If she cannot pay attention to my instruction when I hired her to do the job, then she can go find another.

And, if she wants to go on social media and try to 'cancel' me and mine, I would then go on and post the security footage that showed her doing just what I said she was doing (and, not doing!) and then let her followers know that she is a manipulator and a liar. If she wants to escalate, fine. Social media is designed for this.

It's one of the reasons I do not like it. At all.

....people over 50, with vast skills, knowledge, experience, work ethic, and capacity cannot secure employment because....(insert big corpo propaganda).

Manager looked at him, “ If you have time to text. you have time to clean”

The kid put the phone in his pocket. He made it through the summer.

Had a boss tell me that when I was a kid in my first job.

from back in my restaurant days! It was never said directly to me but to everyone in general.

If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. LOL!

I had some good times back then. It wasn't all bad.

"If you want to kill some time, try working it to death." I absolutely hated that one when I was a kid, and he knew it. 🤣

Some people need information told directly to them. She might have been just clueless

No, that is expecting way too much lee way for an employer. Someone going to an interview should be mature enough to know what is expected (generally) without having to be told to stop texting and listen to the instructions on how to learn to do the job that they will be paid to do. If she's old enough to hold a summer job, she's old enough to know common courtesy and decent respect.

Perhaps not getting the job will be a learning experience for her.

I know I blew at least 2 job interviews for starter jobs before I was 20.

We will have to disagree on this one.

Seventeen is not a child in my opinion, and it shouldn't require "telling" someone how to behave on a job interview. Honestly, I was working after school when I was fifteen, and I interviewed and got that job.

I have a high school junior doing some work for me right now. I would guess he's either sixteen or seventeen. He advertised a service on social media, I met with him and decided to hire him for a one time service, and his absolute GREAT work landed him an invitation to do the service for the summer. He's saving money for college.

The better qualified candidate should get the job. An employer has no duty to coddle an interview candidate. That's the measurement of whether or not a candidate can do a job as tasked. The one who couldn't stop texting failed.

Better luck next time.

Trust me on this one...she had been told for at least 4 years straight by every one of her teachers to get off her damn phone.

I’ve seen similar behaviors from MANY people, usually young, but old enough to know better. You are not being paid to chat with your friends. You are being paid to do a specific job that does not involved any activity on your cell phone. Put it in your locker and don’t bring it out on the work floor. What’s so difficult to understand?

... about work behavior and what is expected when they work for wages.

Many of today's kids are shockingly stupid about such things. They need to be told how to behave, and it is UP TO THE PARENTS to do this before they send their kids out to look for jobs.

Parents should teach their kids that phones must be put away (or left at home) when someone else is paying them for their time.

If the parents work.
The oarents may also be perpetually available to kids by text, even at work.
And if parents worked at home during COVID, the kids may have seen the behavior directly.

I hope you told her why she didn't get the job It may be something that 17 yo needs to hear. Her parents are probably already telling her to knock it off.

I have a cousin in her early 60's. Her life has been a bit of a fuck-up. She is looking for jobs --- and then there is her outgoing phone message, something new agey about the "Winds of change being in the air......"

I told her that an employer calling for a follow up, doesn't want to hear about the winds of change. Record a new message, "You have reached "...." Please leave your name and phone number and I will return your call.

three high schoolers in restaurant uniforms sitting in a booth in the dining area, chatting and yukking it up, while the manager did all the work.

I went over to the booth and told them that getting fired from McDonald's was going to look bad on their resumes. They looked at me as if they did not understand the words that were coming from my mouth.

Nobody gave me money when I was a kid. Nobody. Not even my parents. They didn't have any to give. If I wanted a bicycle or whatever, I had to work for the money to buy it. That scenario was highly effective at instilling a sense of work ethics.

I asked for a phone in my room when I was a teenager. We lived in a big old house in a rural area and my dad said "well, I don't care, but there's no line up there. So, you're going have to find out how much that costs and have them put it in". lol

My mom helped me make the calls and open a checking account so it would be easy to pay my bill! Which was covered by bussing tables and babysitting.

