Did my parents do me a service or a disservice by not letting me work? (owner, job)

[Ringo1]

Hmmm. I have mixed feelings about this. One the one hand - it doesn't appear to have hurt you at all and you will be armed with two graduate degrees. As another poster said, there's still time to work at McDonalds if you really feel you need that as part of your education.

I did work beginning my junior year in HS and it taught me many things. Workplace politics, the value of hard work, and how to show up (this is important in Corp America) no matter how little sleep OR how hung over I was. BUT - because the boss liked me, I ended up working LOTS of hours and losing out on much of my senior year. I left school at noon, went to work at one; and got home around 8:30 or 9:00 pm. Many missed ballgames, etc.

My son will be leaving for college this year. I do feel that his job as lifeguard and swim coach has given him some responsibility and confidence that he just may carry with him for years to come.

[deposite]

I've gone through the same thing with my parents. I never had a real job before, except the jobs I had at my college. I was able to manage my own bank account and so forth. But if I had my life to live over, I would have started working early.

[Quitters_Win]

I worked at mcdonalds as my first job in high school and it was great. You get to interact with peers your own age and older; make some money while you're at it. Since you've got everything handled I say you didn't miss much. Keep going.

[malamute]

I don't think it's necessary to work while in high school, but I think for most people, it's best to work some kind of job after age 18. It can help you decide to finish college so you can have a job with benefits and better pay someday.

It amazed me because in a programming class, a simple assignment for a payroll program with different hourly salaries and overtime pay was difficult for many because they had never seen a paycheck and didn't know what overtime pay meant because they had never worked. For those who did, the assignment was a breeze.

[altlover85]

I worked a summer clerical paid internship during the summer of my junior year and during my senior year. I enjoyed it. I also worked one semester in college doing telefundraising and it came in handy when I had to take a similair job a few years after graduation.

Looking back, I might have wanted to work retail because I might have lost out on a job because I didn't have cash handling experience.

Originally Posted by nybbler

If you really want that sort of experience, volunteer to do grunt work for Habitat for Humanity or some similar organization.

I think volunteer work is a great way to get some of that experience without as much of a commitment.

[Drover]

On the one hand, I'd say your parents were irrationally controlling. On the other, I don't think you missed out on much except possibly a heightened ability to empathize with those who work menial jobs. For some people it's a good way to build up workplace skills and experience. Others can make the jump right into the professional or skilled workforce right out of school. My sister was the latter type; plus she was so involved in extracurricular activities that she never had time to work, at least not during the school year. For the rest of my siblings and me, working was a way to get the hell out of the house, hang out with friends (who often worked at the same places), and earn our own money so that our parents had less justification to control how we spent it.

[macroy]

Originally Posted by Mighty_Pelican

If there is one regret I have about my life so far, it is that my parents didn't allow me to work "menial" jobs in high school and threatened to cutoff financial support if I did so in college.

I wanted to work at a supermarket, or a moving company hauling heavy packages, or at a scrap yard operating equipment, anything. They told me that if they permitted me to work those kinds of jobs, they were afraid that I would want to quit school and enter the workforce full time without a degree. I think they just wanted power over me.

I think I got really lucky, because I was able to get several internships related to my field of study in the federal government in DC and in information-intensive companies in the private sector during the summer terms.

I feel like I missed out on an important part of life. Now that I got accepted into a top graduate program in information analytics and qualified for an assistantship producing research and analysis products, I'm wondering if I really missed out after all.

If it makes a difference, my parents were first generation immigrants who never went to college, they started a small business decades ago and overtime the company produced 7 figure income.

I don't don't know your parents. But my feeling is that they were simply doing what they felt was best for you (as opposed to purposely manipulating you). Was it the right move? Well... you seem to be doing fine.

And honestly - what you did was still your choice. You could have told your parents to kiss off and gone off on your own. But given the options, you chose to follow your parents wishes. So to an extent, you probably knew what was best....(or easier ;-)). And don't sell yourself short either, unless you got into this program because one of the buildings on campus has your last name on it, you obviously put some effort into things.

Did you miss out? I'm sure you missed out on some things. But you'd miss out in either case. You could be working in a "menial" position with no real advancement opportunities wondering if you missed out by not concentrating on academics.

[Warsie]

The best thing I would say is I guess 'personal' knowledge on what it is to be blue-collar or work those labor jobs. Not for that bull**** reasons about "being grateful" or whatnot, but just because it is a different experience and might be useful for the future in some weird/obscure manner (story-telling or something I guess). Though to be fair, again a lot of the people who work those jobs were young people like you so it might not -exactly- give you social experience about the 'blue collar'.

Oh, and you might meet cool people to do things with or whatever - not missing extremely a lot, but it's experience for resumes and stuff

Originally Posted by 313Weather

The nice part about working and earning your own too is that you never have to kiss anyone's ass (including your parents') to get something. It's a matter of pride too.

You have to kiss the ass of your bosses though and any sort of 'authority' and you still have to tolerate other people.

Originally Posted by Ringo1

it taught me many things. Workplace politics, the value of hard work, and how to show up (this is important in Corp America) no matter how little sleep OR how hung over I was.

I've wondered about that. People getting excessively drunk in weekedays for work socialization. Unless you hung with party people, which is good too.

[luzianne]

I wish I could have afforded to put all my kids through college without them having to work, because I have gone to school while working and I know how hard it is. It's so much easlier when you can just concentrate on school and not have to work too.

[s1alker]

Best thing about working a menial low wage job is seeing all the lifers to motivate you to do better.