I just saw on WCNC where fast food workers (Charlotte: school, minimum wage)

[oldway]

I am really not sure why drug testing and minimum wage are being discussed in tandem. I am making the assumption that because people are on the lowerside of the payscale they are drug users?

[davarius]

Originally Posted by tread102

As for the drugs you can chose not to believe, but I live it everyday. In every restaurant I've ever work at least 50 percent of the people were pot heads. My current place is very highend, and even the GM gets baked. I'm the minority I don't use. If our company did randoms we would have to close

Smokin' blunt is minimum wage fringe benefit.

[T-Rob123]

Originally Posted by tread102

You don't know much about supply and demand. More people less jobs, equals lower pay. its pretty simple. I know u went to college and some keynesian economics professor told you differently, but tha'ts, why pay has been flat for the last 6 years, cause we been in a recession, and there is more workers than jobs. Go back to 03 04 05, and nobody worked for minimum wage, but now people are falling over each other for these jobs. The pay will rise when the economy does.

As for the drugs you can chose not to believe, but I live it everyday. In every restaurant I've ever work at least 50 percent of the people were pot heads. My current place is very highend, and even the GM gets baked. I'm the minority I don't use. If our company did randoms we would have to close

First, just some friendly advice, you may not want to mix so much ignorance into a conversation when you are trying to "educate" someone. Meaning, to tell me about what I know or don't know, what my education is or isn't, what some professor told me, you lose credibility pretty quickly.

This is not the way capitalism is supposed to work. It's not about the owners of companies doing whatever they can to limit the amount of jobs offered to the American public, reap those rewards, and then complain and whine when people dare to ask for more money. Or even worse, insult them by saying "you should want more" when they know very well that in some cases, there just isn't anything else out there. The idea that they sit back and throw pennies out to the peons who are "falling all over themselves for these jobs" is not what this country and capitalism was supposed to be about.

I'm glad that you have an optimistic view on what's going to happen with pay when the economy gets better, but the claim is unfounded. You say that in 03,04,05 nobody worked minimum wage jobs. Don't kid yourself. Plenty of people worked minimum wage jobs back then. There will always be Minimum Wage jobs, and that's great. If there weren't then everyone would be complaining about an even larger amount of people on welfare. But when our reality has been set up to where we have less job opportunities and more people vying for those jobs there needs to be some changes; like how much minimum wage pays. Mcdonald's reported it's largest revenue in history in 2011 with 27 billion dollars, I think they would be fine to pay their workers more.

I'm not even sure what any of this has to do with drugs anyway, but if you are going to keep going back to that please make a clear statement. In an earlier post you said "The dirty little secret is most of these people are addicted to weed. The numbers are staggering. They have no ambition or drive to better themselves." Then you say "My current place is very highend, and even the GM gets baked." So is the GM of your highend restaurant a person who has no ambition or drive to better themselves? You said that the "highend" place you work at would be closed if they did drug tests. But you work there. Are you saying that you have no ambition or drive to better yourself? And if that's the case, that's up to you and I'm not judging you on it, but why would you then thumb your nose at anyone else? Because if you are working in a restaurant that is so wrought with drug use that the place would have to shut down, then you are working at the same level as these people who are addicted and have no ambition, right?

[Sean_CLT]

There really are people who don't want to move up from basic jobs. In the 1990s I used to work for a hospice delivery service. There were some guys that had worked there for years, one of them for a decade just to attain $7.50 an hour. He was happy with that and openly discussed with us that he would not want to be let go. He liked his job, made an effort to keep his delivery vehicle clean, etc.

There was a guy from Peru who worked there several months for $7 an hour. He took some time off when he'd earned it, went back to his home country and brought a new wife back - because in his mind, he'd found a "stable job in America".

[tread102]

Lol your a clever one huh.

Lets go back to our formula again. more people less jobs equals higher pay for the more people. right. that makes sense.

however the opposite has happened, we have less jobs now, more people looking for work, and wages have been flat or lower for the last 6 years.

now for me. I've been at my current place for the last 6.5 years. I'm happy there. It gives me the flexibility to take care of my children during the day, while working on my business. It also provides free healthcare and a great 401k. I work for a very good company. Rare I will admit in the restaurant industry.

Our company has been growing rapidly, and even so nobody at my location, has taken a step to more forward, some like myself have bigger goals. Most are lazy pot heads happy to make a living working 30 hrs or less a week. As for my GM he is one of the smartest people I've ever met. Probably smarter than our CEO, but he is happy living in his hometown making his 6 figures, while being baked at work.

