Parents of teens have the important job of helping their teen take on and grow into responsibility.

If you have a teen, you also want to be aware of the amount of responsibility your teen is given at work. Just like anyone else, a teen may be more or less capable of handling situations than someone else. The shocking real-life story below illustrates the dangerous, (possibly deadly) level of responsibility some employers give to teens.

A 17 year old Illinois girl was hospitalized this week after she was abducted and sexually assaulted while working alone at a sandwich shop at night.   Trusting her gut feelings, she sent her male friend a text message that she was uncomfortable with the way a customer was staring at her. They sent a couple of texts back and forth before she sent another one that the same customer had returned near closing time and was staring at her through the front window of the shop. Her friend  told her he would be there in 5 minutes but when he arrived, she was gone and her purse and its contents and cell phone were strewn on the sidewalk about 15 feet away!

All of the correct authorities were called and fortunately, three and a half hours later, she walked into her home. She was badly beaten and had been sexually assaulted.

Important To Note:

The sandwich shop is directly across from a fire station open 24/7. Also, the teen went outside to wait for her friend to arrive knowing the customer she was afraid of was out there. Remember that abductions and attacks take mere seconds so the teen's five minute wait gave this attacker much more time than he needed to carry out his plan.

I have been asked by, ironically enough, sandwich shop owners to train their teen employees how to be safe while closing up at night alone. There is no way to be safe in that situation and a responsible business owner would not even entertain the idea. Self-defense strategies are great for everyone to know but using common sense to avoid needing it is always preferable. Attackers view kids and teens as easier victim targets than adults so their age alone makes them more vulnerable. Women are viewed as weaker and better targets as well so a female teen and her parents need to be especially careful.

Prevention is much easier than recovery; trust me, I have done both.

The above situation could have happened to any employee of any age. I'm proud of the teen in the story for doing a great job of trusting her gut feeling and alerting someone to her vulnerability but she went on to make a dangerous choice. Most people in her situation would not think it worthy of a 911 call but if you feel in danger, it is.

Parents, make sure to know everything possible about your teen's work environment. We can't rely on others to enlist  their own common sense and responsibility when employing them.