Well...
When I started work at 18 I was told I was going to get £8 per hour, and I worked 8 hours every Sunday, and for 4 weeks which equals £256. I dreamed of what I would spend the money on. When I received my pay packet, I only saw £188.
"WTF!?", I remember saying.
"Your pay is taxed", I'm told.
"Why?" Nothing was taken off me when I received pocket money. Now I have a job, I've not been told that I've gained anything from the government. Why do I now have to pay a share of my money to the Government? What do I get in return?
This was my first shock of the real world.
So I can easily imagine an 18 year old not knowing what they're getting into with contracts. Contracts? That's the things that companies sell to each other? But I pay so much a month and get this phone? Kewl.
I've no idea what a contract is - I've never dealt one before. Anyway, if I want a different phone I'll go to a different mobile company.
What? I need to keep paying money? How come?
I don't remember discussing anything legal, or being asked am I sure, or anything of any substance to indicate I was entering anything that could end up with me going to prison. It's just so easy.
So give those 18 year olds a break. They can stop working at McDonalds whenever they like, they don't necessarily pay tax (if at school), they're still at school with teachers telling them what they can and can't do and perhaps getting detention, but it's trivial to enter a legal contract where you could end up with a lifetime of bad credit and a possible jail sentence by getting a piece of fashion.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