Or off the clock and waiting for their ride.

people in line at the counter. Even if they were on break, they could've helped out. I remember asking the manager what was going on and she just shook her head. I've never seen a McD's with just one person doing everything.

Or maybe they just finished their shift and were off the clock. Or just,arrived and were not on the clock yet.

at the start. My kiddos are 22 and 19. We are older parents and have no problem w/telling them when the phones aren't necessary. It isn't that often because we are on screens a lot ourselves. But I have already explained to them that if they go to work for big companies etc all computer use can be monitored. I've been very clear about that because kids really are clueless - they are in the moment and don't think.

As a manager I think framing it as "there are some ground rules here, we keep our coats here, here's where you would clock in at the beginning of the shift (is that still a thing - it was when I had those restaurant jobs), this is when you put your phone in your pocket - you won't be on it when you're on duty", etc. I'd just spell it out.

told me she just learned how to read an analog watch.
That watch is mostly round and has hands.

The one they use in cognitive tests.

and I've seen it too many times for them to be having a random emergency. I think they use the trip outside to grab a quick look; one of them was even pushing about 3 carts with one hand and looking at his phone with the other.

I walked past one of those massage establishments at the mall where they'll do a 15 minute massage while you're face down in the chair. The person getting the massage of course couldn't see that the person doing the massage had her right elbow in their back while looking at her phone with her left hand. In the window. For everyone to see. Obviously she saw nothing wrong with that.

I was waiting in the airport a few weeks ago for a family member to arrive and wow, the amount of people looking down at their phones... this scene first came to my awareness in the university setting about 2010 or so and now it's everywhere where people gather. People stopped still, not moving, looking down. When you see it in a crowded place, it looks like a frozen frame of a movie. Just bizarre, if you stop for a moment to take it all in.

My kids are all employed and doing well, even though they have phones. They know where and when are appropriate times.

They do often use their phones to take notes and record reminders of things

I wouldn’t have hired her either. But you could have pointed out that the job didn’t allow phone usage while at work.

Both worked summer jobs training swimmers. We had long conversations about the nature of work — I ran a small business for thirty years and then went to work for the state — and I talked about how to find joy in good solid labor.

My son went through law school on earned scholarships and my daughter became a math teacher. Both of them make more money than I ever did, and both of them are careful with it, saving to buy houses.

Parenting is constant, steady guidance, and passing on lessons that you’ve learned. I’ve had same talks with nephews and nieces, even kids on the block. But the teaching of joy, and respect — that’s the core.

A young flagger (you know, SLOW / STOP) - that is his only job. Keep traffic flowing, keep workers safe. He barely glanced up from his phone once as I approached and passed.

Meantime a co-worker crossed in front of me carrying a pipe.

Every day when I'm in Paris or Brussels, I see groups of tourists (not just American, also Japanese, whatever) walking past great scenes like Paris monuments, or the Grande Place in Brussels, and to a last person, they all have their faces buried in the cell phones. Unbelievable!!

20 years ago, my younger daughter was in her last year of undergrad in D.C., age 18, and looking to get a summer job to raise some money for later travel. She somehow found a German lawyer working in DC who was desperate for some help translating legal documents so that he didn't have to stay up until 2 A.M. doing it himself every night. She "auditioned" with a document or two, and he was so happy with her work that he paid her $25 an hour (not bad twenty years ago), and offered her a full-time job when she graduated (she passed, but thanked him for the decent pay while she was there).

If she had had her nose buried in her cell phone while texting the whole time, it's a fair bet she wouldn't have gotten that job, either.

In my job I interviewed recent engineering grads for low six figure, career starting jobs. Many lost interest once they found out the workplace was a secure facility where they couldn’t bring in their phones. The phone addiction starts early.

The future of society.

AI is going to further contribute to the disintegration.

She needs help. I hope that she finds it.

My daughter and other friends in her age bracket 40 to 55 often complains about anyone under 30. As a nurse supervisor she has had to tell employees to get off their damn cell phones and the work ethic well there isn't any. She said she would not hire anyone under 40. There is a problem all across the country with many younger people. Many show up to work late, leave early, dress improperly, lack decorum and show little respect for others. I know some other kids that are great but so many are not.