Is the economy hurting your hobby?

[tankist]

I couldve made almost 1000 dollars last summer working for the local theme park, but because of the economy i sat down with my parents and told them i wasnt going to even apply for a summer job because i didnt feel it was right for a 14 yr old to take a job simply to earn his own money, and possibly take it from someone who actually needed the job.

sorry dude, thats a flawed logic. you have wants, and you work to get them. nothing wrong with that. i worked all my summers from 9th grade. that's the only reason i could buy myself a PC. the situation was not really good for my parents back then and it was tremendous help.
besides, earninig your wants is possibly the most rewarding thing.



as for rap, it only means you never heard the really good one
i'm not into it at all but this one simply cracked me up
"i just want something better for me and my children"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY6sR6HQuMw

 

[Littlefoot14]

Anton- looking back on it i shouldve at least applied for a job, saying how chances are they would have accepted applications from older people first anyways. Ive got all of spring to earn some extra cash and fall to make it up. Im hoping i didnt lose to much but if i plan right i think i should be fine.

 

[julienjj]

when you are young, a nice jobs to have is to deliver newspaper. Its easy to do if you wake up early, and give a good income for a student. I did it over 5 years, and i never needed to ask for a video game or whatever, i could afford it by myselft, something my friend could'nt do with ~40 door i made up about 1800$ a year.

 

[Beachbum]

Rap Music is an oxymoron and those two words should never be used together like that! ; )

Yo, yo, yo! True dat! Boom-ba-boom! Yo.

Good quote on credit:

We buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like with money we don't have.

 

[Gary B]

Rap Music is an oxymoron and those two words should never be used together like that! ; )

I always thought they left the 'C' off the beginning of RAP.

Hey to each their own!

 

[UP2CSX]

Matt, I think that was a noble gesture on your part but I have to agree with Anton. If you can get a job, take it. It's not a zero sum game. A job you get is because you're the best candidate. You're not taking it away from anyone else. Still, I applaud you for having a social conscience at such a young age.

Julien, are there still paper route jobs for kids? We don't have any around here, which I think is a real tragedy. A paper route was my first job. It's where I first learned about things like punctuality, customer service, and hard work. I also earned a few bucks for some more Lionel cars for my layout. The child labor laws now make it nearly impossible for anyone under 16 to get any kind of job. Bad thing for young people.

Rap music is fine as long as I'm not forced to listen to it. We had a law in California that your radio couldn't be so loud that it could be heard 50 feet or more from the vehicle. I was always amazed at the amount of times I'd be driving an unmarked while in uniform and pull up next to a guy at a traffic light with a radio so loud he'd make my windows rattle...and they still didn't turn it down, even when they looked over at me and saw my uniform. I always figured they were guys that just needed a citation to make their day.

 

[vato loco]

In my state a good job for kids is washing cars! During Love bug season a kid could clean up! Also Bag boy/shelf stocker at the local grocery store is another good income. But down here you got to fight the 60-80 somethings for it though. It amazes me how many well off retired folk down here love the bag boy jobs!LoLs... any how Matt if you are offerd a job TAKE IT! And if you are offerd a second one and there's enough day light to do it too.....TAKE IT AS WELL. your young only once and doing as many jobs as you can make you stronger.

When I was a JR. in High school I had four jobs.. The local Burger King, Aquarium Store, Hanging Dry wall, And Mowing lawns. I went from job to job during the summer and after school I would work one a night and three during the weekends. I worked like this from the time i was 16 up until my son was born. I had fists full of money but no brains to have saved any of it! O'well live and learn and pass on the knowledge learned!

Matt, what I'm saying if'n you can work and your grades don't suffer.....WORK!

 

[Littlefoot14]

Well i think ill take the advice of those hear and search for a job this weekend. Im considering applying at hannafords, its close to my house and my school. A few questions though? Should i have some sort of letter of reference? Maybe a letter from the Fire dept. i work with during the summer and my football coach? (football is huge in my town)

Jim- Around here paper routes are open for kids, you just have to be 14 with your working papers.

Chris- Did you have time to play sports with your jobs? Im just kind of concerned that i wont be able to juggle school work, practice and a job.

 

[vato loco]

Chris- Did you have time to play sports with your jobs? Im just kind of concerned that i wont be able to juggle school work, practice and a job.

