Village Kitchen 2022

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

Love this post from Gary and totally agree.
After more than 40 years in the business,I have scores of success stories
Kids that started as dishwashers at age 14 or 15 that learned the nuts and bolts of the business and went on to very good jobs in management or as owners their own restaurant. Restaurant work is good for young people because it teaches them how to navigate the workplace dealing with others.Usually,their first such experience
Also teaches them the value of teamwork. Back of the house as well as the front must work together with precision or things fall apart quickly.
Restaurant work is a good start for any young person.

Let's not forget that it also teaches empathy and patience—most everybody should work in a retail setting for these reasons.

That being said, given the myriad jobs available to teens that may be more fulfilling or pay better, I can see that restaurant help might suffer.

For example, a fair amount of my students work for camps/after-school programs, etc. that pay well, provide great resume material, and a pipeline to scholarships...and are probably seen as more rewarding. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not sure I know any seniors working in restaurants.

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[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

For example, a fair amount of my students work for camps/after-school programs, etc. that pay well, provide great resume material, and a pipeline to scholarships...and are probably seen as more rewarding. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not sure I know any seniors working in restaurants.

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This is an excellent point point--my 20-something kids had a huge selection of resume-building (i.e. college application enhancing) activities/jobs to choose from that did not exist decades ago

[trashman]

I agree with SAMIAM in that working in the restaurant industry is an excellent job for teens. People are tough, and when expected to give good service with a smile, in a "customer is always right" environment, there are a lot of lessons learned here. Aside from the hard work, it's great for kids to be able to continuously converse with someone they never met before (and who is an adult).