I'm so happy!!!!! I bought myself a new Ipod!, but my Mom will hang me when she sees my grades.. (oh, well, happiness is never complete)

How many of you have fallen asleep in English class?; you couldn't sleep the night before because you got tired from work late at night, and when you were imagining yourself in your beautiful and delicate bed.....PUFFFFFF!!!! A tiny light flashes in your brain and makes you remember that the response paper of your English class is due tomorrow before noon. Similarly, I'm sure that many of you has also be able to save money to buy the newest and advance Iphone, and the best of all is that the money came out directly from your pocket. This is a great satisfaction that teenagers have when they have a work after school. Working as a teenager could be a great opportunity to develop the skills and obtain a sense of responsibility. However it could become a problem if they over work during school time, leading them to neglect their homework and fell their grades. This is a very controversial issue. According to the article “High School workers: What Price? Mixed views: some say job experience is good, while other students are hurt academically” by Susan Orenstein, opinions related to this situation are mixed; some insist that “even flipping burgers can be a learning experience, encouraging teen-agers to better manage their time, interact with adults and develop responsibility,. On the other hand, some others think that excessive work has been shown to detract students from school performance”. In 1988 a study by UC-Irvine found that students lose interest in the job because after a while they find it boring and routinely. However, another study found that working in high school promotes good work habits. “When teenagers work significant hours outside of school, they become jugglers who may benefit, but also may miss out either academically or otherwise”, says the author. In fact many students enjoy a part-time job (with a flexible scheduled) after school which help them to plan their day better and make it work on time; they also learn how to work in team, how to deal with different people and make new friends. On the other hand, according to Susan Orenstein, a lot of teenagers, doesn’t have enough time to do their homework due to overwork; this not only leads them to fell grades, but prevents the involvement in school activities or volunteering in the community, and therefore the majority of them drop out of school. There are many reasons that induce teens to work after school; first, they want to help out their parents with some money, second, some of them live by themselves and are obligated to work in order to survive, some others want to have a sense of independence by paying for their phone bill, buying their own clothes, so forth and so on… These different reasons may have different consequences as well, but often they lead students to leave school. As a result of this some institution has implemented new strategies to keep students from leaving school and also give them the opportunity to build their skills. A good strategy is the creation of the so called “school-to-work” programs, “which place students in jobs tied to academics, with the aim of better preparing them for a career, and students whom are involved in work experience programs gain credits for their time spent in job” that way student could maintain focus on their subjects and at the same time making some money. Furthermore, Susan Orenstein gives us an example of a teenager, who lives in California and works 30 hours a week to help out her mother with the household expenses, but working so many times is distracting her from school. Under the California law, she should not been working so many hours; “12 and 13 year old are prohibited from working on school days; 14-15 year old are limited to 18 hours a week, not past 7:00 p.m.; 16 and 17 year old are limited to four hours on school days, not past 10:00 p.m., with the exception of Fridays. Students under 18 must obtain work permits from their schools, which may set stricter hours”. As a result of this, some students are now looking for some way of earning money that don’t conflict with their studies, but the majority of them keep dropping out of school to keep a job, which means that the strategies used to avoid this problem will take more time to see better results. Certainly, while some don't pay enough attention to this problem and believe is completely resolved because of the laws that protect the rights of young workers, the situation will not improve, since in many cases the teenagers choose to violate these laws as well as the managers who employ them. In my personal opinion I think the problem should be treated from the inside; parents should talk more frequently with their children about the job they have and if they notice any academic deficiencies, try to regulate the working hours. Similarly, students should talk to their teachers so that they indicate whether there has been a sudden change in their grades. In addition, the government should find a way to reduce the college tuition since this problem tends to be common in college students also.
Orenstein, Susan. “HIGH SCHOOL WORKERS: WHAT PRICE? MIXED VIEWS: SOME SAY JOB EXPERIENCE IS GOOD, WHILE OTHERS STUDENTS ARE HURT ACADEMICALLY. November 8, 1995

Leaving the future in the hands of Fast Food restaurants.

