Has anyone ever 'punished' their kids by not letting go to their job?

[rcrush]

When I was managing a store sometimes I would have parents of teenaged employees call me up and say "Oh Johnny cant come to work today cause he's grounded please excuse him from his shift" and I would say "Um sorry I cant do that. Being grounded isnt an excuse to get out of work. If he doesnt cover his shift then I will write him up." Or sometimes it would be an employee that already is late a lot or missed a shift already. I would have to tell the mom "Um thanks for calling for your son but this is his second or third write up if he doesnt come in he's fired" And then the Mom yells at me and gets all pissed off cause I'm treating her son badly.


I seriously dont get it. These kids that had their moms call in cause they were grounded or something never want to be at work anyway. So their parents punish them by not letting them go to work? But it should be excused?

[skygazer]

1. That's a new one to me

But I had a friend who used to punish her kids by making them go read a book. :wtf:

And she wondered why they got lousy grades in school. :banghead:

[quakerboy]

2. Really?

I cant imagine. At some point people need to get that there is the external world, and the internal family, and they are seperate. Plus the aspect of using that as punishment, which adds to the specialness.

[rcrush]

6. I would even get the mom that has to sit in on the job interview with their kid

There are some real overbearing smothering parents out there. I had more than a few parents try to sit in on job interviews with their kid and sometimes answer questions for them. I never hired any of them. I wonder if those kids ever managed to get a job before they were 21.

[quakerboy]

7. Is that even legal?

[Xipe Totec]

3. No that's pretty stupid

You WANT them to be independent.

Keeping them from doing a job is keeping them dependent on their parents.

That's the dumbest thing I can think of.

[rcrush]

4. It happens a lot where kids work.

Some parents cant understand that if its the kids first job he needs to learn to be responsible and not have mommy take care of everything. I HATED it when parents would call and say "Oh Jimmy is gonna be late" or "Jimmy is sick and cant come to work". I wouldnt have been able to get away with that with MY boss. Or my favorite "Jimmy isnt doing well in school please give him less hours" I would totally ignore that one until the employee himself came to me and said he needed less hours.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Those aren't the rules at my house

thank God.

My spouse and I want our kids to be independent.

The sooner, the better.

We're not there yet, but we're trying.

[seemunkee]

8. I never did it for my kids

They need to learn to manage their own affairs. If they're old enough to work, then they can pick up a phone and make the call themselves.

[KG]

9. tried to get my mom to work my job in my place.

she didn't go for that. :P

[crim son]

10. No, and I think that's bullshit.

If a parent punishes a child the punishment should have real-world consequences. Not having to go to work isn't real: better would be to have them work, and then ground them on their day off. That'd hurt. I'd give the kid two chances and then fire him/her. Tough love and all.

[sasquatch]

11. They must be very controlling parents

They see the $$$ that the child earns as their $$$ because s/he made it while living under their roof.

[MorningGlow]

12. My mom WAS my first boss

She drafted me to work in her office whether I wanted to or not (I did NOT want to). And she was a right pain in the ass--harder on me than your average peon to prove she wasn't playing favorites. My punishment was having to GO to work--sick, incapacitated, dead, what have you. I couldn't even switch shifts--not even when the other person was willing to switch.

BTW, what kind of message does it send the kids when their punishment is being kept from working? How are these two things related? :shrug:

[Chan790]

17. Me too...

my first job, when I was 13, was as a scullery-boy in the restaurant where my mother was the manager.

When I slacked off or didn't peel the carrots(for example) fast enough, she gave the executive chef permission to verbally-berate me. She did threaten him when he threw the cast-iron skillet at me though.

I am as good with a knife as any Culinary Institute of America or Le Cordon Bleu graduate now. It's kind of funny to be a houseguest during any fancy-dinner holiday...every member of my immediate family, except my stepfather the dairy manager (and cheese expert), has worked extensively in the restaurant trade...we might be the only family in America who could have a 3-hour-argument about how to make mashed potatoes better.

[RoyGBiv]

13. I never let parents call ...

Oh, they could call, but unless it was for something catastrophic that made the employee unable to call, I treated it as a "no call, no show." Three of those, and you were gone. Actually, at two, the kid may as well have quit.

I have no patience for this kind of behavior at all. If you're not responsible enough to take care of your own business without parental intervention, you're not responsible enough to hold a job anyway.

[noamnety]

14. I've never heard of such a thing.

I'm totally going to try it though next time I don't feel like going to work. (40's isn't too old for this, is it?)

[Orsino]

15. I would certainly consider it...

...with the understanding that it might well mean the permanent loss of the job.

If a kid is seriously delinquent in his top priorities, the job is expendable--unless my household is depending on that income. All extracurriculars are privileges that ought to be revoked if the kid isn't juggling successfully. I don't think I'd take this drastic action just for a day; a child who needs grounding needs grounding for quite a while longer than an employer is likely to wait.

[Tabasco_Dave]

16. The parents should ground the paycheck

working for no money is the worst punishment i can think of.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Hear, hear!

[Odin2005]

18. That's a new one!

:crazy:

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. I get that with my cheerleading team. But that means that I can't do half of

what I was going to do when someone is missing, so the whole team is in effect grounded.

[Recovered Repug]

21. I grew up on a farm.

My punishments tended toward additional work - not that I ever got into trouble.:evilgrin: