I’ve never worked in food service, but, when I was 17, I worked in a dry cleaners for some cash. It was just a drop off/pick up location, no laundering going on at my store. I was alone during every shift, minus customers and the daily deliveries/send-outs. When I needed lunch and forgot to bring, I closed up shop long enough to run next door to the deli, get my sandwich, and run back.
This was in the mid 90’s in suburban Jew Jersey.
This. At the very least, what is she going to do when she inevitably gets some irrate banshee of a customer who thinks she’s stiffing him on pickles and demands satisfaction? Is she going to know how to handle things if the health inspector stops by? Or whatever people Subway has running around checking up on their franchise?
I worked at a cafe and later an ice cream parlor alone for hours at a time when I was a few years older, but that was after I had worked under someone’s supervision for about a year and knew how to handle whatever situation I might find myself in. I can’t imagine being new to a customer service job and not having a manager around to help me deal with the nutcases.
I think most of you are being ridiculous.
She’s a 16 year old girl in a fast food job. This isn’t going to be her lifes work. So she’s bored for a few hours a day while she earns some cash?
It’s a safe area of town. Are you worried the criminals might get wind that there is a lone girl working a Subway accross town between 11am and 6 pm?
Are you OSHA lawyers or something? What does it matter what the “rules” are regarding number of employees or handling cash? And she’s not an indentured servant. If later on, she doesn like some other violation of the rules she can up and quit.
Will she be working the day shift? If so, what does it matter if she is alone?
Are there other stores nearby? Like is it a lone store or is it in a stripmall where there are other people around.
Ultimately you and your daughter need to guage the situation to determine if it unsafe (ie I wouldn’t want to be closing an inner city liquor store by myself). But I didn’t think it was particularly uncommon to have a single person minding the shop during off peak hours.
There have been several fatal (to the sole teenaged employee) closing-time robberies of Subway stores in Colorado in the past eight or so years. I wouldn’t allow it.
Her being bored isn’t my concern. It’s the fact that she’d be alone and an easy target for thieves. Considering that McDonald’s and Wendy’s is less than a mile away, and will have more than one person in the store, I’d feel better if she worked someplace like that vs. a place where she’d be the only person in the store.
Not that a criminal will get wind of it, but that an opportunist will walk in and realize that she’s all by herself.
She goes to high school during the day, so most shifts would be late afternoon to evening. They close at 10pm most other nights.
It is in a strip mall. At one end is a convenience store. It’s at the other end. None of the businesses in between are open past 6pm. The closest business is a quick oil change place which closes at 8pm, IIRC.
Perhaps not. I know that the dry cleaner has a young lady working by herself, but they close at 6:30pm.
I don’t know. I’m not usually a fear monger, but this makes me feel uneasy.
I think you’re right about having her work at McDonald’s or Wendy’s. It’s good for her to get some experience and make a few bucks but I wouldn’t let my teenage daughter work alone.
A few years ago, I spent some time in a psychiatric hospital for depression. The majority of the other women were there because they had been raped. One woman was working alone in a convenience store when 5 men came in. They locked the door behind them and well…
Of course it’s highly unlikely that anything bad at all will happen to your daughter if she did work there. But some of the stories I heard at the hospital have convinced me to take precautions. Not to live my life paranoid of everything, but just to be a bit more aware of certain situations.
Also, I’ve always heard that employers look positively on people who have previously worked at McDonald’s.
There have been studies by convenience stores and safety organizations (that come to light in lawsuits after women working alone have had terrible things happen to them). A woman --I would assume especially a teenage female-- is at much greater risk of being a victim of a crime if working alone. Most big chains forbid that situation, because it’s just not worth the risk. This is not an exaggerated risk, and I am by no means risk-adverse. It is much more common and tragic than you think. I wouldn’t allow it.
I did this from 16 to 21 working a variety of retail jobs - small retailers (like a Claires - it wasn’t Claires - but the place I worked was a lot like that) would just have you in the store for all day. There were a few hours mid afternoon with two people in the store so the register could be closed out and a bank run made. If I needed to make a bathroom run, I’d shut the store for a bit.
The two questions:
Is she mature enough to handle running the operations of a store solo for great parts of the day? 99.9% of the time it isn’t hard.
Is the store in a location where its unlikely for her to get robbed? Is it a safe place? The locations I worked in were pretty safe, I’m not sure that I’d have been comfortable working the graveyard shift at a gas station in South Minneapolis. But an indoor retail mall (most of these were) or a strip mall in a decent area (the other sort of location) is pretty low risk.
I’ve just forwarded this thread to Subway corporate. We’ll see what, if anything, they have to say on the matter.
