310 points

This is Culver’s. They’re a burger fast food joint located throughout the Midwest and have things called “Scoopy Night” where a percentage of the proceeds go toward a specific cause. Schools, dance groups, etc can partake and the kids who attend that school/dance group/etc help take orders and deliver food to tables. Not quite as dystopian as OP has made it seem.

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98 points

Honestly… the idea that they do this work, and the money goes to a school instead of them, makes it even worse to me?

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47 points
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It’s a fundraiser likely for an after school program. It typically pays out a lot better than a car wash or brat fry. Typically the students run orders out to cars.

And yeah, we probably should put more funding into schools for stuff like this instead of asking kids to fundraise.

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2 points

Our schools do a “spirit night” fundraiser at a business once a month. The business donates a portion of the sales to the school during a specific time frame. Child labor is not involved.

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50 points

“Child labor is ok if the money goes to a school!”

  • the user who wrote this comment
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26 points

Yea it makes it worse tbh. We won’t fund fun things at the schools so instead we make them work fast food to earn that funding.

It is indeed even more dystopian when you put it like that. It’s got the same energy as people giving their coworker PTO so they can deliver a baby or whatever.

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39 points

Are the kids required to work in order to get the money? Because that sounds like a job with good PR.

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25 points

My thoughts exactly. If it’s optional, cool, the kids get some experience and maybe takehome money. If it’s required, fuck that shit.

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19 points

That’s just child labor exploitation with extra steps.

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9 points

This is what it is, and it’s sad that it’s so normalized that people are defending it.

Everyone knows the kids aren’t technically required, but they’re “required” by social pressure.

I remember having to go door to door selling things when I was a kid. It may have been voluntary in a technical sense, but I was pretty well mandated to do so if I wanted to be part of that group with my friends. And there was even more pressure from my mom and dad because they didn’t want to be the family whose kid didn’t do the thing.

I think it’s time we start taking a long hard look at some of these things like fundraisers and de facto coerced employment of youth (without pay) and ask ourselves if a healthy system would allow this.

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4 points

The one near me that does fundraisers doesn’t have any students working. Usually the teachers go to say hi to families that come.

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37 points

when we needed to do fundraisers THE PARENTS IN THE PTA DID IT FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS.

We had plenty of ‘kids’ working at fast food and grocery stores but not until 15 minimum. this kid looks like he’s 9. that’s too young to be fucking around near fryers and hot grills.

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4 points

He’s not. He’s waiting tables and taking orders.

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8 points

“Child labor is ok if the money goes to a school!”

-_-

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35 points

Children do work at McDonald’s though

Just they would keep them in the back so they can’t be seen

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1 point

yup. 10 year olds running deep fryers.

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21 points

In this thread, a bunch of people that have never heard of doing a fundraiser.

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0 points

Next up, they’re going to go scream at the girl scouts on the corner that they’re being exploited

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0 points

The way this thread is going it sure would seem that way. A little bit of menial work to earn money for an activity is hardly the same as if this kid was on his 9-5 grind just itching for his next smoke break.

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20 points

Whoa whoa whoa, how dare you provide context! I want to be rage baited into thinking America Bad!

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33 points

Don’t worry, America still Bad.

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5 points

Well that’s a relief.

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15 points

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of legitimate outrage to be had without manufacturing it…

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-1 points

Why not both?

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14 points

If you think this context makes it OK, you’re fucking delusional lmao.

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14 points

No, that’s still idiotic. It doesn’t matter what the context is of why a child is working at a fast food restaurant. There’s a child working at a fast food restaurant. This isn’t selling chocolates to raise money for a class hamster.

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13 points

Being intent on remaining outraged is idiotic. Spending a few hours doing a handful of minor tasks at a fast food restaurant for fun is worlds apart from being required to labor for day after day for a pay check.

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0 points

That’s why we need to have ubi for everyone, even these kids. Then they will just have money to spend on their dance clubs and stuff without having to work for it.

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9 points
*

Selling chocolates is so much worse though. That always creeped me out because it’s either A) kids learning how to hawk wares on the street outside of stores, B) kids learning how to be door-to-door cold call solicitors or C) run a MLM pyramid scheme by convincing their parents to push their product at work.

Maybe even D) a combination of all of those for the ultimate street hustler training.

This is just kids “playing house” for a few hours. Most probably love that shit. I would have killed to see what the buttons on the register do and how the fries are made.

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2 points

Honestly, I would err on the side of caution anyway. The worst that can happen is minor embarrassment that came from good intentions.

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8 points
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It’s indicative of a larger effort by republicans to force children back to work, this is part of that dystopia even if it’s on the “light dystopia” side of the spectrum.

Fuck off whiteknight, keep enabling corporate’s ability to normalize and capitalize off of child labor. This ain’t no goddamn bake sale or car wash.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/04/18/child-labor-returns/

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-immigration-hyundai/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html

Keep downvoting, bootlickers

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8 points

Work experience at school is legitimately a thing though here in the UK.

