I can't think of more than a half dozen times where the person who always had an excuse for not turning up on time was in the older bracket. Or where it was an older person making completely inappropriate jokes/comments, etc.
From the people I've worked with I'd say the older people who've been at the company longest are the ones who are likely to come up with a poor excuse for not being at work on time.
The younger ones does come up with reasons for being late but they are usually genuine. For example, more younger employees use public transport and they can't prevent a bus or train not running. Alternatively, if they drive and they've been in the role a few months they might genuinely not realise how much effect an accident on a road they don't travel on might have on their journey or how much extra traffic an annual event puts on the local roads.
Some actual excuses I'm aware older people have used for being late for work:
- Their dog was stung by a bee.
- A friend's cat died - used twice by the same woman!
- They had to drop their friend off at the airport and it took longer than they expected.
- They had a last minutes doctors appointment. (That seemed genuine until their wife phoned mid-morning and left a message saying she arranged an appointment at lunch time.)
- It was raining so they stopped to shelter from the rain.
Sometimes the employees who have been there longer are more complacent because they think the risk of them losing their jobs is lower.
As an employer, the fact that a 16 year old is cheaper in terms of wages may well be the deciding factor in giving them a job.
I think one of the disadvantages of the minimum wage is you might give the 16 year old a job when there's a 24 year old who could do the job just as well because you can get away with paying the 16 year old less.
Although, a problem with offering a 16 year old £10 an hour, is if you're currently paying a much more experienced 25 year old £11 an hour and they don't get a pay rise equivalent to the increase in the minimum wage they'll feel undervalued.