PART-TIME JOBS FOR TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Part-time jobs for American students are very popular but usually begin during their high school days. Besides working in fast food restaurants and small cafeterias, a very popular job for a teenager in America is baby sitting. This has its greatest appeal among teenage girls and a good baby sitter can earn quite a bit if she is reliable, responsible and mature.
It is not necessarily an easy job and requires both social skills and general competence. A good baby sitter should know how to change diapers and earn the respect of the children she is watching. She must be able to get the children ready for bed and keep an eye on them even while they are sleeping. In addition, she should be able to handle any unexpected emergency with common sense and be calm at all times. She should know the emergency numbers of the hospital and police for situations which require assistance.
Once the children are asleep the baby sitter is free to watch TV or listen to music. If she is really conscientious about her studies, she may well spend the time doing homework but should not tie up the phone with personal calls just in case the parents want to be in contact with her.
Such a job often involves working on Friday and Saturday nights when many married couples like to spend the night going to a movie or the theater. On such occasions they will leave their children in the care of a dependable baby-sitter.
Other part-time jobs which are popular especially among young boys is managing a paper route or mowing the lawns of people in one's neighborhood. These jobs also requires a sense of maturity and responsibility and can be a source of good income for a high school student. Young boys who run paper routes are required to get up early in the morning to deliver the daily news regardless of the weather. This job has no holidays and requires the newspaper to be delivered every day without exception. In America there are no newspaper holidays.
If they choose to mow lawns, part of the job responsibilities may require that they also periodically rid it of weeds and occasionally re-seed areas which have been burned by the sun or thinned or thinned out by wear. During the winter a snowstorm can become another source of income for the teenager. The young boys make their rounds through their neighborhood equipped with a shovel and offer to clear sidewalks or stoops in front of homes or to dig out a car buried in a meter of snow. These jobs, dependent on the weather, require stamina, diligence, discipline and a spirit of the entrepreneur.
While part-time jobs for high schools students may be frowned upon in Japan, in American they are often seen as an opportunity to teach young people about work responsibility and respect for others. The young people learn how to become part of the adult world and to share in the making of society.
SUNDAY: A DAY OF REST
For many Americans, Sunday is a day of rest. After a busy week of business transactions and work routines, it is a day to pause and focus on faith and family. However, it is not a day to waste away by doing nothing. It is a day for many to attend church and to worship with their local community. This notion is based on the Biblical account of creation when God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. For this reason, one day is set aside during the week as a day of rest and worship. On Sunday most department stores and business are closed for the day and only places of entertainment and culture may be open to the public.
Sometimes when we read the newspapers and watch TV, we get the false impression that American is an amoral society where people have no respect for family and religious values. This concept is often exploited by tabloid papers and the foreign press but nothing could be further from the truth. In spite of the apparent carefree attitude sometimes projected by the press, many Americans, especially those living in the rural areas and the deep south, are very traditional in their approach to life, family and religion. Sundays for them still become a time to attend their local church and to meet with their fellow parishioners. The church service becomes for them the center of their day's activities.
At the church service, a choir composed of members from the community sings hymns and songs and the preacher or minister delivers a sermon based on a passage from the Gospel. In some Christian churches there is also a communion service where a ritual remembrance of the Last Supper is reenacted in a fellowship which concludes the liturgy. After the service, which may last as long as an hour, the members of the congregation along with their pastor may meet in the parish hall to enjoy coffee and cake and to socialize together. This is also the time to exchange social greetings and ideas with one another, to become informed of the needs of the community, and to find out about the latest happenings in the parish.
Most churches may also distribute a small bulletin containing announcements of births, deaths and marriages within the community. There may also be additional short notices of special meetings to be held in the parish ,such as choir rehearsals senior citizen group activities and local scouting events. Upcoming parish events sponsored by the church also get ample notice. Such events may include a bake sale to collect money for shut-ins, a cook-out for the underprivileged in a local park, or a holiday trip to a local resort for members of the parish council.
Belonging to a church is important to many Americans because it helps to bring people together with others who share the same religious faith and family values. It also helps to create a sense of the extended family and solidifies the community spirit and a sense of personal belonging. On the remainder of this day of rest, families are merged into closely knit units by getting together for a dinner at which one's own extended family is invited.
If one is not a regular churchgoer the day is still a chance to rest. It is spent visiting other relatives or friends, going to parks or attending ball games, museums or concerts. It is a time to enrich one's life through leisure and to prepare one's mind for the workweek to follow.
