Why Teens Should Never Work In Fast Food Restaurants

Most parents encourage their teenage Sons and Daughters to go out and get a job. They believe it's a great way to start earning money and gaining some responsibility. Some teens need to work because they have to help support their families. Fast food restaurants love to hire teens because they'll work for cheap and very long hours. They prey on these kids in malls, schools, and on the internet promising them a career that they otherwise might not be able to achieve.

According to the National Restaurant Association, the fast food industry is one of the largest employers to teens in the United States. More than half of Mcdonalds senior managers have started off as fry cooks and more than 50% of store owners began as crew members within a franchise. Those numbers sound great, but it fails to paint a picture of the real story. Most of these teenage workers can be forced to work more than 40 hours a week without being paid, even though they're part-time. There's no benefits for them, so if an injury occurs, you better hope they're insured. Speaking of safety issues, an estimated 28,000 teens in fast food jobs are rushed to the ER each year with job related injuries. Most of these injuries are burns from hot grease, slip and falls, and inhaling poisonous fumes.

Teenage fast food employees are constantly targeted for robberies because criminals see them as an easy target. Many fast food managers are under the age of 21 and are susceptible because of their inexperience in these types of situations. Another reason is many of these establishments don't limit the amount of cash on hand so criminals know they can strong arm young employees into giving them that easy cash. The last reason is due to the long hours these restaurants are open for. Between 10 pm and 6 am is when most robberies happen within these establishments, and the sad part is many teens are still working at those hours. Here's some food for thought before sending your teen to work in the fast food industry. In early 2000, 5 Wendy's employees were shot and killed over a sum of $2400. They were tied up, mouths were ducked tape, plastic bags put over their heads, and then they were marched into the freezer where they were shot execution style in the back of the head. Two of these employees were 18 years old.

What can we do about it? After reading Fast Food Nation, I wanted to become apart of the solution. I asked myself, how can we provide a safer employment environment for teens? The first two words that popped into my head were apprenticeships or internships. Many startup businesses are always looking for cheap help. I thought, why couldn't we teach teens entrepreneurial skills and then place them in a startup to work for cheap, gain valuable experience, and the upside is 1000% better than working for fast food restaurant. This program would be doing three important things. First, they would obtain the skills they need to become successful in a knowledge based economy. Second, they would work in a safe environment where they could apply these new skills. Third, they will start to build a network. It's so important to start building connections at an early age because when you're ready to start your own business or join the workforce you'll already have a network to lean on.

These teens are the future of our nation and we need to give them the best chance to be successful. I know that many teens need or should work, but fast food restaurants are not the answer. Kids have so much creativity that it shouldn't be wasted flipping burgers at Mcdonalds, but in an environment where it could be nurtured and celebrated. Superintendents have asked me to develop an entrepreneurial program for their schools, and a key component to the curriculum is apprenticeships or internships at local startups. The future is in innovation not in fast food restaurants. Therefore, we must prepare our youth as early as possible.

Thanks for reading,

Mark Bavisotto

Propel Academy

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