I just finished a Veronica Mars marathon. For those of you who have no idea who this is Veronica Mars is a teenage detective extraordinaire who solved adult cases for adult sized money. Those of us luckily enough to have watched this show know how amazing it is and are watching the Kickstarter movie funding campaign with baited breath.
Veronica wasn’t well liked in high school but she intrigued her classmates, had tormented relationships with hot guys, and she always got the job done. The show was great for many reasons but for the purpose of this post I’m going to focus on the fact that she worked and worked hard for her money. The town of Neptune where she lived was full of intrigue and danger so Veronica was able to find a steady clientele of people in a hot mess who needed help or these people would find her when they were in need of help. Now, Veronica was way too adult for any parent’s liking, but, at least she hustled.
I started working when I was 16 years old. My first job was at a sandwich shop obviously making sandwiches. I made $4.75 an hour which was a ton of money for a teenager at the time. I enjoyed the camaraderie with my colleagues, having a place to go, the ability to do what I wanted with my money. The only gross thing about that job was making Roast Beef sandwiches with or without onions. Raw roast beef is really bloody. I hated making roast beef sandwiches. Senior year I went for sushi every week, paid my cheerleading costs, and went shopping a lot.
In retrospect there were some things that I could have done with that money but didn’t. The big thing that I didn’t do was save any of the money that I made. In fact, I don’t really recall having a conversation about what I should do with the money that I earned. I did like that I felt like I was helping my mom out. It was an amazing and empowering time for me. I didn’t invest the money for the future. The charts showing the difference between saving from age 18 until 65 were never shown to me and I missed an opportunity for future wealth.
I was never allowed to babysit so my working life began a little later than most teens. I remember my mom saying “Once you start working you probably won’t stop.” Wow, how true were those words! I did take breaks throughout the year and traveled, but work has been a constant in my life. I was an overachiever as a teen and it soon became obvious as I moved into my adult life that my teenaged work experience taught me skills that would add me in the future. Skills such as discipline, working in a group, timeliness, how to be humble, how to offer good customer service, awareness of workflow, how to ask questions, and many more life skills that I’m probably unaware of.
As summer approaches parents should help guide their teens toward a meaningful work experience. While many people argue that there aren’t any jobs out there for teenagers because they have to compete with adults. I would disagree. Teenagers are able capable of starting business ventures such as: babysitting, lawn jobs, dog walking, creating apps, cleaning, sewing, cooking, and the list goes on. To do these things would require initiative, innovative thinking, hustle, and drive. These are life skills that will pay off for their entire lives and are life skills that I feel most people if they plan on being successful need to explore and execute.
As for that precocious Veronica Mars. She worked in every episode, had an active social life (ahem) and ended up going to college. Along the way she solved crimes, helped people out, and helped propel handheld technology to t.v. (cell phones and laptops!) I don’t expect every teen to be as enterprising as Veronica-but, there is work to be had you just have to encourage them to think of their strengths and think creatively. Wishing them good luck with this summer’s job search!
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I LOVED VM! It was so cleverly written! I loved my sumer jobs when I was younger. It helped me with not having too much idle time.
I am working my way through Season 2, then 1 and 3. Totally out of sequence, but hey-I’ve seen almost all of the episodes before.
I never watched the show but I agree with the premise of this post. The earlier you start working gives you valuable experience and it shows a good level of maturity
I’m glad that I worked in high school. I was a pretty driven kid but could be a little flaky (like most 16 year olds!) It helped me become responsible dealing with people other than friends and family which is a life skill that a lot of adults still need to cultivate.
I love Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell is so adorable. My first job was at a sandwich shop, too – I hated smelling like pickles and pepperchinis (sp), but agree that it was helpful in funding my senior year activities!
I haven’t really eaten Roast Beef sandwiches since high school as all the blood grossed me out. It was a really fun job though and I really enjoyed going to work, the camraderie, and getting paid (of course!).