In our last class we were talking about the employees at McDonald’s which in its majority are teenagers. Instead of relying upon a well-trained workforce, McDonald‘s seeks out part-time workers, with no experience and whom are willing to accept low pay. Probably many of you are familiar with this, since you are in the same situation; working after school and without any experience making some extra money, even though payment is not good, the “flexible scheduled” they offered is convenient for you. But what happens when a chain as important as McDonald’s start to demand more hours from its employees? Many of these workers have to stay extra hours, which means they would have to stay until late at night and probably until 3:00 in the morning. When this occurs, then students start dropping out of school in order to keep their jobs, some of them do it because they feel the neediness to help their families. Leaving in poverty make them neglect their homework to stay late at their jobs during the night. On the contrary some other takes jobs after school in order to buy a car, or to make a trip, buy clothes, and to be independent from Mom and Dad. According to Schlosser, "The fast-food industry has created millions of new jobs at a time when other businesses have been firing workers. It now employs some of the poorest, most disadvantaged members of American society". Many of these employees are student under 16. The reality is that students working full time after school are more willing to be disrespectful in class and use more violence with their classmates and teachers, Without mention the consequences that this act have in the future. schlosser says in his chapter "Behind the Counter" that, "as more kids work full time after school, fewer participate in after-school programs sports and activities" which could keep them away from crime and any kind of substances abuse.

Also, Schlosser stays in the same chapter ("Behind the counter”) that “numerous studies have found that kids who work up to twenty hours a week or during the school year generally benefit from the experience, gaining an increased sense of personal responsibility and self-esteem. But kids who work more than that are far more likely to cut classes and drop out of high school. Teenage boys who work longer hours are much likely to develop substance abuse problems and commit petty crimes. The negative effects of working are easy to explain: when the kids go to work, they are neither at home nor at school. If the job is boring, overly regimented, or meaningless, it can create a lifelong aversion to work”. This helps to understand how McDonald’s and more fast food restaurants can help students to build a sense of responsibility by providing a job, but also how it have influenced adolescents to drop out of school in order to keep a position in their fantastic world.When a manager from McDonald’s or any fast food chain demands their employee to work more than 20 hours a week is contributing to this problem. many of these teenagers has dreamed of a job in a place like McDonald's during their childhood (which is supposed to be a clean and wonderful place for all-Americans) and later they start to hate the job, and even worse many are injured due to stress, and pressure from their managers. Therefore some of them start to get desperate to get another job in a clothing store, or anything else except fast food restaurants. In addition, when the job seems to be so stressful, many kids start forming a sort of repugnance to work, but they still want to make money, this leads them to engage in consumption and sale of illicit substances, dealing drugs as well as members of organized crime. However according to the author, some of the kids liked to work at McDonald’s, even though they complained the job is boring, they like to hang out with friends and getting away from school and their parents.

I have a few friends that work at a McDonald’s and some other used to work at Burger King. they all enjoy making money. That gives them a sense of independence. It’s good to be able to buy your own clothes, your ipod, have responsibilities such as paying your cell phone bill, and just feel free to do whatever you want with your money without Mom and Dad telling you what to do. My best friend dropped out of school when she was a senior in high school. By that time she was working at a McDonald’s. She started with a flexible scheduled; 4 days a week, and about 16 hours. I remember that during the first week she was feeling comfortable. She was making new friends whom work at the kitchen, and even though she worked at the counter she always found the time to chat with them. It seemed that she was really having a great time working there, (for a moment I hoped I could get a job like that). Everything was good during the first days, but a few weeks later she started complaining about the extra time she had to stay cleaning out the tables, organizing the frozen food for the next day and above all of this have to deal with crazy and embittered customers. Some of them yelled at her for whatever reason, and all she had to do was stay calm and try to serve them in the best way that she could. Afterwards the manager wanted her to work on Saturdays and Sundays since 7:00 in the morning to 3:00 pm in the afternoon. She started missing homework and gradually school. When I called her to find out why she missed school one day, she would tell me that she was working until late and couldn’t wake up in the morning. After 2 months working full time at McDonald’s she was not longer attending school. Curiously two months after dropping out of school she quit that job because the more availability she showed, the more time the manager demanded from her. At the end she couldn’t take so much stress and decided to get another job in a supermarket, which ended up the same way. This example concludes the idea I wanted to point out in this piece of writing; almost every one of us has been directly or indirectly involved in this situation. I think having a job as a teenager would develop your skills and also create a sense of responsibility and self-esteem, however, when the balance on how to manage time between school and job and when the important things for the upcoming future are lost, then it becomes a problem.

