"People don't want to work anymore"

Just my experience but when I take my car where my insurance prefers, things go smoothly and quickly.

When I moved here there was no Progressive place so I chose the local collision shop, wanting to support local business. They basically kept my car hostage for the entire length of time I was allowed a loaner, fighting with insurance, telling me they couldn't get parts, delay tactic after delay tactic trying to squeeze every last dime from my insurance for what was a minor fender bender. It turned into a huge ordeal and I'd never go back, and I'm now wary of trying to support local.

They did good work, but in no way should I have had to go through that. To top it off the manager found it necessary to talk down to me in a "now see here little lady" fashion. I normally don't ever feel the need to go get my husband as that feels weak to me, but I did have to with this guy.

But now they're under new management, so ...

That's way below average for Starbucks - you must live in a very low cost of living area.  I think the middle 50% is $10-$12.75 starting wage nationwide.  My daughter is making $13 - and frankly there's grumbling as you can start pretty much any retail or food service around here at $15.  Her summer counseling job paid $18 - so didn't pick up many shifts at Starbucks. It's worth it for her for their very generous food and drink policy. When you only work 10-15 hours a week, but get $10-15 of free food and drink every day, the hourly wage works out pretty well.  

ETA - it's a bit more with tips, but frankly their mobile app sucks for the employees as tipping isn't easy and more and more people are ordering through the app.

Holy hell.   Our state minimum wage is 12.00 an hour and that is not enough to support yourself.   I can’t imagine anywhere having such a low cost of living that they could pay anyone 7.25 an hour.   

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The Starbucks is on campus, so I dont' know if that has anything to do with their pay.

I'm not sure what you're implying here, but if the younger generations are able to make a living doing a job other than the crappy one some boomer tolerated and then left behind, good for the younger generation.

No one needs to "step up" to be treated like crap for low pay.

They are not necessarily stepping out and leaving behind a job that will be filled. In universities, eg, when someone retires from a tenure-track job, they generally aren’t being replaced by an entry-level tenure-track person — their workload simply gets dropped onto the people already teaching and-or universities hire adjuncts and contract professors who lack job security and are paid very little.

Someone is going to have to build our tires and cars, fill the manufacturing plants that are left in this country, build our homes, roads, and bridges that include plumbing and electricity, carpentry, concrete workers.  The trades are screaming for applicants and not everyone can make a living from YouTube, Tik Tok and IG.  I am sure there are other positions within other industries in this country that are desperate to replace the older workers that are leaving.  Who's going to fill those positions other than people who are younger? 

I'm at the very tail end of the boomer generation and I wish I could have pursued and made a living off of what I found "interesting and worthwhile" while still being able to pay my rent, food and insurance, but I can assure you every job I had wasn't something I just tolerated or that I thought was crappy.  I had to do the "interesting and worthwhile" stuff in my spare time.

This is so dismissive and unnecessary.

My kids are 21, 22 and 23 years old (I know, omg)

All three work retail jobs, two are in school (one studying para-education, one studying computer programming.)

Employees in their 20s at my workplace are all in school. One just completed her degree in HR management, one just started her masters to become a teacher.

They aren’t the exception, they’re pretty much the rule amongst the people I know their age.

Dh is a welder/fabricator. He builds fleet/service trucks for a living. HUGE complicated things with cranes, spent oil tanks, etc on them.
The “trades” have created their own problem over the years. They’re “desperate” for employees….but in most industries they’ve spent the last ten years trying to be picky and only willing to hire people with experience. No one has been willing to take a chance on the new guys for a very long time.

The few places that will hire straight from school still require them to provide their own tools (I won’t tell you what my husbands work tools are insured at, but it’s five figures.) or they want them to work on commission, but absolutely refuse to reign in their sales people who use “I’ll give you a deal on the labor” as a selling tool. So they’re supposed to absorb that cut, with no voice in the matter, and are not allowed to refuse jobs. (There’s a reason dh is no longer a mechanic.)

Young people aren’t stupid. They’re doing the same things WE did as young people. They’re looking at the financial viability of their many options and making a judgement call. The sad reality is that the economy isn’t situated to allow for someone to “pinch pennies” for a few years until their chosen field pays off. Schooling requires more money than they can make while in school, which means student loans, which means loan payments directly after graduation. They have to start with a living wage.

You’re right, I did. Sorry about that! It’s fixed now. 🙂

I thought she had found a job I’m sorry she can’t get a job she wants snd has trained for. That has to be so frustrating. Hoping she will find something soon.

Particularly female young people - I have an enormous family in many of the trades and while I'd like to say there isn't bias- but that would unfortunately be a lie. I would have thought electricians would be better quite frankly, hopefully she can break through.  

And whether or not the unions didn't play well with others for years and created their own issues, doesn't solve the issue of what is going to be a HUGE gap in the trades labor force in the next decade and it's going to take a long time for any type of construction to get done. One of my brothers is a union tradesman and his Snap On Tool boxes and tools are worth as much as the truck he drives and insured them accordingly also, but that still doesn't solve the problem of WHO is going to fill those positions in the next decade.

it is NOT easy work-  they can legally drive 14 hours a day.  And if they're stuck in traffic due to an accident, their time keeps ticking away- while their load is not moving forward to its destination. 

My DH did OTR driving for a year before he decided he just couldn't do it any longer-  he was gone for almost 4 weeks at a time, and only home for 3-4 days at a stretch at the absolute longest.  It's tough to have any sort of 'a life' and do these jobs, and the companies don't exactly compensate them above-and-beyond for sacrificing their home lives and the inconvenience of living in a sleeper cab of a truck for weeks at a time with only 34 whole hours for resting in between driving stints.  The companies expect the trucks to be driven to the limit they can be legally, and the drivers are sacrificing their home lives for all that stuff to get to the stores, distribution centers, warehouses, etc. All for us to buy a $3 widget instead of complaining about it it being out of stock.