Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Minor labor
I had heard about this legal loophole in child labor laws some time ago. One day a year you can take children to work, and get some useful effort out of them. I was excited about the concept of having free labor, so when the "Take our daughters and sons to work" day came around, I wanted in on having a free worker for the day. Since Dylan Wood's parents weren't able to do this, I offered Dylan a chance to escape the educational gulag for the day, and he accepted.
There are a lot of advantages to having an underage minor hanging around. They're small and agile, tech savvy, and best of all, you don't have to pay them, although to keep their strength up, it's good to feed them lunch.
The day started on a 52' Beneteau Swift Trawler where we had to find a way to route an antenna wire from the arch to the console. Having not figured out how to do this, and dumping the problem on the builder, the urchin reassembled the boat, and carried all of the implements of destruction we used back to the truck. Sweet, and off to lunch we go to the Salty Dog.
As I discovered, having a minor around is great. I was driving to the next job while drinking a bourbon, and reading the paper when we saw an accident. A visiting Lilliputian had run into the foot of a sailor who was sucking face with some nurse right out in public. Normally I would have to put down the cocktail, and snap the picture out of the window at 45mph, but enter the kid. He grabs the camera, figures out how to use it in about five seconds, and gets the shot before I can put my cocktail down.
The next stop is an emergency to save waypoint data from a dying chartplotter which was successful, and then off to a meeting on a larger Searay with a carpenter friend who is assisting in a TV upgrade project.
So I don't know what this child labor fuss is all about. They should have this day more often. It was educational for Dylan, he learned how to use tools, and got to hang out on nice boats for the day. His calluses will go away eventually. We were going to stop for some adult beverages, and a couple of good cigars at the end of the day, but mom said he had baseball practice and had to go home.
Underage minor's could be playing a major role in rejuvenating our economy. I understand there are millions of them around. I see them all of the time largely not doing much. As I said they are small, can get into tight cramped places, all of them can text at 1000 words per minute, and best of all you don't have to pay them, but boy can they eat.
Thanks Dylan, you were gracious, pleasant, and a good worker. I hope you had a good day. I maybe embellished the day a bit, and don't tell your mom I was drinking bourbon, and driving with my knee while reading the paper.
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