I would not allow my wife to work retail by herself. Way too dangerous. She’s been in enough awkward spots even when there were other staffers present. She’s specifically told previous bosses that she would not work alone, nor would she allow people under her to work shifts alone (male or female).
There’s a difference between being afraid about “the Boogie Man” and making smart choices to keep yourself safe.
Mom can’t make her live at home forever, but she can teach her to lock her door at night and some basic practices on how to keep herself safe when alone. Almost every parent does this with their female kid.
Mom can also teach her how to make good choices to avoid problems. Is it risky to be a young female working alone in a public restaurant in the evening? Any rational person can see the risk in that. You’re not sheltering your child if you point out this risk and put your foot down in a sort of “you’ll thank me later” way.
Of all the possible places for a teen to work, for the amount of money that Subway will pay, I’ll guarantee there is someplace that is much safer. Pushing the kid towards those places instead isn’t over-protective - it’s smart parenting. She’d be teaching her daughter to think of the possible risks and make the better choice.
I always liked working alone. I was a bit older when I did it, but I have pretty fond memories of that job. I liked the sense of freedom and responsibility.
Yeah, now and then I’d encounter an uncomfortable situation. But there were plenty of windows in the place and I knew how to dial “911” on the phone. I learned a lot of skills about being assertive that have served me well in other less controlled situations.
I say make her take a women’s self defense course (a good one will mainly teach how to identify and avert potential problems) and let her do it.
I would not work in that circumstance myself, and I’m a mature woman. There is no way I’d be alone in a store for hours and hours like that. I can tell you that while my parents put no limitations on anything I did when I was young (sometimes to my detriment), my father FORBADE me from working at the night convenience store job I wanted so bad. I remember thinking that it must be a really bad idea if he wouldn’t let me do it, so I didn’t. If there are other options she should take one of those instead. It’s not a matter of trust or helicopter parenting, it’s a matter of safety. It’s very easy for someone to determine that she’s alone in the store once they get that feeling like she is.
I’m not sure your working situation was kosher.
I’m a 26 year old female and I’d say fuck no, not at a fast food restaurant.
Places who have only one person working are much higher robbery targets than places who have at least two people. Two+ workers require more trouble, risk and organization for a successful robbery.
My high school job was working at a garage (with gas station), where, even though the boss was a cheap bastard, we always had two people working, minimum. He had been held up once in the 28 years he owned the place. The other gas stations around us (who regularly only had one person working) would be held up a few times a year.
I don’t think you’re being ridiculous. It is reasonable to be concerned about your daughter’s safety working alone at night. I think the question depends on two variables we cannot really assess on an internet message board: the degree of safety of the neighborhood in question and the general good sense of your daughter.
I live in NYC and I describe pretty much all of Manhattan as safe. But I still wouldn’t be comfortable with anyone I know working alone on a night shift on Avenue D. But if we’re talking about some safe suburb, that’s a different story. In the suburb where I grew up, I’d be fine with it.
Also, it depends on the maturity of your daughter. If your daughter is the kind of kid with a good head on her shoulders who can spot a suspicious customer and hand over the money in the unlikely event of a robbery, I wouldn’t worry too much.
I would trust your gut on both points. As others have said, this probably isn’t the only possible job.
They changed the laws here several years back because a young woman got killed working the late shift at Subway by herself.
I’m not sure if it only applies to night/late shifts or also to daytime shifts though.
The closest I’ve been to working alone was when I worked in a concession for the city. I was by myself in the concession, but there was often a manager around or if no manager there was a rink rat or two. Tim Horton’s I worked the front by myself, but there was 2-3 bakers in the kitchen behind me. I had a friend call me at work, freaking out, after she got robbed working the night shift at 7-11. I was the only person she knew would be up and coherent.
So no, no I wouldn’t let my (hypothetical) teenage daughter work where she’d be by herself. Especially not if there are other, safer, options.
I’m not sure if I would be any more comfortable, honestly, with a second 16-18 year old fast food worker.
Most of my trouble spots in life have not come from strangers - or friends…they’ve come from those people I’ve been thrown in with. A boss who sexually harrassed me. A roommate who dealt drugs from our dorm room. A study group partner I had to walk out on when “no” turned into a wrestling match.
Being with one other person you don’t pick is not necessarily any safer than being alone.
My first job, at 16, was at a candy store, and I often worked/closed by myself. It was in an indoor mall, though, so there were security guards and other workers in the building itself, if not in my actual store. I’d feel more comfortable with my kid in a situation like that than in a free-standing business.
You make a good point here. In fact I’m changing my position on this matter. Considering the pay and other options out there; she should find another job.
If I was a teen, I think I want a job that has tips like waitressing or pizza delivery.