In article ,
(Cathy Weeks) wrote:

Jon Walters wrote in message
...

First of all -- the kids of this generation are spoiled
and "do no wrong" in the eyes of their parents. They are
right and you are wrong .... especially when a 13 year old
wanted $40 to shovel the snow from my sidewalk recently. I
told the kid I'll give him $10 and he walked away. Good. I'll
wait until it melts before I pay that much.

Ah, so you think just because he's 13, he ought to do it for less than
an amount that he considers worth his time? He doesn't owe you
service. The only thing I can think of is that he might not have been
polite, and that's the only thing that he might have done wrong. But,
I've seen people like you grump over the polite ones, too.

Shoveling snow is hard work, and it's no fun. And if you contract
with an agency that does stuff like that, they charge $75. So you
should either pay up or shut up and do it yourself.

I've heard this so many time before...old codgers who think the
neighbor kids owe them labor for cheap. And for whatever reason, it's
always over shoveling snow.


Not always. Many years ago, I was a much in demand babysitter. I sat
for a new family in the neighborhood without stating a price up front,
and was stunned to get paid about 1/3 of the going rate. When that
neighbor called again, I told her my normal hourly rate (actually, since
she had 6 kids who were, um, challenging, the price I quoted was about
twice my normal hourly rate), and she told me that she would only pay
what she'd paid before, so I turned the job down. She called my mother
to complain that I was a lazy, spoiled teenager who was turning down
legitimate work! Fortunately, Mom knew what was going on, and told her
that I didn't need to work for pitifully low wages -- if she wanted me,
she'd have to pay what I was worth.

I think my cousins got $5 per sidewalk when they were doing it about 40
years ago; they invested in a snow blower, so they could take on more
clients, and did very well. I no longer live where snow happens, but
I'm guessing the "going rate" for shoveling is WELL above $10!

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care