More states are letting teenagers serve alcohol at bars and restaurants, part of a growing rollback of child labor protection laws across the United States.
As a former bartender, this is a terrible idea. You do not want your kids involved in bar culture until they are old enough to have at least some clue how to determine how savvy the people around them actually are. Otherwise you're a lot more likely to end up with an addiction problem, as there's a whole shitload of drugs in that environment.
21+ for bartenders, 18+ for barbacks. If anything they should be higher, not lower, but those numbers are probably fine. By 21 you've usually gotten fucked over a couple times by random people and become a little more discerning.
I was a line cook in college. The absolutely mind blowing amount of drugs and booze both the front of house and back of house staff had at their personal disposal was unbelievable.
Teenagers getting introduced to heroin and developing an addiction isn't a bug, it's a feature. How can they grow up and see the bigger picture if their mind is dominated by drugs? How can they organise when they are too busy spending every waking moment acquiring more drugs?
Eh, I'd be surprised if any grand plan is at work. Humans just aren't that able to cooperate with each other, to make something like that function smoothly.
It's much more likely an emergent phenomenon from a wide array of different factors, starting with our basic human nature.
Never wise to suspect malice when simple stupidity or laziness could be the reason. They're vastly more common.
I'm told by super-smart econ people that companies and states pushing to start child labor up again rather than pay wages that would have adults work is NOT an indication of a failing system.
Are they the same people that say we shouldn't ask for a pay-rise because the cost of everything is going up, because it will cause the cost of stuff to go up even more? Or the same tools operating the Bank of England increasing interest rates to curb inflation despite that fact the only prices inflating now are food (and I guess property rent), i.e. essentials we NEED to buy causing food poverty and/or home repossessions?
I don't doubt they're super smart at economics. I just think they might have lost touch with the effect these ideas (like the one in this post) have on real people.
Yes, we've had the meme about eastern Europeans when westerners advocate for communism. Now we need a meme about Americans when Europeans advocate for deregulated capitalism, because I feel that every time I, an American, see the English advocating for a more American style health system.
They're more fun than bartending, so just take your kids to the range instead! Who knows? Maybe one day they'll make a little extra on the side as a range master or even start a career as a gunsmith. Make sure there's good ventilation though, lead exposure is no bueno.
Yo what if I wanted a drink during school hours? This is bullshit. Don't let your kids work jobs or better yet don't have kids to feed to the corpo grinder. Procreation is goddamn cruel.
I disagree about not working jobs. I started working when I was 12. No not joking. There is nothing wrong with having them take a job with a neighbor and pulling some weeds or something simple, so they can earn their own cash and understand what it takes to earn a dollar.
I disagree with minors working in a bar. I also disagree with states that are expanding the working hours for kids. But I believe it is good for kids to understand what it takes to earn money. But we should be careful on how many hours they work.
Pretty sure this is mostly hyperbole. It's more about allowing a 16 year to drop off a beer at a table, than letting them be alone behind a bar for last call.