Matt,

I didn't play any sports until is was in my twentys and was out of high school! so I didn't really have anything but school and work and I took OJT in high school so I could spend more time working. If you couldn't tell I LOVE TO WORK! Because.... The harder I work the HARDER I GET TO PLAY!
Right now I'm pushing my lawn service. I have the chance to work from sun up to sun down and name my own price.

My son was mowing yards with me three weeks back and saw a Lamborgini in a garage and a 700 series BMW in the drive of the house across the street.....

Matt, the advice I give my own son.....Get a great Education, Pick a Job you want to do and will be happy doing, Then Give 110% at that job...Then Be SMART with your money.....And the House, cars, and everything else that comes with it may be in your future!

 

[tankist]

the advice I give my own son.....Get a great Education, Pick a Job you want to do and will be happy doing, Then Give 110% at that job...Then Be SMART with your money.....And the House, cars, and everything else that comes with it may be in your future!

golden words

 

[julienjj]

Julien, are there still paper route jobs for kids? We don't have any around here, which I think is a real tragedy. A paper route was my first job. It's where I first learned about things like punctuality, customer service, and hard work. I also earned a few bucks for some more Lionel cars for my layout. The child labor laws now make it nearly impossible for anyone under 16 to get any kind of job. Bad thing for young people.

In Canada, the laws is that you can't provide work for a teen under 16 during the schools hour. you can't ask them to work before 7:00 am and after 9:00PM(If im right), the only exception to this law is for newspaer delivery. But the job dont seem to be popular anymore, my father told me that when he was young , he had to PAY 50$ to get the route. I remember all those people staring at me like an alien when i was telling them i was delivering newspaper before 6:30, they where like "WTHHH , Geeeeez, how can you wake up so early!!!!". Since i left that job, its now an adult who do over 400 doors that has taken over the local route

Rap music is fine as long as I'm not forced to listen to it. We had a law in California that your radio couldn't be so loud that it could be heard 50 feet or more from the vehicle. I was always amazed at the amount of times I'd be driving an unmarked while in uniform and pull up next to a guy at a traffic light with a radio so loud he'd make my windows rattle...and they still didn't turn it down, even when they looked over at me and saw my uniform. I always figured they were guys that just needed a citation to make their day.

I hate those, they only buy huge subwoofer to make noise. I listen to rock, i like deep base but dont forget there are middle and high. Better have a 400W system of great quality, than 800W of subwoofer


Speaking of economy, Something incredible happened at the job last week, we sold a security system to a pizzeria, the installators whent there and installed the system in 2 day. they went back the 3rd day to get paid and there where NO DAMM PIZZERIA ANYMORE !!!! everything was gone, table, chair, oven.... JUST ALL WAS GONE, even the security camera and the toilet seat !!

 

[NH Mike]

Speaking of economy, Something incredible happened at the job last week, we sold a security system to a pizzeria, the installators whent there and installed the system in 2 day. they went back the 3rd day to get paid and there where NO DAMM PIZZERIA ANYMORE !!!! everything was gone, table, chair, oven.... JUST ALL WAS GONE, even the security camera and the toilet seat !!

Detective Frank Dreven of Police Squad is working a few angles,
1) Some tech savvy thieves up your way.
2) The install crew went back to the wrong building.
3) The pizza guy did it himself to collect the insurance.
4) The alarm system was made in China not Italy
5) The perp suffers from IBS

 

[Airslide]

paper route was my first job - that was 1983. I have been employed since then. never going more than 3 months without a job - not always the greatest job, but employed none the less. i dont have a layout either. i started one but did not finish because my wife got laid off (about a year ago) and with only 1 income i couldnt really justify spending money on a layout. i also had much bigger dreams than the 4X8 bench i built. fortunately my job has weathered the economy and made a profit last quarter. so not only do i still have a job, but we even got raises. my wife also got a new job. so to a degree, the economy has hindered my train spending, but i have still been buying and custom weathering rolling stock. for me, thats the cheapest way to stay into the hobby - that and drawing sketches for what my ultimate layout track plan will look like.

 

[ChevelleSSguy]

I got back into this during this economy last spring so it hasnt really changed my opinion much. However, I am layed off from work now and am strongly looking into changing careers.

