I haven't seen an English person, let alone a teenager, working in a fast food, busboy or retail position in 10 years. In Montgomery County, those jobs are all Spanish speaking immigrant jobs. So are all landscaping too.

The only jobs I ever see teenagers take are camp counselors, lifeguards, and local shops who still hire legal English speaking people.

Many teens can't find jobs, many don't want to work with people that don't speak English, many have parents who want them volunteering so it looks good on college apps. Gone are the days kids worked minimum wage, learned customer service, took orders and socialized with peers. I think it is a complete disservice to this coddled generation.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I would not suggest any teen take fast food jobs. From my experience as a parent, such jobs are completely drenched in alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc.

This is how your kid gets ready to enter law school.

The days of teenagers taking fast food, servers, baggers etc... is done. Teenagers are now doing things are already relevent for their resume in their fields of study. This ended in the DC area around 1990.

Giant will take baggers as young as 15 (VA). Your state may vary.

Honestly, I would not suggest any teen take fast food jobs. From my experience as a parent, such jobs are completely drenched in alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc.

I think one of our busboys is 15. He works weekend brunches. Great job for a young man or even hosting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What state are you in? I know in Maryland, kids under 16 cannot work past 8pm at night, so many places don't hire them for after school work.

I still know tons of teens who work fast food. They are slightly older, though.

Some others:

Movie theaters
Lifeguard
Parks department - seasonal (probably just summer)
Camp Counselor (summers)

DC Gov't is sponsoring a mentor/internship program for DC teens in HS. They intern on the hill in Congressional and Senate offices. They also have internships in city gov't. I also recommend any IT internship you can find.

that, or have him coem up with a small business plan and execute it . Can be small: like land scaping, dog walking, etc.. as long as they come up with their own idea and take a risk, put in the time to make it work, etc..

Fast food, are you kidding ??

Some people are happy with their kids working in fast food and eventually becoming a shift manager making $10.91/hr. Not everyone chases money.

Its not about chasing money. Its about your child being exposed to the real adult world and see how it works , and start to build soem confidence. An internship in City Gov't is largely a mentorship program . Its great for kids who are bright, but who may be the first person in their family to go to college. It shows them the possibilities and , more importantly, how to get there.

Fast Food teaches you to be a grunt. Its mindless and its a waste of a kid. One afternoon is enough if you wantto teach them a lesson about why they should get a degree, but I see no benefit in a bright kid doing a mindless job for 40hrs a week.

Too bad companies don't have mail rooms anymore. Mail room clerk used to be the best way to learn EVERYTHING about a company and meet everyone.

Yes, the job for a 15 year old will be a small one, but the learning taht they take away does NOT have to be small. It is not about money. Its about helping a kid to see themselves "getting there"

Anonymous wrote:Best thing I ever did was work as a grocery store check out clerk in high school. What a horrible job. Definitely gave me the motivation to find a better job later. Also, I am always kind to cashiers!

Yup, and another lesson is everyone should be a waitress for a least one summer, provided its a nice restaurant where you can at least learn something about food and wine. It helped me greatly to develop some time management skills, organizational ability under pressure, public speaking , self confidence . I made about $700 a week take home.

I also got to meet a lot of sucessful businessmen and politicians who took an interest in my academic future, encouraged me, and , of course, tipped well.

Not a bad job at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What state are you in? I know in Maryland, kids under 16 cannot work past 8pm at night, so many places don't hire them for after school work.

I still know tons of teens who work fast food. They are slightly older, though.

Some others:

Movie theaters
Lifeguard
Parks department - seasonal (probably just summer)
Camp Counselor (summers)

DC Gov't is sponsoring a mentor/internship program for DC teens in HS. They intern on the hill in Congressional and Senate offices. They also have internships in city gov't. I also recommend any IT internship you can find.

that, or have him coem up with a small business plan and execute it . Can be small: like land scaping, dog walking, etc.. as long as they come up with their own idea and take a risk, put in the time to make it work, etc..

Fast food, are you kidding ??

Some people are happy with their kids working in fast food and eventually becoming a shift manager making $10.91/hr. Not everyone chases money.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a serial entrepreneur and think any job will teach you something. Even at a place like McDonald's where you're expected to show up and on time. McDonald's was my first job in high school. This was a while ago, but I learned about providing good customer service, math like how to take money and count it before ringing it up, how to handle problems when they arise such as a customer getting a wrong order. I could make a whole list of good things you'll learn working at McD's. These things are necessary for being successful in business.

+1 another small business owner here. Major problems with unemployed college grads stem in part from the fact they never held basic, minimum wage jobs. They are book-smart but have no sense of reality.

Anonymous wrote:What state are you in? I know in Maryland, kids under 16 cannot work past 8pm at night, so many places don't hire them for after school work.

I still know tons of teens who work fast food. They are slightly older, though.

Some others:

Movie theaters
Lifeguard
Parks department - seasonal (probably just summer)
Camp Counselor (summers)

DC Gov't is sponsoring a mentor/internship program for DC teens in HS. They intern on the hill in Congressional and Senate offices. They also have internships in city gov't. I also recommend any IT internship you can find.

that, or have him coem up with a small business plan and execute it . Can be small: like land scaping, dog walking, etc.. as long as they come up with their own idea and take a risk, put in the time to make it work, etc..

Fast food, are you kidding ??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in H.S. I was designing webpages for $100 an hour while my friends were working part time at Starbucks. Then they went on to college and worked at Starbucks to get by. And now they have a degree and still work at Starbucks. While I meanwhile have a wonderful job and a great life in DC because I had 10 years of RELEVANT experience and they graduated with food service experience.

I feel bad for you if you think ANY serious job will look at a college graduates resume and see McDonalds for 4 years and think "oh that is nice, they probably are a good worker and reliable and learned good job skills."

Who has mentioned that anywhere? OP is asking about a 15 year old.

+1 we're talking about high school here. But as an aside, I had a friend who worked at a four star restaurant during college. He mainly worked weekends during the school year and full time during the summer. It paid his way through college and he was able to save enough to get through law school. Today he works for one of the top law firms in DC.

I have a friend whose daughter started with Panera in high school. They helped pay for college. She graduated and made $55,000 a year as a store manager in North Carolina. Not bad at all for a new college grad.

Is it important that he makes money? My youngest is 12 and volunteers every Saturday morning with an animal rescue group. He cleans cages, feeds and waters, walks and play with dogs, and helps the vet techs with minor procedures. He also interacts with the public by answering questions during adoption drives.

It's been a great experience for him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in H.S. I was designing webpages for $100 an hour while my friends were working part time at Starbucks. Then they went on to college and worked at Starbucks to get by. And now they have a degree and still work at Starbucks. While I meanwhile have a wonderful job and a great life in DC because I had 10 years of RELEVANT experience and they graduated with food service experience.

I feel bad for you if you think ANY serious job will look at a college graduates resume and see McDonalds for 4 years and think "oh that is nice, they probably are a good worker and reliable and learned good job skills."

Who has mentioned that anywhere? OP is asking about a 15 year old.

+1 we're talking about high school here. But as an aside, I had a friend who worked at a four star restaurant during college. He mainly worked weekends during the school year and full time during the summer. It paid his way through college and he was able to save enough to get through law school. Today he works for one of the top law firms in DC.

Farm/agrotourism type places hire young. Think cox farm pumpkin festival etc.