Response #1: the image of a brand and its target customers

In our last class we were discussing the meaning of this word and also naming a few famous brands in the United States. A brand is a name, trademark, logo or symbol given to a business to identify a specific product. We mentioned a few examples of brand such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Nike, Victoria’s Secret etc…each of this brands have their own logos and slogan which make them unique and have their own essence and personality; they have different marketing strategies to approach their customers such as coupons, credit cards, gift cards, free samples, grand openings etc…Eric Schlosser, author of “My Trusted Friends” mentioned one strategy that Walt Disney developed to expand Disneyland, this was known as “synergy” which was followed for the infomercials, promoting films, advertisement, etc…today we could see many examples of synergy, some of them were listed in the last class; a classmate said AT&T and Apple, as everyone knows, apple is the creator of the most amazing electronic devices nowadays, and some of people get the new Iphone but they need a telephone company to active it; in this case you can only use this phone with AT&T and if you notice in the TV commercials, there’s always the Apple’s logo and the AT&T logo at the bottom of your screen, this is an example of how two companies merge together which combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. One of the most important things in marketing is to have a target customer. Ray Kroc (owner of MacDonald’s) knew this and started to develop a new way of promotion. He decided that “children would be the new restaurant chain’s target customer”. According to the author Kroc wanted to create a safe and clean all-American place for kids. He knew that promoting McDonald’s for kids was a smart idea; “a child who likes McDonald’s TV commercials and brings her grandparents to our restaurant gives us two more customers” he explained. The creation of character such as McDonald’s mascot Speedee a winking little chef with a hamburger for a head, and probably the most famous clown known by kids, Ronald McDonald, fantastic and utopian world such as Disneyland, and later after McDonaldlandia, are very important factors to keep a fast food brand within the reach of children. The author stays that the bulk of the advertisement directed to children today has an immediate goal; it’s giving them a reason to ask for the product over and over until they get it.

Part of my assignment is to go to a McDonald or Burger King and do some research about the environment, decoration, and the place itself.

I went to Burger king because is near home. The restaurant has two doors I entered by the backdoor which is on 69^th street, the main door is on Northern Blvd. the first thing I saw was a poster in the door promoting their new bacon egg & cheese sandwich part of the breakfast menu, I sat down in the corner and was observing the people, & everything around me; the decoration was colorful but simple, there were white square tables, with some green sticker shaped like a cone, purple and blue stripes all around it, the chairs were in the same colors, there was only one wall decorated with paints (which I liked for my living room) I was surprised there were no posters or any art of burger on the wall, the rest of the walls were covered with large windows giving the place a great natural light. there was a closed space behind me with some tables, chair, and some machines (which I don’t know their function) that place used to be a playground before, but know it is most like a spot for birthdays. In the back part I couldn’t see any promotional material of any kind, and there were no fantasy element in the design of the restaurant; I walked towards the main door which is a big glass door with two mega stickers of Burger King’s logo, on the other side of the door there is a big poster that says “NOW HIRING”. When people first walk in through the main door they will be able to see the counter, there is only two register machines, and there was one person in the front, I could see a girl preparing the food for the drive thru window and three more employees in the back preparing French fries, and sandwiches. There was a big poster in the counter that says “Pinkalicious toys” for girls and boys every time you buy a kid’s meal” then on the other side there were a list of the toys that the girls would get: “pinkalicious hair play”, “pinkalicious star bright”, “War ring comb pinkalicious”, and a “pinkalicious tiara”; the toys for boys were: car curving tony Stewart, rev n’ go tony Stewart. . I was supposed to bring some promotional material with me whatever I could take for free but there was none.

The majority of the customers were families with their kids and almost all of them were getting one of those toys in their meals, some of them were playing around being a little noisy, but that didn’t bothered me since I love kids.

To conclude my research I can say that the strategies mentioned at the beginning of this paper are use in this restaurant too, they use characters to attract kids such as “the king”, toys in the kid’s meal to make the parents buy it, however I could implied that the restaurant is also trying to access any kind of people, its decoration is simple and somehow colorful but also lack of fantasy elements which mostly attract kids.