Of course. I was, anyway. And if I had come to a message board populated (for the most part) by adults and very mature and articulate teens, I would have been called on it. If she thinks she’s woman enough to come play with the big mean dogs in the Pit, than so be it. I’m not gonna give her any more allowances than what she’s asking for herself, by her participation in this forum.
Well when I was a teenager, I whined about my problems to other teenagers, who could sympathize and provide me with the comfort I needed. I didn’t go to adults because I didn’t expect them to understand.
Perhaps magic8ball doesn’t know that because most of us are adults, it’s hard for us to empathize with a 15-year-old’s drama. Especially when it’s drama that wouldn’t be happening (as far as we know) if she hadn’t played Tetris during math. If only our lives could be so simple.
My advice for all the angst-filled teenagers, lighten up. Unless you’re being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused, chances are you have it easy. Your parents may put restrictions on you but it’s only because they care. Once you turn 18, you’ll understand. Until then, enjoy your innocence and indulge yourself in all the free food and electricity.
Get bent, WD. Technical is what the law is. The vehicle’s registered owner is, in fact, the vehicle’s owner. That wasn’t you. So, pray tell, bent one, why’d your dad not have you register the thing yerself?
I had the option of registering it in my name, but my dad said I could register it in his, because the insurance was cheeper, an offer I took him up on. As you can see, it was indeed, my car, my gift for my 16th b-day. It was a 1972 Volvo with some interesting quirks. Tell me, are your ears sore from the constricting pressure of your sphincter muscles? You talk out of your ass so much, I’m thinking that this might be a problem.
All of this is a straw man with which you are despertly trying to cover up the fact that, contrary to your statements, people under 18 can indeed register vehicles in their own names.
Um…does the fact that I’m not her age mean it is necessarily hard for me to empathize with her? Gingy is comfortably older than 15 and I think you’d have a hard task ahead of you if you wanted to prove she has to struggle to do the same…
Idealistic, but not always the case. Sometimes parents are jerks and make rules because they feel like it. Not everyone is a good parent.
Gilbert Godfried on a donkey, what is it about some people in this thread and the magic of turning 18 and spontaneously understanding all of life’s mysteries? First it was pkbites and that whole “being 18 means you’re an adult and valid” and now this “once you turn 18, every decision your parents made will be clear to you”? Did I miss a memo?
Oh how very cute. While I’m tempted to tell you stories of all the kids who lost their innocence before they were 8 (let alone 18), let’s just say this is not nearly always the case.
And that’s also ignoring kids (such as Hastur) who got thrown out of their home substantially before they were 18.
Suggestion: Now that you are not working, spend your time at home playing tetris on your computer. Then when you are in class, pay attention. You’ll get better grades, earn scholarships, get into a better school and earn a fortune during your lifetime. When your mother gets very old and dependent on you, take away her car keys and say, “Mom, do you remember that time that you made me quit my job…”
No need to curse. It was said elsewhere in the thread by pkbites, I believe - I tend to post in train of thought and that’s where it happened to pop up. It wasn’t intended to be addressed directly at you.
If you’re merely going to harp on technicalities, I’m not going to bother arguing with you. Legalities only go so far in real life. It was his truck - it’d be a pretty asinine parent who’d be telling him he couldn’t drive it.
Im admitting to start off that Ive only skimmed through this thread. Too much bickering for me, it started to get discouraging. But I did want to offer my perspective-Im not saying that this is your situation, but maybe you can relate.
A few years back, I was 16, and working at McDonalds part time after school. It started out at like 20/week, and before long, I was doing 40+, and school too. I liked the money I was making, I appreciated that the managers needed me, I liked that everyone said I was such a good worker. My school began to suffer. My senior year, I took work study, and could sign myself out at noon. I remember very few days I even made it past 10:30. I would leave school, and work all day. It didnt matter that I was failing all my classes-they had given me a 25 cent raise to make up for it! I was the shit- I was working at McDonalds.
