You check carefully, because there isn't a draft, nor draft physicals, nor physical classifications.
As I said earlier, a self-initializing individual with desire and effort will find a way, but it's sure difficult, after reading responses, to figure out why. If you are confident of failure, you'll find it, and if you lack a way to fail, or an excuse for failure, this bunch will find one for you.
True, but others have taken their place. When I had my TV guide route (12 years old, anyone old enough to remember them), then two paper routes, there were no fast food joints. McDonalds came out a few years later, and I worked there for $.60 per hour. Now most of the paper delivery is motor routes, but there is a fast food place on every corner and they are always hiring, usually at a couple of bucks premium to minimum. Seems like everyone uses yard services now, and in this area year round, another opportunity that didn't really exist when I was young. Mall retail has expanded exponentially. That little downtown movie theatre has turned into two or three multiplex theatres.
It is all in attitude. You will probably have to have intelligence to get to be the president of the company, but attitude will get you most of the way there. Primarily attitude means putting your ego subserviant to your employer and his stakeholders. It is so simple.
And yes, you can always find an anecdotal situation where an individual cannot pull himself up, but statistically, I believe there are more opportunites today to get started then ever.
Frank
When I was a teenager
"Frank Boettcher" wrote
I agree ... the willingness to work to "get the job done right", is the single thing I see most lacking in those I hire today.
So lacking in fact, that the opposite is "remarkable" in its most precise definition.
Success _is_ , eventually, that simple ...
Ambition, good attitude, common sense, the desire to do better. Some of the people in the deparment were great at the job they did, but had no management skills, nor did they have the interest. There are millions of workers that do a good job, but that is all they want to do. Punch in, work, punch out. No thinking required. It was a union shop and they did have some security. That security and good union wage went away when the company moved south to cut costs.
As stated, my income for the year was $5800, or $111 a week. That included some overtime. Base was probably $90 a week or so.
As a side note, Social Security sends you an annual summary of your earnings. We could live well for a year back then on what is now a month's pay.
In high school I did sometimes work the meat counter and use the slicer. I was 16 at the time. Now you have to be 18. I wokred 2 hours a day M-F and
8 on Saturday. Most of the small stores are gone but fast food takes at least some of their place.Some of the jobs are gone, but many parents don't want their kids to work, but to play organized sports and take music lessons and other activities that keep them busy. I had to buy my own car; too many parents give the kids a car and unwittingly take away a lot of incentive to do well in life.
How does one get "management skills" and convince the boss that one has them?
Yep. That's part of the problem. You used to be able to live on minimum wage, but minimum wage also didn't apply to a number of jobs that were considered to be starter jobs for teenagers. Much of that has been closed off now, so the minumum wage has to be kept low enough to allow at least some of those jobs to still exist.
Mine were that way and I'm still trying to recover.
I don't know if anyone can "get" those skills. They can hone them, improve them, and work hard at improving what you already have. As Frank stated earlier, many people have neither the aptitude nor willingness to pursue that line of work. And that's fine for them. It seems that the people who have the skills are born with a natural inclination to lead. I'm not equating leadership skills with management skills
100%, but there is a correlation.As often as not, convincing the boss comes down to playing the game, whatever it is within that particular organisaton.
Paper route, lawn work, painting, dog poo poo pickup, run errands for old folks, local hauling (furniture, trash, etc), grease monkey (don't have to be a mechanic to grease cars) A lot of the problem young people today have is that while growing up they never learned any skills. By the time my boys reached 14, they could do a good job washing and waxing a car, changing the oil, paint, do lawn care, rough carpentry, replace a faucet washer, unclog a drain. By the time they were 16 they could do the foregoing and: lay bricks & concrete blocks, build a cabinet, apply roofing shingles and/or roll roofing, finish concrete, install ceramic tile, replace faucets. It might be worth mentioning that they never used drugs, smoked, sprayed graffiti, or any of the other myriad assortment of troubles young people can get into.
Max
And them things we had can not be bought with any amount of money.
If you spend a lot of time traveling or in meetings, text messaging (aka Short Message Service) is a godsend. It is an unobtrusive way to get/send information without disturbing others in a meeting or having to yell to be heard in some loud airport terminal. SMS also has the benefit of causing people to get to the point more quickly since it's difficult to ramble on with only 128 chars/msg at your disposal.
From your past posts, I suspect you and I are about the same age so this is not a generational thing on my part.
YMMV ...
Have you in the last 20 years or so tried to keep food on your table and save enough to take college courses doing any of those things?
And "dog poo pickup"? That's actually a _job_? _Where_?
And knowing how to do all that, can they turn it into income?
