26 May 2008 - "Paper routes"

In England, basically the only job that under sixteens can get is a paper round. According to the law, anyone over the age of fourteen should be allowed to work in a cafe but when you put this law into practice, nobody aged fourteen actually does. When it comes to crappy dead end jobs, like working in a slushy stall or sweeping up hair in a hairdressers, surely those jobs should be given out to those who need them most? Like us poor under-privileged, working class teenagers?

Well in my estate the most common job that us under sixteens have is a paper round, which is the equivalent to slave labour. You must wake up at six O’clock every morning on weekdays AND weekends too. After waking up at this disgraceful hour, you must trek round to the other side of your estate to deliver silly propaganda-filled tabloid newspapers to people who probably just look at the pictures. And for all that draining work (which fulfilled little purpose except to fill already exceptionally dim peoples’ heads with nonsense) you are rewarded at the end of the week with the tremendous amount of twenty whole pounds.

I honestly don’t think that’s right. If it was an adult doing this job, then they would be paid a lot more than twenty pounds for a week’s work.

Do you have a part-time job?