In between the Indiana basketball game and the Colts game (still going on) I finally took my car to the car wash. With the Colts game at 4:30 PM local time, I assumed that it would not be busy. I pulled up and there was actually a line of cars waiting to be washed, so while waiting the high school student collecting the cash started talking about the game. It turned out that the line of cars was not a result of them being any busier than usual, it was a result of many of the employees calling in sick because of the game.
Retail, fast food, and general service type business (lawn mowing, car wash, painting, etc) are usually dependent on high school students for their non-managerial employee positions. Those of us who worked in these positions know that calling in sick is a frequent problem. Usually, companies have policies that allow for a few sick days, but most managers will call you into the office when you happen to be sick on the day of a big event.
Part of the problem is that when you are in high school, if you decide to leave or are fired it's not hard to find a new job. If you think going to the game or a certain party is more important than your working the day that you committed to work then you probably don't really need the money, care about the position, or know that you will just find a new job somewhere else soon enough.
Either way, I respect the 17-18 year old guy working at the car wash while his buddies decided to hang him out to dry while they enjoyed the game. I don't think we stress the importance of work ethics enough to young adults, and I don't think that recruiters stress the importance of a solid working record during the high school and college years.
