IT HAS come to my attention that there is a new eating establishment in Wallan that is not treating our young people as they should.

My child, along with others whom we know about, was asked to participate in a “trial” to ascertain if he was a suitable employee. After completing this trial, he was requested to work a number of shifts. He was never given any paperwork to confirm this or his hourly rate or on what basis he was employed on. To add to this, after working a number of shifts for two weeks, he was still without his pay. After asking and being put off twice on flimsy excuses, he finally received his pay, and advised his employer that he no longer wanted to work in this establishment.

His reasoning - if he was supposed to be professional in dress and attitude, then he expected his employer to be professional, too. The reply to this was that he was being stupid.

In my opinion this attitude towards our teenagers is both disrespectful and certainly not warranted. Being a small community I would have thought that this establishment would have welcomed positive, well-mannered young people to gain experience and earn some pocket money for themselves. We will not be frequenting this establishment, and urge others whose children have experienced this outrageous attitude to do the same.

Pamela Smith

Wallan