We are, in general, a family of over-achievers.
Yes and no. Like extracurricular activities, a part-time job shows that a kid can balance priorities. This only works, though, if it’s in combination with good grades rather than instead of them. Plus, in my case at least, the money I had saved from my part-time job in HS made up the gap more than one semester in college between financial aid and what my unemployed mom could cough up. It literally kept me in school.
All my college applications asked about ALL non-school activities, including work. Yeah, I had a GPA over 4.0 due to weighting for honors/AP clases, and good test scores, extracurriculars, but sometimes you need something to make yourself stand out form other applicants. Something must have worked for me, because I was accepted at some pretty damn competitive schools (U. of C., Georgetown) ahead of classmates who had similar academic qualifications and extracurricular activities, but no work record.
Your mom made you delete the games you were using to fart around instead of paying attention in class.
And she made you quit your job so that you can concentrate on your studies.
Oh - the humanity! :rolleyes:
Boo effing hoo. Get better grades, and you can get another job (maybe). Until then, stick a sock in it.
You made bad choices. Fortunately, your mom cares enough to force you to change your priorities.
And go study, and quit posting on the Internet.
Regards,
Shodan the Hard-Hearted Ogre, and also Parent to a Teen-ager Who Better Not Be Playing Games in Class, Dammit
I would… not quit your job.
Make your mother quit for you… that should be fun if nothing else.
Wow, I think I would’ve been miserable in high school without my part time jobs. By senior year, I actually had 3 (I had a pretty light school load though). Since my mother was hell-bent on teaching me responsibility (thank god) if I wasn’t working those jobs I couldn’t have afforded to go to movies with my friends, buy clothes, buy a car, have my own phone line or see concerts. I was taught, if I want it, I work for it and pay for it, I don’t beg mommy and daddy. If my grades slipped, I wasn’t allowed out of the house except for school or work and got one hell of a talking-to. Now that taught me how to balance responsibilitites. I think just up and forcing a student to quit their job is a little harsh and premature, maybe your mom should’ve just temporarily ended your social life first, and see what that did. Or did she?
Sorry, forgot to mention: when I went off to college I met way too many students who had really good grades in school, but knew jack shit about personal responsibility. They were on the phone with mommy and daddy in 1.2 seconds the minute they needed cash for anything. The concept of earning your own way was totally lost on them. That’s quite a trade-off.
Shodan, I think she deleted the games of her own initiative.
The OP has a lame rant, essentially invalid. Crappy grades don’t always equal failing but they do equal crappy grades. Back when I was a teenager, the agreement between my parents and me (in reality: the stipulations attached by my parents to my parents’ permission for me to have a paying job) was that I got to keep the job provided I got good grades. Who decided what grades were good? Parents, of course.
pkbites also provided a lame remark: There are good paying jobs even during the school year for teens. In my case, I worked as a janitor.
Your mom is right about the quitting the job (your grade slipping may not have had to do w/the job itself, but getting to work vs. not is, for a person your age, a reward. If you hadn’t been working, the consequence she’d have chosen may have been ‘no internet’ vs. ‘no job’.)
however, she’s absolutely wrong about not letting you give at least a week’s notice.
Job references for people your age are tough to come by, and quitting w/o notice is ‘really bad thing’.
(and I’m a mom of a teen)
I worked during school, and I maintained a GPA of 3.73.
But that’s not the point, I would just like to say that over $200 every payday isn’t exactly “chump change” to most teenagers.
So?
Shodan I believe she was attempting to correct you when you said
it seems to be the OP’s point that her poor grades had to do w/the games, and she personally took care of that, the mom didn’t know about it, so therefore the consequences re: the job shouldn’t happen since A. the poor grades and the job were unrelated and B. the poor grades were related to the games, which she deleted w/o mom having to make the demand.
I still say mom’s right about quitting the job is an appropriate consequence of the poor grades (regardless of the source of the problem for the poor grades), but incorrect in that the OP should be able to give notice (not fair to the other employees/ the employer plus it gives the girl a ‘hard to recover from’ bad mark for future job seeking purposes, IME)
A few hundred dollars a month is also not chump change if a teenager has their own car which the parents require them to take financial responsibility for, or if parents don’t provide an allowance or purchase anything for the kid beyond the bare necessities.