Fast forward 4 years. Im now 20 years old. After blowing my high school GPA, I found it hard to get into a decent college, and even harder to get scholarships. That 25 cents didnt offer incentive long, and McDonalds is far behind me. Im still stuck in that restaraunt business rut though- try getting a decent job with nothing but fast food management on your resume. Im going to school (at a community college), and working full time to pay my own way. Im really beginning to wish I hadnt blown off high school. Im beginning to wish my mom had stepped in and said “You know, you’re working way too much. Maybe you should take a break, focus on your school”. In the long run, you’ll appreciate that you’re taking a time out from work. Enjoy your youth while you can.
Again, this is just my perspective, of my experience. Im in no way implying that it’s what’s happening to you, or anything of the sort.
Obviously not. But it is harder for adults in general to understand what teenagers go through. Witness this fucking thread if you don’t believe me.
True but MOST parents aren’t like this. Now unless magic8ball wants to convince us further why her mother is the Wicked Witch of the West, I don’t know why we should assume she’s not looking out for her child’s best interests. Forbidding her from working until she pulls up her grades does not seem like jerk behavior to me, but maybe I’m just a mean old adult.
If you want to be a jerk and argue with every one of my points, fine. I thought I was being nice to magic8ball. You know, putting her problem into perspective for her. After this 6 week period, she may realize that her mother wasn’t in the wrong and that things could be worse. And she may come to appreciate that she’s only 15 and doesn’t have to work. I know this is a rant thread, but since when can’t we say “buck it up”?
Now if you want to pick apart this point too, then I’ll assume you’re arguing just for the sake of arguing.
Not true, at least in my jurisdiction. I bought my first car when I was seventeen. Michigan law requires that a minor receive parental permission before buying a car (pdf form authorizing sale to a minor), but that doesn’t make the parent the owner of the car. I bought the car when I was seventeen. I paid cash for it, my name was on the title, I signed the registration, and I paid the insurance.
I imagine the law is different in other locations, so YMMV.
Monty,
I bought my own car when I was 17 with the money I earned from my job I had since I was 14, and as far as I remember, the car was in my name. Granted, my mother still took it away from me from time to time, when I broke rules, but I know the thing was in fact, in MY name. Sorry to burst your bubble.
My god, I’m so sorry, this thing has gotten way out of perportion. I didn’t mean to start a fight between everyone… PK, I apologize for calling you an unfeeling bastard. In the future, I won’t do such things. Out loud.
And when I said my mom was never right, I meant to do a little 
at the end of it. Again, my apologies… I had only been awake for mayeb 10 minutes, and I don’t REALLY wake up until about 8 PM… so again, My apologies.
Please, don’t fight, cuz that just sucks. But all of you poeple that think that I’m a 15 year old teenage girl who DOESN’T HAVE AN OPINION can go to something unpleasent to themselves. I have had a harder life then some I know;p while its not nearly as bad as a lot of peoples, I wasn’t really very sheltered or anything, and I think I matured a lot faster then some. I have my opinions, and though they may not be very sound ones in your eyes, they’re still mine. I didn’t need authorization from someone over 18 to come up with them.
And when I said you could talk behind my back, yes, I was sarcastic. I have no self cond\fidence whatsoever. I wouldn’t even THINK that you would WANT to talk about me; the fact that theres over 150 posts in this thread simply astounds me.
I have 5 minutes to get to french class, I should prolly sign off.
Play nice, now.
Monty & others:
Just to clear up the legal principles surrounding minors and contracts…
In general, a contract entered into by a minor is voidable by the minor but not by the adult. This means that the minor may choose to disaffirm or to ratify the contract. For this reason, an adult contracts with a minor at some risk.
Absent a specific state provision to the contrary, then, a minor may legally purchase a suit, a car, or a houseboat. The sales contract created at purchase is valid and enforceable against the adult. The minor may back out of it during his minority and for a reasonable period after reaching majority. Once past that point, he is said to have ratified the contract. In other words, when he’s had the capability to disaffirm and hasn’t taken it as an adult, the contract can no longer be disaffirmed and his right to do so is extinguished.