A lot of the places that will almost be a guaranteed hire and now ending up with a waiting list for positions. Or are getting a big stack of resumes and applications to pick from. Even fast food resturaunts arent hiring like they used to these days. Ive actually never seen anything like this before honestly.

 

[waredbear]

Detective Frank Dreven of Police Squad is working a few angles,
1) Some tech savvy thieves up your way.
2) The install crew went back to the wrong building.
3) The pizza guy did it himself to collect the insurance.
4) The alarm system was made in China not Italy
5) The perp suffers from IBS

Sounds like an insurance job to me. I used to belong to a volunteer fire department outside of Myrtle Beach, SC. I joined right after the county built all the uncovered areas new buildings and gave them all new fire trucks. We fought over 100 fires the first month. Most of them being vehicles and houses. All of a sudden people could get fire insurance because they had a department so they started torching everything for the money.

 

[blownoutcylinder]

I got back into this during this economy last spring so it hasnt really changed my opinion much. However, I am layed off from work now and am strongly looking into changing careers.

A lot of the places that will almost be a guaranteed hire and now ending up with a waiting list for positions. Or are getting a big stack of resumes and applications to pick from. Even fast food resturaunts arent hiring like they used to these days. Ive actually never seen anything like this before honestly.

Our area got clobbered good and hard over the past year--a few months ago we sat at almost 12% unemployment rate--official. St. Thomas, I think, sat at just under 20% because all the auto sector jobs just vaporized here. Every job category has been affected to some degree or other.

The area that I'm in--healthcare--has fared a little better---we hired on 10 more people in my company recently. I wonder how long that'll last though--

As for this one--pencil sharpening has kept Audrey and I still being able to do our things

BTW--just to make for more interesting news--several stock market sites are reporting that a large number of Chinese mfg firms are out of business as well as their 'customers' are now cutting back. I'm starting to wonder about the health of some of our hobby's---erm--mfg's in China

 

[vato loco]

I'm starting to wonder about the health of some of our hobby's---erm--mfg's in China

They need to come home anyways! Now that would be a cool job to have making or Model trains at our jobs!

 

[blownoutcylinder]

They need to come home anyways! Now that would be a cool job to have making or Model trains at our jobs!

That just may happen

 

[UP2CSX]

Matt, juggling a job, school, and sports won't be easy but even a job for ten hours a week is still a good thing to have. Letters of recommendation never hurt, as do good references. Chris, surprisingly, had some excellent words of wisdom for you.

Julien, I've seen several business here in town just shut down overnight, with everything in the place gone by morning. I guess you could call that the ultimate in poor planning. All of our papers our delivered by aldult contractors in cars too. It's a shame to lose the neighborhood delivery boy.

Reid, there really is a direct correlation between a bad economy and fires. I've seen the same pattern happen several times during my career. It hits rural areas the hardest because they tend to have either poorly trained or no arson investigators. I know several insurance companies now that routinely have their own arson investigator go to every fire scene.

Barry, the real key to this economy is employment. As you said, it's hit every sector of the economy. Until banks feel safe lending money again, unemployment is not going to get better. But....if employment improves, and people have money again, that's when inflation starts, and it will be uncontrollable. I really think that The US and Canadian governments are walking a thin line between making it appear they are trying to do something about unemployment while doing everything they can to make it stay near these levels for at least the next year.

I haven't heard of any contractors for model railroad companies going belly up in China. If it does happen, it will be because of lack of demand. Products with no demand aren't going to suddenly return to North America for production. Those jobs are gone for good and aren't ever coming back.

 

[NH Mike]

Our area got clobbered good and hard over the past year--a few months ago we sat at almost 12% unemployment rate--official. St. Thomas, I think, sat at just under 20% because all the auto sector jobs just vaporized here. Every job category has been affected to some degree or other.

:

Barry, A large part of Southern Ontario must be hurting. At one end you have Windsor with Ford and Chrysler plants and at the other end is St Catharines that has a big GM and McKinnon ( Delco Remy ) presence. Then there are those who worked across the river in Detroit auto plants and commuted back and forth to Canada every day. As you correctly said it spreads beyond that to every other business in the surrouding area. It wouldn't surprise me if even Tim Horton's had to lay people off because of a drop in business.