May I Take Your Order?: Students dish on jobs outside of school
Back in the 1980s, 77% of people ages 16-24 were employed. Nowadays, 60% of people 16-24 are employed. Concerns for falling numbers of youth in the workforce include failure to develop necessary productivity skills. Recent studies have shown that teens who fail to develop these skills have their earning effected for about 20 years, at which point their salary starts rising to the point where it competes with fellow workers. So, how many high schoolers at Seabury have real world, money making jobs? Out of the six people asked, four people responded with “yes”. Senior Alex Baldwin works at Encore Cafe, a asian fusion restaurant located on Mass street. He has been working there for two months, and seems to like working at Encore: “7/10. I like working there and like seeing Seabury students, but it’s still work.” But, it seems that he has a had time managing work and school: “[It’s] very hard [to manage]. I’m terrible at managing my time.” Baldwin recommends it to people: “Yeah, Encore is a nice restaurant and the cooks there put in a lot of effort to make quality meals.” But obviously, “[I wouldn’t recommend the job to other people] if they can do the job better than me.” Sophomore Emma Silvestri works at Slim Chickens, a chicken restaurant on Iowa street. Silvestri seems to enjoy the job: “I think it’s a good job. It’s not too difficult to learn the training, and for older students, you could work in the kitchen as well as being a cashier or drive thru worker. I thought about quitting in the summer, but I’m only fifteen and I don’t think anywhere else is hiring at fifteen. I enjoyed it a lot more in the beginning, and now it’s just work. I haven’t been working very often because of school, but I worked a lot during the summer. It is a fast food place, so some of the people are a little, shall I say, weird? But some people are absolutely wonderful.” She would recommend the restaurant to anyone: “I think the food is pretty good! We sell chicken tenders, fries, and other sides, as well as wraps, salads, a chicken sandwich, and chicken and waffles. I think our fries and chicken are great. I also really love our wraps and the chicken and waffles. We also have flavored iced teas. Our macaroni and cheese is absolutely to die for! Some people think that Raising Cane’s is better than Slims, but I beg to differ, and I’m not just saying that because I work there. I legitimately think our fries, chicken, and sauces are better. We also have more variety in our menu. Anyway, I think our food is worth a shot.” She only works weekends: “I used to work weekdays, but now I only work one weekend day. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I’m fortunate to have a job that works with my schedule, especially since I have a lot of extracurricular activities and schoolwork.” It seems that time management is no concern for Silvestri. Senior Mick Ramos works at Hy-Vee on Clinton Parkway. He has been working there for two weeks. He enjoys the job: “If you get into a job like Hy-Vee, where they are willing to work around scheduling and things like that, it’s pretty easy.” He also enjoys working there: “The atmosphere there is pretty laid back and chill, so it’s pretty nice.” He would recommend Hy-Vee to anyone: “Hy-Vee is a great place and we always have the best deals there.”Sophomore Caleb Brewer works at Chick-fil-a, which is on Iowa Street. He has been working there for about months. He enjoys working there It’s a lot of fun. It’s a great atmosphere to work in. Everyone has fun. There’s a good sense of routine and they emphasise health and respect.” But it seems that extracurricular events and school comes before work: “It is pretty hard. I actually had to take a lot of time for this semester, and I will have to take off a little bit of next semester, just because of a lot of extra-curriculars that I want to do, so I’m not working as much.” He would recommend the job to anyone: “Yeah, for sure. Like I said, it’s a great place to work. They will give you raises if you deserve it, so it’s competitive pay, and it’s a lot of fun. He would also recommend the place for anyone to eat: “They have really good food.“One of the difficulties of writing this article was identifying people inside of Seabury who have jobs.Only a handful of students at this school are currently employed. As much research has shown, it’s a good thing to get a job, as it helps to develop the skills of focus and following directions needed to be successful.