COWBOYS AND THE WILD FRONTIER
The era of the cowboy really began after the Civil War (1861-1865). During this decisive war the Texas cattle had roamed undisturbed in the wild, breeding freely on the plains and greatly increasing in number. By the end of the war, however, Texas was filled with wild cattle. The people in the mushrooming cities of the East and in the Middle West wanted more meat for their diet and local farmers could not keep up with their demands. Therefore, the need for the cowboy emerged from the demands of the people and the nature of the culture.
An image of American folklore which has inspired songs, stories, folk tales and legends has been the cowboy. These romantic figures of the wild frontier probably can trace their origin back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish brought with them to the New World many young men who were experienced with cattle and horses. They were to evolve into the modern-day cowboy.
These men were handy with tools and knew how to handle a horse. Some of them discovered the use of rope to catch cattle and developed the lariat.
Their life was not an easy one. In winter they watched over the herds and in the springtime they selected cattle for market often driving herds of them hundreds of miles to the nearest town. The cattle were then sold to buyers and the routine would start all over again.
The life of a cowboy was an outdoor one endured under harsh conditions. His wide-brimmed hat protected him from the glaring summer sun and his heavy leather jacket and gloves were his defense against the cold winters.
His workday was long beginning before sunrise and lasting well into the night. His best friend was his horse and he spent most of his waking hours in the saddle. His speech was a mixture of Spanish and English and at night by a campfire he wove his speech into songs about life on the prairie.
A great boon to the life of the cowboy was the building of the railroads which connected eastern cities to those out West. In 1866 when the Kansas and Pacific railroad reached the small dusty village of Abilene in Kansas, the life of the cowboy was connected to the rest of the country. Hundreds of small cow towns grew up along the old trails which led the cattle to market, and thus the west became integrated into the economic life of the country.
Today the life of the cowboy is quite different from those early days after the Civil War. Helicopters rather than horses are now used to round up the cattle and modern technology used in the ranches has made the cowboy's life less formidable. Yet, the legends which surround him continue to perpetuate his image as the masterful hero of the Wild West.
TIPPING
Tipping is very much a part of American culture and one which creates a problem for most foreign travelers when they arrive for a holiday who are not familiar with the custom. They are at a loss as to how much to tip and to whom. Often they tip too much and to the wrong person. Or else, they may tip not at all. In general, we give a tip in appreciation for a service rendered. Tipping is a courtesy, and not an obligation. One should not feel it is necessary to tip if the service is bad or indifferent. Unfortunately, one reason for tipping also lies in the reality that those who work at these jobs usually have a base pay well below the average. They need to supplement their income in order to meet life's expenses.
The history of the practice, however, dates back to England in the mid-seven- teenth century. At that time there were coffee houses which were frequented by men to discuss politics and literary affairs. Customers of the coffee houses were expected to drop coins into a box on which was written "to insure promptness." "T.I.P.", the initials of that phrase are said to be the origin of the modern word "tipping."
The question, of course, is whom do we tip and how much is considered a fair amount. Usually waiters and taxi cab drivers expect to get a tip. In a hotel, the bellhop and chamber-maid also expect some gratuity. The amount, of course, depends upon the nature of the service requested and the quality level of the hotel. Hairdressers and barbers can also merit a small tip. Even sky-cap porters at airports who may carry your suitcase to the checkout counter expect a dollar tip per bag.
Although the amount may vary according to the kind of service and the quality of the restaurant and hotel, generally, a ten percent tip is considered adequate. In New York and larger metropolitan cities they may expect as much as fifteen or twenty percent.
In restaurants, the tip is left on the table and the bill is paid separately. The tip should never be given directly to the waiter but it can be added onto a check if one is paying by credit card. In tipping a cab driver, the tip can simply be added to the total amount of the fare.
Tipping, of course, is not mandatory in any situation, and one should not feel under any obligation to give one. If a waiter is not prompt and attentive and noticeably lacking in courtesy and manners, it would be perfectly acceptable not to leave a tip. It would also not be out of order to register a complaint with the management. Likewise, if a cab driver does not take a passenger to his destination by the shortest route, he also deserves to forfeit his tip. Also, if the room of a hotel is not well-cleaned and the room service is lackluster and slow, a guest should not feel obliged to leave a gratuity.
Ushers in theaters whose job it is to see you to your seat and service help in fast food restaurants do not expect a tip. At the end of the year, however, it has become the custom to give a tip or small gift to newspaper boys who deliver the paper to your home throughout the year. The same may be true for garbage collectors or anyone who may have provided a special service. Most Americans dislike tipping and find it a nuisance. If a poll were taken, the consensus would favor just adding the tip to the total of the bill as is the custom in Japan and other Asian countries.
