Rodney

I must differ with you there. Business didn't sit down and say, "Let's make low-paying jobs for young people to learn the ropes of the world of work." What has really happened, especially with the advent of mechanisation and automation even in the fast-food workplace and other service venues, is that they've tried to make the jobs simpler so that low-wage children can do the work with moderately little training. Scanners in supermarkets replaced career clerks with superior ten-key skills with sullen teenagers.

Salespeople in clothing stores used to be very knowledgeable. But with the rise of discount clothing stores and the need for low prices and high volume with low profit margin, the retail professionals of yore have been giving way self-serve stories with young help that is trained only to use the registers and stock shelves. Again, the idea is to restructure jobs so that expensive, experience people are not necessary, and so that low-wage youngsters can be employed in their stead. And of course the service is crappy and so is the work ethic, because their jobs are very mechanical and structured.

What I would say to business is that a lot of people _will_ pay a little more for good service. And if you want to give good service, hire whoever proves that they can fill the bill. At a good price. The most consistly good restaurant that I go to, a very popular breakfast/lunch place, has a mainly middle-aged wait-staff of seasoned pros, with a sprinkling of young people who they're hired in from outside and who can make the grade. I pay mostly a buck more for meals here than elsewhere, but the food and service are always superb. Of course the owner is out on the floor most every moment of every day.

And there's a local supermarket that _still_ has old-fashioned registers and hires mainly younger people as cashiers. They're mainly great at what they do, and at customer service, and most tend to stay around for years. Must be the good wages. There are always a few who come and go in a month or so -- the ones who don't measure up.

And there's a local lighting store than hires college students for $10 an hour plus commission. It's a great job, a lot to learn. The problem is, you -have- to learn, or die. I remember going up to a young clerk who was obviously studying product sheets between waiting on customers and I asked him how he liked it. "It's fine," he moaned, "but there's so much to learn!" But he _was_ learning it.

So I say, screw giving young workers "a chance" with a low-wage job. Hold them to a high standard and pay them for it; if they don't meet it, can 'em. Throw 'em right into the fire and burn out the dross to leave the diamonds. I just don't accept training substandard youngsters as an excuse for paying low wages. Taken at face value, it's coddling; looked at more cynically, it's just an excuse to pay low wages.