A minor is liable in quasi-contract for necessities. If a grocery store sells a loaf of bread to a minor for $200, the contract may be disaffirmed by the minor, but the minor must still pay the fair and reasonable value of the bread.
There being fifty states, there are roughly fifty sets of rules for this… but that’s the outline. The short version: a minor may legally purchase and hold title to a car.
- Rick
PKbites, I know others have harped on your opinion but I still can’t understand from where you’re coming.
The law is not absolute. The law does not dictate how we must live every moment of our lives. The law does not state how we must raise our children.
Yet, somehow, you’ve elevated the law to fact. It is a fact that at 18 you become an adult and, therefore, your opinions become equal to mine. This makes no logical sense.
In Kansas the age of consent laws go down to 14. Fourteen. Are they adults because the law has given them the status of one?
In every state one is considered a child with regards to alcohol until he or she turns 21. Are 20 year olds then incapable of forming an opinion that is equal to yours?
The law may be absolute but a personal viewpoint doesn’t have to be.
Yes, a person 17 years and 364 days old cannot vote. Yes a person 17 years and 364 days old cannot sign a legally binding contract without an adult co-signer. That’s the law. That’s not life.
Are you telling me that a child is a child is a child until their 18th birthday when Holy Kreskin, Batman, they suddenly wake up with the diplomatic capabilities of Henry Kissinger! Life doesn’t work that way.
The law might work that way but life doesn’t. For you to model your life around what the law says only points to a flaw in your reasoning capabilities.
Wow, three pages of knee-jerk reactions to everything that anyone has said. I’d like to offer the common-sense opinion that perhaps both magic8ball and her mom have a little bit of right on their sides.
First, I don’t think any of us, including magic herself, can definitively say that working did not affect her grades at school–even if she was doing all her out-of-school work on time. I noticed that many of the kids who worked when I was in high school took their school day less seriously. They’d nap in class, play games with the calculators, etc. I suspect that the reason for this was that their days were so heavily scheduled that they needed some mental down-time. Unfortunately, the easiest place for them to slack off was at school, because a teacher lecturing to 30 kids can’t tell if each and every one of them is focused. So it’s entirely possible that work has something to do with this. Do I know that for sure? No. But it’s not an unreasonable assumption.
Second, it is almost certainly unimportant that magic had to quit without notice. I worked a lot of crummy jobs while in high school and college. I put them all down on resumes when looking for the next crummy job, but nobody ever checked my references. And even if they do, what’s the likelihood that they remember her? And even if they remember her, what’s the likelihood that one crummy reference from one crummy employer is going to trash her whole future in the workforce? Let’s cut down on the hyperbole here, please.
Third, grades are important. Period. If you want to get out of Yellowknife, the best thing to do is to focus on your grades. Not work. Earning money while in high school does not really amount to a hill of beans for the vast majority of people who are headed off to college today. Financial aid is available and anyone who wants to obtain a higher education can afford to do so, particularly at the fine Canadian public institutions which are so affordable.
Fourth, magic, I think you do need to recognize that you are a tad immature. Surely your mom isn’t wrong about “everything”. Proclaiming this as an inviolate fact only serves to highlight your immaturity. It sounds like you’re a good kid, but you should try to accept that people who have been on this planet longer than you have more wisdom from experience and probably have a more long-term view of life than you do. Also, I have no doubt that your mom thinks she is doing what’s in your best interests.
Good grief, you’d think the nature of God or some other earth-shattering event was being debated in here, instead of the revocation of one of the privileges of a teenager who brought home a sub-par report card. And, unfortunately, the adults in this thread haven’t been any more mature in their arguments than the teenagers.
[supercilious condescending mom voice]
You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
[/supercilious condescending mom voice]
Q. N. - as a professional in the field of employment, I can assure you that it is most definately not “Unimportant” that she quit w/o notice.
Barring some huge ass emergency that happened w/o notice, not giving notice was always looked upon poorly by future employers.
