Young people and odd jobs

[Ethel]

I could have done with help clearing my driveway and paths of snow recently and realised young people no longer clean cars, clear snow, mow lawns or do other 'odd jobs' for a small payment.

Why is this? I can understand it maybe isn't wise for a youngster to knock on a stranger's door offering his services, and maybe it wouldn't be wise to give an 'odd job' to an unknown person who knocked on the door.

But surely it would still be all right in some circumstances, such as neighbours?

Can anybody shed any light on this? I would willingly pay for those sorts of jobs which I can no longer do.

[Octavius]

Perhaps a combination of many things.

1. Why should they bother � hanging around the precinct, or playing X-box is far more entertaining.

2. Rates of pay � how much to wash a car? Give them a fiver they�ll expect a tenner. A fiver doesn�t get you much, so is it really worth the effort? Would have to do 3 or 4 cars to make it worthwhile

3. The stranger issue that you have mentioned, and the strangers suspicion of children (aka hoodlums, potential thieves, vandals etc) hovering around their house and car

4. Time, kids have a lot more homework and social lives these days, maybe things will improve in the summer months when we have longer lighter evenings.

5. Do the parents want their cherubs doing odd tedious jobs � most would rather their little darlings were project managing, than doing any manual labour!

Having said that, I have had a couple of the local kids offering to wash my car and had some group or other doing some odd jobs for charity/fund raising, so it does go on. Unfortunately, our cars are quite expensive so I declined the offer! But if they wanted to wash the drive, or clear some snow for a few quid etc etc I would never deprive them of their entrepreneurial ambitions.

Have you tried talking to your neighbouring parents?

[eash]

Most young people are too lazy these days that's what I think anyway. What with the TV, internet, computer consoles, gone are the days of children/young people out playing and helping neighbours with odd jobs. Such a shame really.

[Ethel]

The neighbouring children are all under 8, so that's a no go for me, Octavius.

It doesn't seem so long ago that teenagers would wash several cars in the street on a Sunday morning, or clear snow from several homes.

:(

[heathfield]

These days they probably get more in the way of pocket-money than they would from doing odd jobs at a fair rate of pay. So why should they bother putting any effort into earning money? It puts them in the right frame of mind for living off DWP benefits in later life.

[Octavius]

Not necessarily eash. I think that a lot of reluctance stems from unapproachable adults who look at the �yoof of today� - and treat them - as though they were something found on the bottom of a shoe.

Ethel, maybe it is a trust issue.

[mrs_overall]

Hi Ethel

I recently assisted our cubs & scouts at a bag pack at a local supermarket. I lost count of the number of people who asked what had happened to Bob A Job week .They all said things along the line of your question.

I have an elderly neighbour who is very unsteady on her feet but she makes a point of going to the shops in a taxi every day. Despite repeated offers from neighbours to do her shopping, she carries on with her daily jaunt. My youngest son (8) is usually playing out when she arrives home and he always carries her bags into her house. He knows he has to refuse any offer of payment because I've drilled it into him that you help those less fortunate and don't expect payment for it.
It's a sad reflection on society that people no longer freely help those who need it.

[Octavius]

This was 10 years ago...

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/scout- chiefs-axe-bobajob-week-over-abuse-fears-41345 7.html

[angiebaby57]

My 13 yr old son would jump at the chance to earn extra cash...we live in a very nice area and he has asked neighbours if he can walk their dogs, wash their cars, etc and got zero response! He even made a leaflet on the computer and delivered it in our avenue...10/10 for trying but he was quite disheartened! Shame u dont live in Chepstow Ethel!!

[Ethel]

It is indeed, angie. Shame I don't live near MrsO and her polite son, too.

Tis a shame about the demise of Bob-a-Job, I think it is a reflection on the breakdown of the community as a whole.

[gelda]

I really think nowadays the kids get too much pocket money, when we were kids any money we got had to be earned, my mum was widowed as a young woman and couldn't afford to give us pocket money ( very few benefits in those days ). My brother and I used to go to the market every Sat night and collect all the thrown out wooden boxes that had fruit and veg in them, we then used to take them home and chop them up and sell them to the neighbours for firewood. Another thing we used to do was collect thrown out newspapers from the neighbours and take them to the fish and chip shop in exchange for all the the crispy bits of batter and and bits of chips. Ah those were the days!

[jno]

many years ago, and in another country, my mum used to get odd jobs done by young people from the local mental handicap association - mowing the lawn, putting out the rubbish etc, things she was no longer able to do herself (and paying a decent sum for it). I have no idea if there's any such body in this country?

[Lonnie]

Another reason not given in the above replies is, if you clear your drive, and somone, eg Postman slips, your open to a lawsuit, but if you don't, your not.

thats what i'm led to understand anyway, i'd be happy to be proved wrong.

[Ethel]

That is quite true, Lonnie

[GYMRAT]

Maybe because o lot of the kids DO have odd jobs...you know,selling crack,running guns etc....ill tell ya what...the wage sure beats cleaning out someones basement for tuppence!

[tamborine]

Have often advised 14y olds here to do just that - use their entreprenurial spirit but they seem to prefer 'dead end' supermarket work.

[Oneeyedvic]

Another reason not given in the above replies is, if you clear your drive, and somone, eg Postman slips, your open to a lawsuit, but if you don't, your not.

I don't believe that this is true.

You have a duty of care towards visitors to your house and can be held liable for injury for nuisance, negligence or trespass.

Thus if you don't clean up the drive and the postman slips, you are (in my opinion) more likely to be accountable for negligence than if you had cleaned it but it had iced over afterwards.

[Ethel]

Sorry, oneeyedvic, you are wrong.

If a person slips and injures themselves on undisturbed snow, it is considered to be an 'Act of God'.

If a person slips and injures themselves after you have cleared the snow, it is your action, not God's.

Which is why local councils are in no rush to remove snow and ice from footpaths and pavements.

[Ethel]

Lord Oldham explains it better than me:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3453039 .stm

This report is specific to pavements but is equally applicable to your own path.

[Ethel]

Lord Davies of Oldham, sorry

[Oneeyedvic]

Sorry Ethel, but that relates to outside your home - I am referring to a driveway / path which is inside your home (boundary) - and as stated - you have a duty of care to people visiting you - obviously that duty of care does not exist outside property that is not yours.


But if householders leave the snow, the council is liable, Lord Davies of Oldham, for ministers, told Tory Lord Burnham at question time.

Your article also states that the snow on public roads and pavements are an issue for the council - again they have a duty of care.