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5 points

I had a paper round at 13 and washed dishes in a pub at 15. It was my choice to work and earn money. Not sure what’s so dystopian about that.

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4 points
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In germany as well. We had a week where we could try out a few jobs and occupations hands-on. It was great. Seventh grade, I believe.

And that was 33 years ago.

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3 points

It’s is in the US too after age 15.

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2 points

Indeed, florida’s plan to make up for the migrants they shit on and terrorized out of the state is child labor. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/11/2216798/-Florida-has-a-solution-to-education-issues-It-s-called-child-labor

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-4 points

How does that boot taste?

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7 points

“no, no, its not bad! The child worker is working for charity!

Oh nice, so its worse

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5 points
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scoopie night The abuse has to stop. Look at those abused kids. The horror.

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-4 points

Would you want your child working at a fast food restaurant? Doesn’t matter what kind of cutesy name gets attached to child labor.

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4 points
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For a few hours? Sure, why not. They’re not actually useful labor. The store is doing you a favor. Your average 8 year old peeled away from Minecraft and told to do a task is going to fuck up more than they help. I know, because I was that kid and I fucked up a lot. Sometimes in very expensive ways. My only worry would be that they would leave the job thinking every day will be fresh and new like that day, and that people are gracious and polite.

For a few weeks? Oh hell yes, now we’re talking. Then they’ll see the monotony and how much corporate sucks. Even more, how much customers suck. At that point, the value of learning a skill that keeps you out of the fast food/retail mines will be obvious.

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2 points

Depends on the kid. Do they treat workers disrespectfully, or not understand that money shouldn’t be recklessly spent? Absolutely have them work fast food for a night – so long as an adult is there to make sure there’s no safety issues and they’re paid full minimum wage for it, I’m all for it.

I had a chemistry teacher in high school who maintained that everyone should have to work retail or fast food once, and as I’ve grown older I completely understand what they meant. Some people are naturally not dicks. They don’t look down on workers at Walmart or McDonald’s. For others, it’s a lesson they have to learn. They need to work in that position to understand what it’s like.

That doesn’t mean we should draft all kindergarteners into the work force. But the occasional experience to show them what a minimum wage job is like? Absolutely. If we want kids to grow up voting for minimum wage increases and universal labor rights, they have to learn these things somehow.

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0 points

Yes, of course I would. It’s a great experience. We actually did that back in school, had a week when we all went out to check out different jobs. It was a great thrill and fun for all. Certainly not labor. We got to do grownup things. That was shortly before seventh grade, iirc.

And then, we’ve had school things where we would bake and cook and sell it right there on campus. Is that labor as well? Oh, and when I was in the boy scouts, we sometimes went door to door raising funds and selling trinkets. Child labor?

It’s not like we had to do eight-hour days, week for week. A few hours, once in your life. That’s not labor. That’s a fun thing to do.

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1 point

I remember doing something similar in HS 20+ years ago.

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204 points

So many Americans in here defending this, get a clue you idiots.

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40 points

I’m Australian and this reminds me of working at the local fish and.chip store when I was 12. I asked the local general store, but they’d only pay me to do odd jobs, the local bakery said no,.and the local fish and.chip shop said I could help take orders and.package meals during their busy hours each evening.

My Lego collection grew, I got real good at Time Crisis 3, and I went to see a movie each Saturday. It was awesome. I didn’t see it any different to scoring cash for mowing lawns or washing cars, just stable and they appreciated my help so I felt good too.

If you’d told me I wasn’t allowed, I’d have done it behind your back and said I was going to friend’s houses.

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72 points

Cool story mate!

Lots of people are fine with bad things they grew up with because it didn’t personally affect them.

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0 points

Do you think kids shouldn’t be allowed to work in any capacity? What if they are self employed? Is that wrong even if they want to?

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15 points

I don’t know why, but paper boys (yes we were all boys) were some sort of exception to child labour laws. I was selling newspapers when I was 12-13 for 5c ea.

The 80s was a wild place.

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9 points
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And what about those assholes that never wanted to pay? Just pay the kid you cheap ass. I see your cars, your lights are on, I know you’re home motherfucker.

I identified so hard with that “I want my two dollars” kid from Better Off Dead.

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5 points

That’s all well and good, but the necessity of child labor laws are not for the few who are doing it voluntarily.

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2 points

Amen.

Got money, bought a PC my parents couldn’t afford, learned to code, got a desk job.

Taught me life skills too, like dealing with dickhead managers and customers, time keeping, and just general responsibility.

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1 point

Honestly it’s the uniform for me. It implies so much like maybe that kids gotta punch in with a time card of has their pay docked.

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5 points

Yeah this is just going to make them soft. Send the little shits to the miners, like in the good old days!

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1 point
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0 points
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There’s hardly anything to defend because there’s nothing here other than a photo with zero confirmed information about what appears in the photo. People are just making baseless assumptions.

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0 points

You’d be aghast at the ages of kids I had pull pints for me when I lived in Europe, bro.