You don't have to believe me about the drug issues in restaurants. (we could talk about the sex its more exciting) but its there. You also don't have to believe we couldn't hire dishwashers for 8 an hour back in 07 when we opened, but now can offer 7.25, and can have our pick of workers. We pay less per hr now than we did in 07. Explain that to me. See you can talk theory all day, but until you live it, you don't know squat

[T-Rob123]

Originally Posted by Sean_CLT

There really are people who don't want to move up from basic jobs. In the 1990s I used to work for a hospice delivery service. There were some guys that had worked there for years, one of them for a decade just to attain $7.50 an hour. He was happy with that and openly discussed with us that he would not want to be let go. He liked his job, made an effort to keep his delivery vehicle clean, etc.

There was a guy from Peru who worked there several months for $7 an hour. He took some time off when he'd earned it, went back to his home country and brought a new wife back - because in his mind, he'd found a "stable job in America".

That's true, it's like minimum wage earners are real people with different motivations

I've known people in my life who's main focus was on other things outside of work. The job they were at provided them enough without them worrying about more, more, more. Hell the position I have right now is pretty far down the totem poll where I work, and I was offered the chance to do a management training program 2 years ago, I refused. Since then the company has been through 4 different GMs, each making 3 or 4 times what I do, but I have no interest in being a salaried, on call type. I have too much going on outside of work, I'm fine with the money I get paid. That's the big difference, I get paid enough, I can "get by" and I can have some extra dough on top of it. I'm comfortable. People working for 7 bucks an hour are not comfortable, they are not able to get by.
But again, this issue isn't just about the people who choose to work there, it's not about people who choose to work there for drug money as some people like to claim , it's about the fact that this country has allowed itself into a position where we're losing job opportunities as our population is growing.
I would be willing to agree that the $15 an hour request was ludicrous if we were living in a period where there were tons of jobs to be had at a higher rate with a different skill set. I'd be fine saying "if you choose to be there then you choose to work for that amount of money" but sadly we all live in the real world. In the real world there are people working at McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, who have college diplomas and are trying to make their way in to different avenues but aren't able to right now. That's not their fault.
The close minded want to paint everyone with the same brush. Those people are just drug addicts. Those people are just lazy. But if you can step away from your own pre-conceived notions for a moment and look at it realistically you realize that's not always the case.

[T-Rob123]

Originally Posted by tread102

Lol your a clever one huh.

Lets go back to our formula again. more people less jobs equals higher pay for the more people. right. that makes sense.

however the opposite has happened, we have less jobs now, more people looking for work, and wages have been flat or lower for the last 6 years.

now for me. I've been at my current place for the last 6.5 years. I'm happy there. It gives me the flexibility to take care of my children during the day, while working on my business. It also provides free healthcare and a great 401k. I work for a very good company. Rare I will admit in the restaurant industry.

Our company has been growing rapidly, and even so nobody at my location, has taken a step to more forward, some like myself have bigger goals. Most are lazy pot heads happy to make a living working 30 hrs or less a week. As for my GM he is one of the smartest people I've ever met. Probably smarter than our CEO, but he is happy living in his hometown making his 6 figures, while being baked at work.

You don't have to believe me about the drug issues in restaurants. (we could talk about the sex its more exciting) but its there. You also don't have to believe we couldn't hire dishwashers for 8 an hour back in 07 when we opened, but now can offer 7.25, and can have our pick of workers. We pay less per hr now than we did in 07. Explain that to me. See you can talk theory all day, but until you live it, you don't know squat

Word to the wise.

But again, you and I agree on what's going on, it's just we see it from two different sides. You think it's right for employers to sit there raking in the dough and saying "HA! America is screwed, look at these peons working for pennies because they have to!"
I think that's gross. I think it's wrong. And I think it's going to come back and bite us in the ass.

[vmaxnc]

It's national news now.

I saw the math-a full time worker at the proposed minimum wage of $15 will earn approximately the same as a teacher in their first year of work. Does that make any sense? A high school dropout who flips burgers or runs a cash register can make as much as someone who has at least their teaching certificate, and more likely a college degree, and who is charged with educating our children.

Does that seem like a sensible outcome?

[T-Rob123]

Originally Posted by vmaxnc

It's national news now.

I saw the math-a full time worker at the proposed minimum wage of $15 will earn approximately the same as a teacher in their first year of work. Does that make any sense? A high school dropout who flips burgers or runs a cash register can make as much as someone who has at least their teaching certificate, and more likely a college degree, and who is charged with educating our children.

Does that seem like a sensible outcome?

Nope not at all, teachers should be paid way more than they are being paid right now, you're correct. I would gladly pay more taxes if it meant better wages for school teachers.

[momtothree]

That's poking a whole other hornet's nest regarding teacher's pay. But yeah I think $15 is too much but I do think it should be at least over $9 an hour minimum for fast food/deli clerks etc.