Dismissing the concept for work for high schoolers out of hand is overreaching.
But Magic8Ball, why not take this grading period (9 weeks, right?) to bring your grades up and demonstrate that you’re taking all of your responsibilities seriously? Afterward, your mom might relent. I know it’ll stink to not have extra money around the holidays, but it’ll be a good life lesson. And look at the bright side – you won’t be working retail in December! Score!
Meanwhile, do a good enough job in school and your mom may let you go back and earn a little nest egg of money for summer break, which is even better than money at the holidays.
A few hundred dollars a month is also not chump change if a teenager has their own car which the parents require them to take financial responsibility for, or if parents don’t provide an allowance or purchase anything for the kid beyond the bare necessities.
Dismissing the concept for work for high schoolers out of hand is overreaching.
But Magic8Ball, why not take this grading period (9 weeks, right?) to bring your grades up and demonstrate that you’re taking all of your responsibilities seriously? Afterward, your mom might relent. I know it’ll stink to not have extra money around the holidays, but it’ll be a good life lesson. And look at the bright side – you won’t be working retail in December! Score!
Meanwhile, do a good enough job in school and your mom may let you go back and earn a little nest egg of money for summer break, which is even better than money at the holidays.
I make exactly $200 per day, pre tax, so, yes, to me, $200 every 2 weeks is chump change. Maybe to a teenage it isn’t, but the observation of teenagers aren’t valid. They’re children.
$200 every 2 weeks is not worth getting really bad grades, thus preventing one from getting into a decent college, or at very least, a better job once one is out of high school.
I had jobs when I was a kid. Looking back I am certain I fucked myself out of some scholarships by letting my grades slide. A part-time job is not worth that. Sure, working teaches a kid some responsibility. But 9 months out of the year the focus should be on school work. If the academics slip, the job should go!
BUT…what an asshole I am, right? Taking the side of a parent in the raising of her own child makes me an asshole, right?
Wanting for Magic8ball to get good grades so he/she may have a bright, prosperous future, makes me an asshole, right?
Whenever I’m at some business being served by some 40 year old minimum wage employee, I have to wonder: Is this person working this as a second job to earn extra money? Or was this person laid off from another job and just working this until they’re called back or something comes up? Or was this person a flunky and this is the only type of work they’re qualified for?
Crack them books '8ball. I actually wish you well.
If it really is nothing but chump change to you, would you like to send me $200 every two weeks? I am a college senior with excellent grades, and my only sources of income during the school year are my VA benefits and what few minimum-wage hours I can pick up as an on-campus tutor. An extra $100 a week would certainly make a huge difference in my quality of life.
No, what makes you an asshole is this:
Fuck you.
Hey, can you spare a few bucks for me, then?
:rolleyes:
Indeed. It’s chump change to YOU, asshat. I agree with you on most of your arguments here, but this just makes you like like a complete and utter asshole.
pkbites: Thanks for saying my entire contributions and observations to this board aren’t valid because I’m a teenager. And I agree with Lamia…give me those spare $200 every two weeks.
PD. Not always, but in many cases, children’s observations are important.
There is, of course, a back story. I don’t believe that the grades are the real issue here, but I will not drag family shit all over the boards.
What I will say is this: your mother is completely wrong in making you quit without notice. YK is a small town, and word gets around.
Did you already quit? Did you speak to your boss and let her know why? You don’t need that sort of thing on your employment history, especially there.
pkbites, what you said was not nice. She works hard for what she gets, and she is a responsible kid. She let her grades slip, but it is not due to her job.
Saying that she is invalid because she’s a child makes you a jerk. This is not some eight-year-old kid who has to give up his paper route, this is a teenager who is trying to save money so that she will have an easier time of it when she goes away to College in a town very far away from home. $200 a week may be chump change to you, but saying that you make that in a day just makes you a snob.