Twenty-some years ago, working at Hy-Vee seemed like the cool thing to do. I knew several kids who worked there and they all seemed to enjoy their jobs. They got plenty of hours, the working conditions were nice, and they were paid well. ("Well" being a relative term here.) Oh, and Hy-Vee seemed like a much better place to work than the other hotspot for young employees: Amigos.
I never did get that job at Hy-Vee, but over the years I've always had a positive impression about how they handle youngsters on the job. I don't know how old you have to be to have a job at Hy-Vee these days, but I know that they used to hire pretty young -- 14, I think. That was great for kids who needed money or who wanted job experience. Given Hy-Vee's experience with youth workers, I was pretty surprised to see that they were fined by the Department of Labor for allowing youth to perform "hazardous" jobs. You'd think they'd have enough experience to avoid that kind of thing.
Youth employees are often on my mind because a favorite eatery of mine allows children to help out with tasks like clearing tables and even taking orders. They do a good job and I wholeheartedly support their presence in the business because of the lessons they're learning, and because their constant smiles suggest they're having fun. However I constantly fear that the restaurant will get in trouble for the kids' work. I know labor regulations are strict about this sort of thing. That's why I'm not mentioning the eatery's name. Then again, the kids' presence isn't exactly subtle. If the eatery has ever been inspected, surely they would have gotten in trouble if there were a problem. Perhaps the rules aren't quite as harsh as I thought.
I wonder how many situations like that exist around town. I can't think of too many off the top of my head -- a restaurant here, a salon there. Perhaps I should get my boys started in the web development business. I could have my own little sweat shop development studio right here in the basement. Hmm...
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I used to work for a bait shop / ice company in Columbus growing up. I started there when I was 13. Common jobs included running some heavy duty augers to move the ice, a very unsafe hopper for bagging the ice, pouring molten lead into molds to make sinkers (wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans), climbing into ice bins without any ventilation to clean them with some pretty potent cleaners. To top it off, I got paid in cash well below minimum wage.
To this day I’m amazed health and safety inspectors would come in and not say a word, granted we were usually not doing those tasks when they came in. I did in fact love the job though, and it makes me appreciate the web development job I have now that much more.
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