Friendly chatter fills the crowded space as the host of Longhorn Steakhouse hurries around, seating people, clearing tables and greeting customers. But amidst the chaos, Ernesto Grimon Rodriguez, 18, a senior at Seneca High School, gets a brief moment of quiet, meticulously wiping crumbs off of a dimly lit table. Although he juggles several glasses in his arms and knocks a small specials menu to the floor, he remains unfazed by the hustle and bustle that is a constant for him.

Like Rodriguez, many teens’ responsibilities don’t end when they leave their school doors. In 2023, 37% of teens in Kentucky held a job. But managing employment on top of their schoolwork and extracurriculars, while still finding time for family, a social life and sleep, can be difficult. So, are these sacrifices worth it?

In Kentucky, the minimum wage is only $7.25 an hour. This is the federal minimum wage, but the majority of states have a required hourly rate higher than this to compensate for inflation and rising cost of living. However, Kentucky’s hasn’t increased since 2009, while the total cost of all goods after the COVID-19 pandemic has gone up by 27%. Because of the growing gap between the cost of living and the compensation in Kentucky, lawmakers are aiming to raise the state’s minimum wage. Representatives Daniel Grossberg and Alan Gentry introduced House Bill 270 in Kentucky on Jan. 8, and it would have raised the minimum wage in Kentucky to $9.50 an hour once enacted and progressively to a final amount of $15 an hour. The bill did not pass, however, and previous bills with similar intentions have not gone through, keeping the state’s minimum wage aligned with the federal amount.

Beyond this, President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill followed through on his campaign promise of “no tax on tips,” a tax deduction aimed at helping all workers who make their income primarily on tips in the service industry. However, since the standard deduction threshold is $15,750 a year, those making less than that will not be affected by the policy given that they are not required to pay federal taxes to begin with. Since the vast majority of teens don’t earn that much in a year, many aren’t affected by this policy to begin with.

Therefore, these new policies and proposals won’t do much to help a group integral to Louisville’s service industry: teens.

Clocking Out

The restaurant scene in Louisville is abundant with teen employees, whether they work to save for college, support their family or pay for personal expenses. Ava Smith, 17, a junior at duPont Manual High School, works at Roosters as a host. Although many of her customer interactions are positive, her relations with the waiters and some of the delivery workers can be more hostile.

“Whenever it comes to waitresses and waiters, they can get very fussy if they don’t get a table,” Smith said. “Or you accidentally skip them one seat and sometimes they can get very mean.”

She also said the restaurant receives many delivery workers, leading to chaos and impatience if orders aren’t ready.

Additionally, Smith has not only given up her weekends, but has worked late on many occasions, causing her to lose sleep. She said many of her teachers don’t understand that kids who have jobs might not get much sleep or have time to do their homework.

“I don’t think a lot of teachers actually consider that students can have a job, too,” Smith said. “It’s hard to balance schoolwork and also sports and a job in one life.”

Even the teachers who do realize students are overextended cannot do much to help them. Students working long and late hours need rest, and teachers can’t offer this while also providing an education.

With the struggle to balance school, work and sleep, it may seem like a job has more drawbacks than advantages, especially for students working for extra income that they don’t necessarily need. But for others, working isn’t an option; it’s a necessity. Grimon Rodriguez, for example, works to support his family.

“I’m working, currently, to help my mom with bills and stuff and to afford groceries,” Grimon Rodriguez said. “Because she’s a single mom with two kids in an apartment.”

Despite the fact that there are many places he could find work to support his family, he chose to work in restaurants. He heard advice from one of his classmates, who told him that everyone should work in the service sector at least once in their life.

After gaining this experience himself, Grimon Rodriguez agrees.

“Working at the food industry has taught me definitely a lot of patience and how to deal with different people you meet every day,” Grimon Rodriguez said. “Different people with different opinions, different ways of speaking, different personalities.”

Although he always tries to maintain a positive attitude, that doesn’t necessarily mean the customers do.

Often, when he gives them a wait time, it’s an approximation, and when it extends beyond the original number, they can become hostile.

“Because here’s the thing: the reason why people get these kinds of attitudes is because they’ve never worked in the food industry ever,” Grimon Rodriguez said.

