Exploring the world of working retail
December 26, 2014
Many students juggle school, sports and work, which can be extremely challenging at times. Working in retail part time has some great advantages and disadvantages. Even though school work should be students number one priority, students find it hard to do that.
If a student is over the age of 16 and under 18, the law says that they cannot work more than eight hours a day, or more than 40 hours a week. Students must have twelve hours’ rest between each working day, and 48 hours of rest per working week. They are also entitled to a 30 minute break when they work for longer than four and a half hours. They cannot usually work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. If they are contracted to work after 10 p.m., they must stop work at 11 p.m. and not start again before 7 a.m.
There are some exceptions for young people who work in hospitals, agriculture, retail, hotels and catering, bakeries, post/newspaper deliveries, or in connection with cultural, artistic, sporting or advertising activities.
“I get stressed out because I don’t have a lot of time when I have to go straight to work after school, I do not get home until late, so I lack sleep and it just gets hard. But I do have a great time because I love the people I work with at American Eagle. I really like working in retail because I get really good discounts on the clothes and accessories, there’s a lot of different positions you can work in retail which is nice,” said senior Tally Ross.
Ross continued, “I work at a mall so it is kind of a drive. There’s busy seasons which means you have to work long shifts so it gets pretty tiring and then during the slow seasons there is nothing to do and it gets pretty boring when you just stand there. But I love clothes and helping other people pick out outfits. It sucks having to constantly fold clothes and stock everything, it’s very repetitive and not much change.”
Students get some benefits by working in the retail. Many of them like to work local and see the people they know.
“I like working in retail at Heritage Embroidery, I love working around things I like. I am super friendly with customers, and since it’s local I get to talk to people that I know. It can be boring, but it gives you something to do. I have some pretty attractive co-workers, so it makes it fun,” said senior Jenny Hammer.
There are also a few downsides to working in retail. There are approximately 27 million shoplifters (or one in 11 people) in our nation today. Approximately 25 percent of shoplifters are kids and 75 percent are adults. 55 percent of adult shoplifters say they started shoplifting in their teens.
“One time we had a group of four boys come in that were wearing sweatshirts with sensors on them so we knew they stole from other stores. We had a pretty good idea that they were going to steal from us too. And we were right. As they were leaving, we called the mall security and they got everything figured out,” said Ross.
Working as student in retail can have some ups and downs. Students just have to decide if working in retail is worth it or not. Many say the discounts make up for the excessive boredom.
Kjell Sandstrom • Jan 7, 2015 at 9:37 pm
I thought you really puller great stories out of the interviewees! They all seemed to have interesting stories from their work. They were informative and funny! The stats were informative, however, I thought the section on work laws and restrictions for teens was unneeded. If you wanted to add it you could have tried to introduce it a bit better.
Stephanie Nielsen • Jan 7, 2015 at 7:07 pm
Great insight into teens lives and how retail work affects them! I didnt know about the shoplifting statistics, great fact. Overall a very well written article, good job!
Sabrina Storms • Jan 7, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Very well written article, I loved how you showed the cause and affect that jobs have on teens. Also the stats were nice to help put the affect into perspective!
Robert Enright • Jan 3, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Very well written article! Its always so interesting to see how much students are able to put up with these days. It’s impressive that students can juggle school, sports, work and social lives! Its cool that students are able to find work that gives them usable benefits like Jenny gets at Heritage. Great job showing how much students are able to deal with these days!
Tessa Rosa • Dec 31, 2014 at 1:36 pm
This is a really informational without being boring article. I like how you talked about the shoplifters providing the statistic of 27 million and then bringing it to a more tangible level by saying one in 11. Overall this is a really well written article!