Part-time jobs for American students are very popular but usually begin during their high school days. Besides working in fast food restaurants and small cafeterias, a very popular job for a teenager in America is baby sitting. This has its greatest appeal among teenage girls and a good baby sitter can earn quite a bit if she is reliable, responsible and mature.
It is not necessarily an easy job and requires both social skills and general competence. A good baby sitter should know how to change diapers and earn the respect of the children she is watching. She must be able to get the children ready for bed and keep an eye on them even while they are sleeping. In addition, she should be able to handle any unexpected emergency with common sense and be calm at all times. She should know the emergency numbers of the hospital and police for situations which require assistance.
Once the children are asleep the baby sitter is free to watch TV or listen to music. If she is really conscientious about her studies, she may well spend the time doing homework but should not tie up the phone with personal calls just in case the parents want to be in contact with her.
Such a job often involves working on Friday and Saturday nights when many married couples like to spend the night going to a movie or the theater. On such occasions they will leave their children in the care of a dependable baby-sitter.
Other part-time jobs which are popular especially among young boys is managing a paper route or mowing the lawns of people in one's neighborhood. These jobs also requires a sense of maturity and responsibility and can be a source of good income for a high school student. Young boys who run paper routes are required to get up early in the morning to deliver the daily news regardless of the weather. This job has no holidays and requires the newspaper to be delivered every day without exception. In America there are no newspaper holidays.
If they choose to mow lawns, part of the job responsibilities may require that they also periodically rid it of weeds and occasionally re-seed areas which have been burned by the sun or thinned or thinned out by wear. During the winter a snowstorm can become another source of income for the teenager. The young boys make their rounds through their neighborhood equipped with a shovel and offer to clear sidewalks or stoops in front of homes or to dig out a car buried in a meter of snow. These jobs, dependent on the weather, require stamina, diligence, discipline and a spirit of the entrepreneur.
While part-time jobs for high schools students may be frowned upon in Japan, in American they are often seen as an opportunity to teach young people about work responsibility and respect for others. The young people learn how to become part of the adult world and to share in the making of society.
SUNDAY: A DAY OF REST
For many Americans, Sunday is a day of rest. After a busy week of business transactions and work routines, it is a day to pause and focus on faith and family. However, it is not a day to waste away by doing nothing. It is a day for many to attend church and to worship with their local community. This notion is based on the Biblical account of creation when God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. For this reason, one day is set aside during the week as a day of rest and worship. On Sunday most department stores and business are closed for the day and only places of entertainment and culture may be open to the public.
Sometimes when we read the newspapers and watch TV, we get the false impression that American is an amoral society where people have no respect for family and religious values. This concept is often exploited by tabloid papers and the foreign press but nothing could be further from the truth. In spite of the apparent carefree attitude sometimes projected by the press, many Americans, especially those living in the rural areas and the deep south, are very traditional in their approach to life, family and religion. Sundays for them still become a time to attend their local church and to meet with their fellow parishioners. The church service becomes for them the center of their day's activities.
At the church service, a choir composed of members from the community sings hymns and songs and the preacher or minister delivers a sermon based on a passage from the Gospel. In some Christian churches there is also a communion service where a ritual remembrance of the Last Supper is reenacted in a fellowship which concludes the liturgy. After the service, which may last as long as an hour, the members of the congregation along with their pastor may meet in the parish hall to enjoy coffee and cake and to socialize together. This is also the time to exchange social greetings and ideas with one another, to become informed of the needs of the community, and to find out about the latest happenings in the parish.
Most churches may also distribute a small bulletin containing announcements of births, deaths and marriages within the community. There may also be additional short notices of special meetings to be held in the parish ,such as choir rehearsals senior citizen group activities and local scouting events. Upcoming parish events sponsored by the church also get ample notice. Such events may include a bake sale to collect money for shut-ins, a cook-out for the underprivileged in a local park, or a holiday trip to a local resort for members of the parish council.
Belonging to a church is important to many Americans because it helps to bring people together with others who share the same religious faith and family values. It also helps to create a sense of the extended family and solidifies the community spirit and a sense of personal belonging. On the remainder of this day of rest, families are merged into closely knit units by getting together for a dinner at which one's own extended family is invited.
If one is not a regular churchgoer the day is still a chance to rest. It is spent visiting other relatives or friends, going to parks or attending ball games, museums or concerts. It is a time to enrich one's life through leisure and to prepare one's mind for the workweek to follow.
