a lot who feels like she's capable and could manage doing that kind of stuff.

So, what's appropriate in this situation? I don't have much experience in dealing with these kinds of issues.

But what your DD is not capable of is committing to them full time all year round.

What they need is someone like your DD to mind the museum and she does that well. That allows the rest of the staff to focus on other important areas.

In this case, the PP is right, your DD will have to take initiative and come up with something herself to do. Social Media might be a good place to start. Or create new materials related to the activity she does with visitors. Maybe she has noticed an exhibit that people particularly ask about and she can do some more research on that exhibit and offer to enhance some of the materials supporting it.

[Anonymous]

I have lots of teenagers work for me. They need your daughter to do exactly what she is doing. They need a body there to greet people. Some jobs can be boring for the employee but still need to be done.

She can do things like organize the desk drawers, dust, clean the glass door (time to lean, time to clean).

[Anonymous]

I would love this job. The less I have to do the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's 17, not 6. My parents didn't know this much about my duties and co-workers when I was 17. Let her deal with it. She can feel out the situation, talk to somebody, be bored, or find a new job if she's that unhappy.
Sounds like a good gig for her age- maybe she can find things to do herself and be noticed. Maybe she can give feedback about why she deserves more responsibility.

Agree. This is not your problem to solve. What does SHE want to do about it? Get a new job?

Yeah, I know it's not my problem but she reached out to me. She doesn't want a new job because she gets paid more than what most summer jobs pay And she's been there for so long that she feels like it would be weird to leave.

Well, what are you asking, exactly?