You may be correct that, at age 22, and applying for your first job out of college, they might not care that you quit w/o notice from your McJob when you were 15, but I promise you, that even w/o the specific info that the aunt & uncle provided (that job market was tight in that town), at age 15/16 if you quit w/o notice on your first job, your second job will definately be more difficult to find.
When I was in high school they didn’t let us use calculators. And my mom didn’t let me have a job, (or even leave the house, actually. Or have anyone over OR use the phone except on weekends)
I’d say that while it sucks, it isn’t the end of the world.
Even if I grant you that it will make it extremely difficult for magic8ball to find a new after-school job if and when Mom allows, I still don’t think it merits the hysteria that’s been displayed here, for a few reasons.
First, this may be a good lesson for her about what happens when one acts irresponsibly. A lesson, I might add, that will not have any serious lasting effects on her long-term employability.
Second, even if it were impossible for her to find another crummy after-school job ever again (which I highly doubt is the case, having come from a small town myself), that’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of other ways for a teenager to gainfully and responsibly occupy their time. Ways, I might add, that would rehabilitate her reputation with potential employers. Volunteer work is one.
Third, I believe that if a teenager explained in a job interview with a prospective employer, someone would be willing to take a chance and hire her. For example: “I left my last job without notice. I did not want to do this, but I let my grades slip, and my parents decided that was to be part of my punishment. I’ve worked hard to bring my grades up again, and I realize that what happened was my fault, and I’ve learned from the experience.” I’d certainly hire such a teenager to work the counter at McDonald’s or a dry cleaners, because in a few brief sentences, she would have displayed more maturity than is normally to be found in an entire room full of high school students.
Again, I don’t deny that quitting without notice is A Bad Thing; it just doesn’t warrant the gnashing of teeth and wailing that I’ve seen here.
I ain’t gnashing my teeth.
I’m saying point blank flat out:
Quitting a job w/o notice is a shitty thing to do. For the employer. For your co workers. and for the person doing it as well.
I’ve seen it be the kiss of death for a job applicant. especially in a small town.
and employers do indeed look at kids who’ve had some job experience in a different way than others, so it does actually help quite a bit to have specific, verifiable employer type history at the next stage of job searching.
I do this for a living, ya know. In addition to the hundreds of folks I"ve personally worked w/over the years, I talk quite a bit with employers and other employment specialists, and pretty much univeral is “quitting w/o notice is a very bad thing and should be avoided.” I had a supervisor who couldn’t remember names to save her soul, but remembered folks who’d quit w/o notice a dozen years after the fact.
Can it be overcome? yes.
however, in the scenario presented, the exact same lessons (ie that school is the primary obligation and there are negative consequences for screwing that up) can be garnered by giving a weeks notice (which is pretty standard for that type of thing), without having the potential poor ramifications down the line that quitting w/o notice should do.
And, point of fact, making her give notice is the ‘responsible’ thing to do.
I’d have rather seen: 1. Give notice to the job that you will be gone in a week.
2. For that week, you may go to work and go to school. You may not talk on the phone, watch tv, play computer games etc. You do your homework, go to school and go to work.
- Post giving notice, you will go to school, do your homework and after I see that it is done, you may take on some other recreational things.
The only thing I ‘believe’ in this thread is that M8B stuffed around this semester, and got lousy grades as a result. NOWHERE have I said, not even IMPLIED that you are a bad aunt, in fact I said a while back that I commend you for your support of her IRL. It is your involvement in THIS thread on THIS board that bugs the shit out of me.
To jump to M8B’s defence, to protect her from us evil folk who reckon her mum has done the right thing, when there is nothing but ‘your word’ being tendered as evidence is not enough. I’m sure you DO know what you are ‘speaking of’, and I’m sure your intentions are honourable. But this is a PUBLIC MESSAGEBOARD, and if M8B posts a rant then we, the public, are allowed to respond without being chided by her aunt who tells US that we do not know what we are talking about.
Go bite yourself.
:rolleyes: