I thought I’d share with you excerpts of some emails I received from readers after they finished my Friday column about teens and summer jobs.

Will’s job stank:

My first job was as a dishwasher when I was 16. The restaurant had Friday Night Fish Boils, so I spent a lot of Friday nights scrubbing out giant, fish-scented pots still hot from the stove. Often, they had deposits of fish bones or scales in the bottom. It was gross, but the money made me feel pretty independent for a 16-year-old. I remember at the end of the summer, I bought a J.Crew sweater for $80 (a lot of money for me then). It was nice to want something and get it guilt-free because I had worked hard for it.

Laverne’s job was sweet:

The salary was 35 cents an hour! I was 15 and our next door neighbor owned a small Five and Ten cent store on Lake Street in south Minneapolis. I don’t remember how many hours a week I worked, but I will tell you I worked hard for those hours.

The manager’s office was up on a balcony where he could observe the whole floor of the store. Behind the counter were small flop down seats, but you didn’t dare sit on one as you would be buzzed by the manager to let you know you should be on your feet, ready to serve whoever came into the store.

The only really fun time was when I was able to work behind the candy counter! All those heaps of candy to be measured out and sold by the pound. Occasionally I’d be able to pop one into my mouth if no one was looking.

The first thing I bought with my earnings was a short plaid “swing” coat. I was so proud of that purchase!

Joy’s job was dirty, but she liked the money:

My first job was wiping address stencils at a local news paper. I would take the individual stencil, put solvent on a rag and cleaned off the ink. The processes was repeated for three hour shifts two days a week when I was in the 9th grade. My fingers became black with ink which helped me quit biting my nails. I worked in the backshop where the big printing press was located and I learned a lot about printing that summer. I bought a 10 speed bike with earnings from the job and then rode it to work. It was a dirty job but I liked having a purpose and of course the money.

Tree’s first jobs– reading and receptionist:

My first paid job was as a library clerk at my local public library branch in 1968. My first job at the library is still my favorite paid job [aside from raising my daughter]. I went on to become an attorney, a consultant and a writer.

[In college] I got a work study job as a receptionist in my dorm. Boys were not allowed on the residential floors. Being receptionist meant that I got to buzz the female students in their dorm rooms to notify they had a visitor. One buzz meant they had a phone call and then they had to go down the hall to pick up the phone, on phone per floor. Two buzzes meant they had a visitor at the desk. Three buzzes meant they had a male visitor at the desk. This was also a fantastic job; warm and social. It was so much fun to do the three buzzes. I was born right in the middle of the baby boom. When I was a teenager, it used to be hard to even gets jobs at McDonald’s because there were so many teenagers looking for jobs. My white collar job at the library, using my mind, was a big step up from fast food or, even, retail sales. All my friends envied me.

Getting a job as a teen isn’t easy these days either. According to the Labor Dept, only 48.8 percent of teens ages 16 to 19 were working or looking for work at the start of summer, down from 51.6 percent last year and 60.2 percent in 2000. Economists guess that some students are opting not to work to attend summer school or take unpaid internships. But some just can’t find work.

What was your first job? Do you think it’s important that teens work?

For those who haven’t heard the name, boomerang kids move back to their childhood home after school’s out.
A movie like Failure to Launch gives these young adults a bad name.

Financial planners fear their clients will spend much needed retirement dollars on Junior.
Some demographers question whether it’s even a growing trend. Many Americans used to live at home until they got married.

But can’t it be a smart move?
I never lived at home after the start of my sophomore year. But that doesn’t mean my parents haven’t helped financially over the years when they could afford to.

How about you? Are you a boomerang? Have a boomerang? What are the pluses and minuses of the setup?

The wealth gap we most often hear about is the gap between the very richest and the rest of us.
But the USA Today had a story about another generation gap you may have noticed within your family or workplace: The gap between baby boomers and those of us in our 30s.

In a nutshell: The median net worth of 55-59 year olds over 15 years (1989-2004) rose 97 percent and incomes rose 52 percent. For 35-39 year olds, median net worth dropped 28 percent over the same period and incomes dropped 10 percent.

It only looks slightly better for people in their late 20s.

Median net worth for 55-59 year olds is about $250k. For 35-39 year olds it’s roughly $50k.
Sound familiar?

If so and you’re in the “shortfall” generation, what are you going to do about it? Can you do anything about it?