COVID-19 has caused many changes, both good and bad. One of these changes is the amount of people willing to work in fields requiring social contact.
A variety of businesses have experienced staff shortages over the last year and a half, and the businesses that seem to be most impacted are part of the fast food industry.
However, as valuable as these employees are to keeping these businesses open, they receive little to no recognition. Many employees, such as myself, have spent more hours working than on any other activity in order to keep short staffed businesses open.
I work a maximum of 24 hours a week, and struggle managing my other priorities. When I come home from work late at night I end up pushing through hours worth of schoolwork. Working five days each week, I find myself with no free time to spend with friends or any other extracurricular activities.
Senior Katerina Schumaker has worked at Robinette’s for over a year. She works nearly four days a week and more than seven hours during the weekend. Plus, with the possibility of having to work the day after receiving a schedule, Schumaker says she can’t make plans unless it’s two weeks in advance, making it difficult to maintain a stable social life.
“I’ve missed a few quizzes in math due to sickness, and can never find a day after school I can retake them,” said Schumaker. “On top of that, I feel like I have no social life. Weekends are most peoples freetime, but that’s our busiest time of the week, so I end up working instead of seeing my friends. When I do get out of work, I’m usually exhausted, and often go to bed right when I get home.”
Senior Madison Zimmerman has worked at Mcdonalds for just over a year. Working five days out of the week, Zimmerman says she has no outside freetime.
“If I’m not at school, then I’m at work,” Zimmerman said. “Most days I end up doing my school work while I’m at my job.”
Despite all other priorities they may have, it seems as though teens still appear to be the ones who are consistently at work and carrying the workload, all the while receiving little to no praise from their employers.
“I feel like out of all the closers, I carry everyone. I’m always the last one out, excluding the owners,” Schumaker said.
Clearly, if it weren’t for the teenagers currently working, fast food industries would show a lack of employees. With this, there should be more appreciation and recognition for teenagers who are juggling school, work, and other activities they may endure.
“We don’t get paid enough for all that we do,” Zimmerman said. “It’s good that teens are working, but we’re working a lot more than we should. [I feel like] people fail to realize that and don’t appreciate us as much as we deserve.”