+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Prosperity

Mom shares why she's 'really proud' of her 19-year-old daughter who wouldn't take $9 an hour

teen job interview, job interview, minimum wage
via Anna Shvets/Pexels

A teen watches as an employer looks at her resume.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive shake-up in the American labor market and for many, the change has been positive. Many Americans quit their job this year because they feel optimistic that after enduring some of the harshest working conditions during the pandemic, they can find better work that pays more elsewhere.

This sea change in the labor market comes on the heels of the nation’s collective dedication to the idea that people should be paid a living wage and it should be somewhere around $15 an hour.

The change in attitudes toward work has many younger people feeling empowered to ask for better compensation and treatment in their young careers. This was perfectly evidenced by a mother on Reddit who praised her 19-year-old daughter for refusing to accept $9 an hour.

In the post's title, the mother wrote: "I’m really proud of my 19 year old daughter. She was offered $9/hr at a second interview today and declined telling them she couldn’t feed herself with that.”

"She told me she was polite about it, which she always is, but I was still a bit taken back initially that she would say this directly to the shop owner. It was somewhere she really wanted to work and has been going to since she was a kid," the mom continued.

The employer admitted that they weren’t paying “a living wage” and apologized for not being able to offer more. The daughter also had some leverage because she was making $10.50 an hour at another job.

The 41-year-old mother was impressed because when she was in her teens, younger workers were forced to accept any deal they were offered and had little leverage or confidence to ask for anything more than substandard.

"I'm 41 and when I was her age I would've taken any s*** pay they offered me just for the experience and so I could work at my favorite shop. And I would've been grateful for the opportunity for them to take full advantage of me," she explained. "I would've never had the confidence to stand up to an older adult in a position of power like that,” she added. “I told her I was so proud of her for knowing her worth and not accepting anything less."

Reddit user jakeyeah111 had the best response to the post. "Yup. The amount of older people who are mad that the younger generation isn't letting themselves get stepped all over anymore is... off-putting,” they wrote.

The mother’s post mirrors trends that people are seeing across income levels in America. The average reservation wage, or the minimum annual wage consumers said they needed before they would even consider accepting a job offer, has risen more than $14,000 over the past six years to $68,954.

On ZipRecruiter, the number of jobs offering $15 an hour has more than doubled over the past two years.

The changes in the labor market and public opinion are a wonderful development for the U.S. economy. Instead of cultivating a market where people are forced to accept less than they believe they're worth, employers and employees are working to create mutually beneficial relationships that uplift everyone.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
work
Family

Help is on the way for a desperate mom who couldn't find size 23 shoes for her teenage son

Her son Eric Kilburn Jr. is a 6'10" freshman in high school.

via GoFundMe

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

Keep ReadingShow less
parents
Joy

Dog does the ‘pick a card’ challenge and we get to live the dream with him

Suddenly dogs everywhere need teddy bear robes.

Opie the Pit Bully|TikTok

Dog does the 'pick a card' challenge and it's adorable.

There are a few kinds of dog parents: ones that only have outside dogs, those who have inside dogs but they're absolutely not allowed on the furniture and dog parents who treat their dog as if they birthed them themselves and give them every luxury invented for four-legged fur children.

Clearly, people are going to have feelings one way or the other about dogs and their place within a household, but I think everyone can agree that seeing a dog be pampered will always be adorable. Opie the Pit Bully is one of those lucky doggos who wound up living in the lap of luxury, and the pooch got to do a "pick a card" day to showcase that his owner loves him the mostest.

In a video uploaded to TikTok by Opie's owner because...ya know, opposable thumbs and all…Opie is faced with two cards that he can't read: 1) because he's a dog, and 2) because the cards are facing toward the camera. That doesn't stop the sweet puppers from playing along, though.

Keep ReadingShow less
pick a card date night
Family

Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting
Science

90-year-old tortoise is a hero to his species by becoming a first-time dad to 3 hatchlings

Way to go, daddio!

Photo by David Cadenas on Unsplash

What we imagine the look on Mr/ Pickles' face to be after becoming a dad.

It’s been an exciting time for a couple of tortoises at the Houston Zoo—and really, for tortoises everywhere.

The zoo announced on its blog that their oldest resident, Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (that’s quite an age gap there sir, but no judgment) recently welcomed three new hatchlings.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, here are the new baby names: Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño.

Clearly, Jalepeño is the spicy one of the bunch.

While this news is certainly momentous for Mr. and Mrs. Pickles, it’s also a huge achievement for the entire species, which is currently critically endangered.
Keep ReadingShow less
animals & wildlife
Education

100-year-old woman's speech against book bans in Florida school district goes viral

Grace Linn speaks for millions of Americans.

Jodi Picoult/TikTok

Grace Linn, 100, speaks at a Martin County School Board meeting on March 21, 2023.

Four hundred years ago, copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible were publicly burned by the bishop of London, with church authorities insisting that the Bible should only be read in Latin (and only by the clergy). In the centuries since, many books we now consider classics such as Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," Jack London's "Call of the Wild," Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass," Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables, Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species"—even Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Benjamin Bunny"—have been banned or censored in one way or another in various countries.

Battles over books are nothing new, but once in a while, they become particularly ugly or absurd, prompting people to speak out against book bans.

People like 100-year-old Florida resident, Grace Linn, whose speech at a Martin County School Board meeting has gone viral.

Keep ReadingShow less
book bans
Pop Culture

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler have the cutest friendship, and she has the receipts to prove it

Plenty of teasing. Lots of love.

The Tonight Show/ Youtube

Jennifer Aniston appearing on "The Tonight show"

Let’s face it, platonic relationships between men and women rarely get the same amount of attention as romantic ones, to the point where we debate whether or not they can actually exist in the first place.

That’s what makes a clip of Jennifer Aniston gushing about her decades-long friendship with Adam Sandler so cool to watch. There’s no Harry-Met-Sally-ing here, just one pal talking about another pal.

Aniston sat down with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film “Murder Mystery 2,” starring both Aniston and Sandler, but the conversation quickly veered into several anecdotes about “The Sand Man,” including how the two first met at a deli in their 20s.

As with any healthy friendship, there’s plenty of ragging on each other.

Keep ReadingShow less
video
Trending Stories