"People don't want to work anymore"

Not going to disagree with anything you are saying hop2 except our school bus drivers do not need a CDL license.

This is exactly right. You are paying bus drivers for their availability to do the job that you need done. It needs to be livable. If that means they are not driving 8 hours a day, them’s the (bus) breaks.

Then hire the young people who have certificates, are drug free and begging for work. I know 3 young trades people who can’t get work, 2 licensed apprentice electricians.

A also know a 29 yo female union electrician in NYC who gets paid well, so yes, there are some places & some periods were the trades have hired young people but it’s certainly not widespread or constant.

If the trades are hurting for workers then hire them regardless of gender

And all industries are going to have to get over the idea that recreational pot use is a reason to exclude an applicant from the pool. The younger generation sees it as no different than alcohol. Get with the times or lose those kids to other industries.

You know, I've been thinking about this thread lately. Earlier I mentioned that we know a lot of high school/college age kids who opted out of working this summer, and that's true.

But we do know some who were out looking for their first ever job this year, too. (In many cases they would have done that last summer, but COVID caused them to opt out last year.) And I realize it's been quite some time since I was high school/college age, but my gosh, businesses are claiming they are desperate for employees, but they are asking so much more of these teens today than they did when I was that age!

They're advertising that they're looking for entry level employees, no experience necessary, will train, starting salaries are appropriately low (or, depending on your opinion, even too low), and they're asking these kids for resumes, and cover letters, and 3 page applications with questions that sound like essays on a quiz, LOL! Then there are phone interviews and scheduled in person interviews, and then the kids wait and wait and never hear back, even when they're told they'll hear either way. And I'm thinking to myself "All of this to bus tables? To scoop ice cream? To hand out mini golf supplies? To stock shelves in a little small town corner store??"

I mean, back in the stone age, my first several jobs all came about the same way---walk in, ask for an application (which was only long enough to get the absolute essential information from a prospective employee), hand in the application to someone who interviewed me and then offered me the job right on the spot.

Now they're giving you 6-8 lines to tell them why you would like to have a job in table clearing. My friend's son said he thought about answering that he "really enjoys looking at old, congealed food stuck to dishes", LOL!

And my oldest went on a few interviews and in one case didn't hear back for weeks. Meanwhile the business was still begging for new hires. And it was a seasonal place---you'd think they'd be snapping people up more quickly since they need the majority of their employees right now. By the time they called back nearly three weeks had gone by since the interview and the poor kid (who really did want to work there) had already given up on them and moved on.

Then my cousin talked to me recently about her teens and her teen nieces/nephews (kids of another cousin) also getting the run around from businesses. She said in their cases, the ads would say "no experience necessary", but then the person interviewing them would be disappointed when the kids truly had no experience. Another issue seemed to be that they didn't want to hire students who wouldn't be able to work as many hours come end of August. They said they didn't want to go through the hiring of new people again in just a few months. Well, when one makes the hiring procedures so darn miserable, no wonder you don't want to keep doing it.

So, maybe it's just this area's local businesses that are like this for some strange reason, but if it's simply that times have changed and this is how businesses handle hiring minimum wage positions across the country these days, then I'm not surprised if they're struggling to find new employees. That's a lot of crap to go through before you even start the job that will also likely involve a lot of crap.

Or submit a resume just to have to freaking write everything that was in your resume into an online form again. Why request a resume in the first place then?

ETA:  I have a full time job.  I was just looking for a part time job to stash some money aside for a big vacation if/when it's safe to travel again.  And since so many places are 'desperate' for help, I thought now would be a good time.  Nope.  If places were truly desperate, they'd pay better, schedule better, and make the hiring process easier.

Do you live in a state that hasn’t ended the extra unemployment yet?

My daughter had an appointment at Panera for an interview but when she got there the manager was too busy. Told her he would call back, never did. It seems to go both ways.

yup, I'll be boycotting them

Ditto.  I am sick and tired of company's constantly trying to screw their employees and then whine about it when it they don't genuflect and say "thank you sir.  may I have another?".  F*** these CEOs and their big plans to make big money all the while wrecking the lives of the peons who actually do the required work.  I hope there's a special place for them to end up in when they're gone that gives them a big dose of what they have dished out.

No one should work 12 hour shifts.  It's not healthy nor can anyone maintain a high level of productivity for that period of time.  Corporate America is out of control and is killing off the middle class.  Most of us are now the working poor.  The older I get the less I make because of the cost of living beating any raise I get every time and the real life costs climbing to new heights.  It's depressing to have worked so hard to end up here.  It's simply not a truth that hard work pays off.  It generally doesn't.  It just means the hard workers get MORE responsibility because they're good and less reward for it all.

Ok. Stepping off my bitter box for now.

I’ve been listening to The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah while I walk. Has anyone else read this? It starts out in northern Texas before/during the dust bowl, and ends up in California where the dust bowl refugees are trying to make a living picking crops for the big farmers. All based on history, of course.

There are so many parallels to modern life - not only the plight of refugees coming from awful conditions, but most especially the way lower-wage workers are treated today, with the system set up to make sure they stay poor so they have to continue producing for the rich corporations, and can never break out of that cycle. It’s sickening then and now.

Nabisco workers say their strike is "a fight for the American middle class

"Nabisco workers now walking picket lines in four U.S. states say their first strike in 52 years is about keeping what they already had as employees producing Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and other snacks for the global food conglomerate.

More than 1,000 Nabisco workers are staying off the job in Colorado, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia, according to their union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International, or BCTGM. The labor dispute began with workers at the Nabisco bakery in Portland calling a strike nearly three weeks ago and has since spread, with workers in Chicago joining the labor action on Thursday.

"We're fighting for a fair contract, no concessions," Yvette Hale, who has worked at Nabisco's Chicago bakery nearly 22 years, told CBS MoneyWatch. "Everyone is angry, as you never know if you're going to work eight hours, 12 hours or 16 hours.""

www.cbsnews.com/news/nabisco-strike-workers-call-a-fight-for-the-american-middle-class/

Dammit, people just don't want to be wage slaves anymore! THE AUDACITY of expecting to be able to have a life, parent, help your own parents, pursue a hobby, etc.

JUST WORK PEONS and BE GRATEFUL!!