COWBOYS AND THE WILD FRONTIER
The era of the cowboy really began after the Civil War (1861-1865). During this decisive war the Texas cattle had roamed undisturbed in the wild, breeding freely on the plains and greatly increasing in number. By the end of the war, however, Texas was filled with wild cattle. The people in the mushrooming cities of the East and in the Middle West wanted more meat for their diet and local farmers could not keep up with their demands. Therefore, the need for the cowboy emerged from the demands of the people and the nature of the culture.
An image of American folklore which has inspired songs, stories, folk tales and legends has been the cowboy. These romantic figures of the wild frontier probably can trace their origin back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish brought with them to the New World many young men who were experienced with cattle and horses. They were to evolve into the modern-day cowboy.
These men were handy with tools and knew how to handle a horse. Some of them discovered the use of rope to catch cattle and developed the lariat.
Their life was not an easy one. In winter they watched over the herds and in the springtime they selected cattle for market often driving herds of them hundreds of miles to the nearest town. The cattle were then sold to buyers and the routine would start all over again.
The life of a cowboy was an outdoor one endured under harsh conditions. His wide-brimmed hat protected him from the glaring summer sun and his heavy leather jacket and gloves were his defense against the cold winters.
His workday was long beginning before sunrise and lasting well into the night. His best friend was his horse and he spent most of his waking hours in the saddle. His speech was a mixture of Spanish and English and at night by a campfire he wove his speech into songs about life on the prairie.
A great boon to the life of the cowboy was the building of the railroads which connected eastern cities to those out West. In 1866 when the Kansas and Pacific railroad reached the small dusty village of Abilene in Kansas, the life of the cowboy was connected to the rest of the country. Hundreds of small cow towns grew up along the old trails which led the cattle to market, and thus the west became integrated into the economic life of the country.
Today the life of the cowboy is quite different from those early days after the Civil War. Helicopters rather than horses are now used to round up the cattle and modern technology used in the ranches has made the cowboy's life less formidable. Yet, the legends which surround him continue to perpetuate his image as the masterful hero of the Wild West.
TIPPING
Tipping is very much a part of American culture and one which creates a problem for most foreign travelers when they arrive for a holiday who are not familiar with the custom. They are at a loss as to how much to tip and to whom. Often they tip too much and to the wrong person. Or else, they may tip not at all. In general, we give a tip in appreciation for a service rendered. Tipping is a courtesy, and not an obligation. One should not feel it is necessary to tip if the service is bad or indifferent. Unfortunately, one reason for tipping also lies in the reality that those who work at these jobs usually have a base pay well below the average. They need to supplement their income in order to meet life's expenses.
The history of the practice, however, dates back to England in the mid-seven- teenth century. At that time there were coffee houses which were frequented by men to discuss politics and literary affairs. Customers of the coffee houses were expected to drop coins into a box on which was written "to insure promptness." "T.I.P.", the initials of that phrase are said to be the origin of the modern word "tipping."
The question, of course, is whom do we tip and how much is considered a fair amount. Usually waiters and taxi cab drivers expect to get a tip. In a hotel, the bellhop and chamber-maid also expect some gratuity. The amount, of course, depends upon the nature of the service requested and the quality level of the hotel. Hairdressers and barbers can also merit a small tip. Even sky-cap porters at airports who may carry your suitcase to the checkout counter expect a dollar tip per bag.
Although the amount may vary according to the kind of service and the quality of the restaurant and hotel, generally, a ten percent tip is considered adequate. In New York and larger metropolitan cities they may expect as much as fifteen or twenty percent.
In restaurants, the tip is left on the table and the bill is paid separately. The tip should never be given directly to the waiter but it can be added onto a check if one is paying by credit card. In tipping a cab driver, the tip can simply be added to the total amount of the fare.
Tipping, of course, is not mandatory in any situation, and one should not feel under any obligation to give one. If a waiter is not prompt and attentive and noticeably lacking in courtesy and manners, it would be perfectly acceptable not to leave a tip. It would also not be out of order to register a complaint with the management. Likewise, if a cab driver does not take a passenger to his destination by the shortest route, he also deserves to forfeit his tip. Also, if the room of a hotel is not well-cleaned and the room service is lackluster and slow, a guest should not feel obliged to leave a gratuity.
Ushers in theaters whose job it is to see you to your seat and service help in fast food restaurants do not expect a tip. At the end of the year, however, it has become the custom to give a tip or small gift to newspaper boys who deliver the paper to your home throughout the year. The same may be true for garbage collectors or anyone who may have provided a special service. Most Americans dislike tipping and find it a nuisance. If a poll were taken, the consensus would favor just adding the tip to the total of the bill as is the custom in Japan and other Asian countries.
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