Yes. I have a SIL who is a wannabee, while the kid supports his sorry ass (and his kid). Before they were married, he wanted to be a photographer, but his camera broke and he couldn't afford another. He managed to get a 60" TV that year, though. He wasn't happy when I pointed out that a lot of my camera gear was bought in plade of things like that. We still have a 25" CRT TV (in fairness, neither my wife nor I watch much TV, so it doesn't matter to us). He wanted to be a writer, but couldn't sit down long enough to do it (all he does is f..king sit, fer crissakes!), and when he found out I was a former Marine, he piped up with, "Marines! I love the discipline." He wouldn't know discipline if it bit him on the ass. I told him a few weeks ago he should go check the Marines out; they're taking people up to at least 34, and he's 32. He looked panicky and chaged the subject.
He tells our daughter it would "demean" him to work for a low wage (8 bucks an hour, I think he was talking about), but it doesn't demean him to take child support from his son's mother, while living off another woman.
We discovered we were wrong about his job record. I had thought he hadn't worked at anything more than two months. Nope. He worked almost six months in one job.
Ugh. SSOS. AKA sorry sack of shit.
He will fail at any job he attempts. Christ, they're dying for welders around here. If I were his age, I'd head for the nearest place to learn torch and stick handling, and start applying. Places are taking low end welders, paying 12-13 bucks an hour, and training them. Sure, it's hard work. But it is work you can do well and be proud of.
Ah, pfui. You cannot re-program many of the losers, I'm afraid. Those that you can, of course, are not really losers, just people temporarily down on their luck. Those people should be helped.
I just don't do meetings, nor do I need to send or receive messages while I travel. I read instead.
Seems to be symptomatic of our society as a whole; in our rush to be tolerant, understanding, and compassionate, we have, as a whole, developed a tolerance and sympathy for failure -- even if that failure is based upon poor choices made early on or a lack of drive or motivation. That's not necessarily bad in itself, but the corollary and conclusion that follows is that those who did not make poor choices but who sacrificed and exhibited drive and motivation are expected to not only pick up the slack for those who did not but also to share the fruits of their labors with them as well.
Income? How about a great income if you want to be a handyman type and build a good reputation. Lots of cash jobs too.
I've know a couple of guys that never had a "job", but always had something going on and plenty of money. They did not socialize with the Chablis and brie crowd, but sure make a good living from them.
Can't give a definitive answer to that. In my case, I was one day summoned to the office of the plant manager. He had seen me around the plant (I was doing inventory control) and asked if I wanted to be a part of his team when he took over as Manufacturing Manager. Two weeks later I had a new job. Progressive companies are always on the lookout for good workers and ways to promote them. My shipping supervisor came to us from burger flipping. He worked in shipping and now runs the department. My maintenance supervisor was a maintenance and mold setup guy and when his boss moved to Florida, we gave him a chance.
We reward good people also. Super Christmas bonuses, a weekend trip after
10 years. a 10 day trip of your choice after 15 years (I went to Italy), and a generally good working atmosphere every day. Very few people quit this company as we are treated very well.
Must be nice. The places I've worked were _not_ like that. Promotion by seniority, when there's a downturn the junior people get laid off and the seniors get demoted, the only way up was for someone to retire or die.
Not to mention being branded as "privileged" or "advantaged" as if nothing they do or did counted for anything except greater tax liability.
Fine, Friendly, Fraternizing Females have other ways to accumulate funds.
Then you try something else......One can get married and put your spouse to work, a couple could even take turns and either could squeeze in part time work as well. One can kiss up to your parents and hang around the homestead until college is done. There are a unlimited variety of jobs that coincide with college classes coupled with roommates or shared housing etc.....There are ample college loans and scholarships available for direct school costs and in many cases living costs as well. I think your confusing difficult with impossible.
Regrettably as more easy money (via loans & taxes) has flooded the market schools have raised tuition rates far exceeding inflation, actually almost in lock step with inflated medical costs......3rd party payees raise havoc with market place dynamics. Community colleges while expensive as well are far cheaper than 4 yr. institutions thus provide a much cheaper weeding out process for the many whom attempt but fail to finish school.
My wife's family (three brothers and her) were literally as poor as church mice, her Dad was pastor of a small church and her Mom had decade long major medical problems and bills.....her 2 brothers and my wife all graduated from college...for those whom want it and have enough gray matter to get by, there is always a way. Rod
Rod
If the spouse can find work.
So how do you pay for college? And what happens if the parents live
200 miles from the nearest decent college?And now you're ending up with the guy fresh out of college with huge indebtedness to pay back.
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