Opinions Editor Jonathan Saucedo is a three-year member of the Wildcat Chronicle who frequently writes opinion pieces. The views expressed in this piece are his own.
When turning 16, one does not have as many privileges as when turning 25. A typical 16-year-old is not getting married, buying a house, or working full time (including overnights).
However, there is brand new option available, and that is getting a part-time job. While there may not be a lot of opportunities for teens, there are good choices out there. Retail might seem like an easy environment to work in, but fast food places have more job openings and better benefits compared to working at a clothing store.
Why is that? Well, teenagers (and likely everyone else in the world) do not enjoy working. Balancing both grades and part-time jobs can be challenging and overwhelming. What if they cannot find a job that fits their schedule?
As the name implies, fast-food jobs are known for being fast-paced, with positions that are easy enough for teens to learn while keeping up a quick tempo. The hours can fly by before one even realizes it is time to clock out.
On the other hand, retail jobs, depending on the store, can be very slow, and most of the hours are spent stocking, fixing, or just waiting for customers to show up.
“I don’t like how they don’t schedule enough people because of payroll. I don’t like how some people or customers can’t put their clothes back on the rack, and I don’t like when people don’t greet you back when you greet them politely,” Alexander Ocampo, a citizen of West Chicago said.
In most cases, the pay for fast food workers, who are often teens, is very similar or falls within the same price range as retail stores, maybe with an extra dollar tacked on one way or another. Depending on whether the store is corporate-owned or not, fast food jobs could pay more.
If the pay gap is minimal, the experience gained from working at a fast food restaurant is not. There is no denying the skills developed in food service are applicable to other aspects of daily life.
- Communicate clearly with coworkers and management
- Multitask and adapt
- Maintain high customer service standards during busy times
- Handle transactions quickly and accurately
These are just a few examples of skills that can be acquired and can be very helpful in the future. Although simple skills like customer service can be learned very well from working in retail, the industry just does not offer the same level of teamwork that a fast food job does.
Not to mention that retail stores can have unpredictable schedules during seasonal months such as Halloween, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Some places even give teens a bunch of days on the week of the holiday, keeping them very busy. It is the kind of busy where there are clothes, boxes, and pieces of furniture bunched into a pile waiting for someone to put them away, which can take up to a couple of hours while having to help and deal with customers around the store.
“The kicker is that I hadn’t wanted to come in that day. I’d asked for the day off so that I could attend an event that night. They’d offered to have me come in and leave earlier, but the schedule never got changed. Our schedules were totally unpredictable. I had asked to work 20 hours a week, but I was usually scheduled for 40 and had to ask the manager to change it,” Laura Amico, writer for the Harvard Business Review, said.
During my time working in various industries, including restaurants, retail, and fast food, fast food was certainly the easiest to get into. My job gets quite busy during rush hours, making the time pass by quickly. Despite being stressful at times, everyone works together to get the job done and earn some quick cash.
On the other hand, retail was very boring. There was little to do besides walking around and hanging up clothes, which made five hours feel like nine. Also, the holiday weeks were extremely busy, and being the one responsible for putting everything away was a real pain, especially when items were hidden in obscure spots. The only benefits of working in retail were the discounts and the people; everything else was not enjoyable at all.
Those who are 15+ and need money (although a job is not recommended if school is to be top priority), should seek a job at a local fast-food restaurant: it is guaranteed to provide with great experience, work, and, of course, cash.