Though he believes the lessons he’s gained will help him in the future, working comes with a cost. Sometimes, he’s forced to push back his sleep schedule for his job, making it harder to balance work, life and rest.

“Students have to focus on almost everything,” Grimon Rodriguez said. “It’s just a lot in their minds, and as teens, I don’t think we can actually handle that much mental stress.”

Though his commitments are occasionally difficult to juggle, the people in his life, like his mom, understand and are often more gracious.

“She’s noticed that I’m working really hard — even more to help her,” Grimon Rodriguez said.

This summer, he also plans to get another job, but once he starts college, he will go back to just one in order to balance school and work.

“I’ve been working for a while, and until this day, I’m still learning new things,” Grimon Rodriguez said. “Because you will always be learning whenever you work in the food industry.”

Order Up

But sit-down restaurants are not the only opportunity for teens in Louisville to gain experience. Many teens work in fast food, one of whom is Liliana Riley, 18, a senior at Atherton High School.

She works at Panera Bread five to six days a week for five or more hours per shift. Riley said she chose to work there because it was the easiest job for her to get.

“They gave me the job the day I went in for the interview,” Riley said.

She needed a job quickly because she completely supports herself financially. She pays for all of her own food, hygiene products and car expenses.

“For me, it’s never going to not be an option to work,” Riley said. “I don’t have a living situation where I’m financially supported and where my parents are willing to support me after high school. So it’s always going to be a surviving type of thing.”

As of right now, Riley is not in a place to begin putting away money for college.

“I will be starting to save for my future whenever I get my new job,” Riley said.

Soon, she will begin packaging food during the night shift at Creation Gardens, a food distribution facility. Her new hours will be from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., Monday through Thursday.

“It’ll be nice because I’ll have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off,” Riley said.

After she saves enough money, she plans to attend Jefferson Community & Technical College for the two free years offered before transferring to the University of Louisville.

The new job will pay her more than her current job.

“I’ve had a lot of seven-hour shifts recently, and my paychecks, they wouldn’t reflect that if you talked to somebody who works at a different place,” Riley said. “They usually make a lot more.”

She added that the stigma surrounding fast food work versus other industries is often incorrect.

“I would say even though it’s a fast food restaurant, I wouldn’t get it confused that it’s less work. It’s really not,” Riley said. “It’s a lot of work. It’s consistent work.”

She said people don’t often recognize that working in the food industry can be just as grueling as others.

“When you talk to an older generation, they paint life as needing to be working this hard physical labor job,” Riley said. “But we are working. We are working a job. It’s not like you’re working half a job. It is a full job.”

At the same time, Riley must work twice as hard to complete her schoolwork.

“It’s just not manageable sometimes. I need enough sleep to be able to be successful at school. But in order to get everything done, I would need to do it when I was supposed to be sleeping,” Riley said. “I will say it has taken some toll on my grades.”

Riley added that many of the adults in her life don’t understand how difficult this balance is.

“I don’t think adults often recognize that we’re also going to school, and I understand that that’s not a job, but you are actively doing something all day — and that’s for six and a half hours — and then you’re going and you’re working five-hour shifts,” Riley said. “You’re doing something more than most adults work in a single day.”

Plus, when dealing with rude or impatient customers, adults in the food industry often deal with other adults. For teens, the age difference can be its own challenge.

“The hardest part is keeping your composure with customers who are unrealistic in their expectations,” Riley said. “Everyone that I work with has said that they have grown a lot with their patience, because you just can’t talk back and you can’t say what you really want to say to them.”

Contrary to most restaurant workers, who say they make most of their money on tips — like Grimon Rodriguez — Riley makes money just by what Panera’s wage.

This is why some legislators and teens like Riley are calling for higher wages; teens who support themselves financially can’t rely solely on tips.

“Teens deserve to be paid above minimum wage because it’s the livable wage,” Riley said.

No matter where people work, there will be struggles; Riley said understanding these as a teen before starting a job is important. Although Smith, Grimon Rodriguez and Riley work in different sectors, they agree that the minimum wage should be raised.

“I think that your work should be compensated properly,” Riley said.“I don’t think it would matter much if you’re a teen or not.”