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0 points

I’m American and I totally agree. It feels like there are two different countries here, with the red one generally mooching off of the blue one while simultaneously claiming they’re the “real America”. I’m so tired.

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-3 points

No way to downvote your stupid ass enough.

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2 points

Haha okay dumbarse.

Go love child labour some more, maybe enough kids b working low wage jobs and you’ll be a successful nation instead of the failure you are now.

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-5 points

No, only people from the USA.

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177 points

Name and shame which Culver’s it is.

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73 points
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85 points

you can work for your parents in many places regardless of age

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2 points

I.e. your locally owned mom-and-pop Chinese takeout. I’ve seen the kiddos answer the phones there a couple of times, tho most of the time when picking up food for the wife they’re just playing in a blocked off side area that used to be dining pre-pandemic.

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34 points

I think many states allow children as young as 12 to work in specific non-dangerous jobs with permission from the parents. A company recently got in trouble when they had like 20 12-15 year olds working in a meat processing plant which definitely did not qualify for the “not dangerous” qualifier.

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-36 points

Yeah, I agree it’s fucked up but there’s almost no way that kid’s under 14, which is the youngest age Culver’s will hire at, he’s just a late bloomer probably. I think a lot of people would disagree with calling that age group a “literal child.”

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45 points
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A lot of people wouldn’t call a fourteen-year-old a child? Which people? I don’t know of any.

Assuming the literal meaning of “literal”, a child is, according to the OED, literally:

a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.

Can you explain how the pictured human being does not fit the description above?

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22 points

14 and a bit is literally a child

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3 points

I agree with you and Priests and Republicans that 14 isn’t a Child. 😉

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-8 points

You’re getting a lot of down votes, but you’re spot on. I started working fast food at 14, and I looked like I was 9.

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2 points

Shame them for what? You don’t know what’s going on in that picture.

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162 points

They do this often at the Culver’s near me. It’s a fundraiser for school / extracurricular activities. The group works for a few hours and Culver’s donates the receipts for that time.

It’s better than having them go door to door selling wreaths and shit.

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Somehow that made it even more dystopian. The school system is in on it

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26 points
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The children are working to fund the school.

Nuf said?

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105 points
  1. The school is funded already through taxpayers. The fact that “the children are working to fund the school” is an acceptable line of logic is already dystopian.

  2. Traditionally, children do fundraisers to fund extracurricular activities, like a field trip. If the school is taking that money to add to their budget, that’s crossing the line into exploiting kids’ labor for money.

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11 points

Most School systems are financially gutted to the bone. It’s dark but most red counties school districts are near bankruptcy and blue areas are slightly better off. So expect more of this as public schools try to keep the doors open.

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2 points

When looking at homes in the more rural areas I noticed that the schools basically shoved all the kids from a good bit around different towns and areas into one. I’d guess to consolidate as much funds as possible in an effective manner, rather than having to pay for more infrastructure that was really needed.

While I would have liked the slower pace….all I could afford out that way were 100 year old farmhouses with very questionable bones. One you could literally walk the dip between the kitchen and living room. Another had electric, propane and fireplaces for the heating in different areas of the home. Had to tell my wife to stop looking at those.

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4 points

I remember having school assemblies in middle school with some third party fundraising company trying to get us to sell…I don’t even remember what as a fundraiser for the entire school. At the time it felt weird and as an adult looking back I find it far more concerning that that’s how they made up the budget shortfalls instead of raising property taxes by fraction of a percent

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17 points

This made it worse for me

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12 points
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-7 points

They got mad at her when an item was missing out of a 4-bag $80 order (they unbagged and checked everything there on the counter).

That one seems valid. That person got burned before with the staff not bothering to do their job and were NOT going to short their friend whatever item(s) the staff kept for themselves. Sure, you can say the counter girl didn’t do the bagging, but she’s the one that the customer is supposed to tell, and it is hard not to be angry when you’ve paid for stuff and you’re getting shorted – AND there’s almost surely another person relying on you to get it right this time. It shouldn’t take so much effort to just get the stuff you paid for.

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11 points

But you can nicely check your items and say “ope looks like one of the fries got missed” and not make a big stink about it

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8 points
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5 points
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120 points

This kid is way too young to be taking verbal abuse from customers. I remember being 19-but-looked-15 and grown-ass adult customers calling me stupid and useless, and generally speaking to and looking at me like I was a piece of dung stuck to the bottom of their shoe. People who thought I was a literal child behaved this way. Not to mention all the perverts. Kids shouldn’t be working customer service, not in a world where adults have such disgusting behavior.

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20 points

I’m sorry that this all happened to you. I know this happened in the past, but you deserve a little hug. I hope things are better for you on a day to day basis. ♥

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11 points

Thanks, that’s sweet of you. <3 Things are much better for me now that I’m out of that line of work, so I do my best to stand up to trashy customers on behalf of the people who can’t.

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5 points

Fuckin same. Honestly no age is old enough to take shit working at fuckin Office Depot.

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