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I grew up in a rural area and there are a number of mom&pop and small chain restaurants that actually dominate the landscape.
They have a great local reputation and have been there a long time.
That may be part of the problem in that it is a tough business and once they go under or struggle during a rough local economic patch, the corporate chains have the ability to sustain or enter losing areas and ride out the downturns.
In short and let me be clear.
We seem to have a whole bunch of first world problem, higher income, snobs that think everyone else should be foodies and "adventure eaters" and like to mock poorer folks with families for having to eat cheaply or at places with known menus because of kids etc.
Thanks for the critique from all the Chad's and Karen's out there.
I grew up in a rural area and there are a number of mom&pop and small chain restaurants that actually dominate the landscape.
They have a great local reputation and have been there a long time.
That may be part of the problem in that it is a tough business and once they go under or struggle during a rough local economic patch, the corporate chains have the ability to sustain or enter losing areas and ride out the downturns.
In short and let me be clear.
We seem to have a whole bunch of first world problem, higher income, snobs that think everyone else should be foodies and "adventure eaters" and like to mock poorer folks with families for having to eat cheaply or at places with known menus because of kids etc.
Thanks for the critique from all the Chad's and Karen's out there.
Totally agree. My small tourist town has a pretty good culinary scene. There's also a lot of retirees here, who keep the restaurants going when tourists aren't in town. Most of the places are small indie restaurants with precious, borderline pretentious menus that can be fun for special occasions but are too much fuss for everyday and too expensive for many locals outside of the retiree community (and even some of them). They're also very busy 12 months per year, are not particularly child-friendly, and even in the slow season can be hard to get a table in.
When Burger King came to town, the screaming and crying from the retiree crowd about how they "didn't move here for Burger King!" was nearly deafening. Totally ridiculous people. I don't eat fast food myself, but we have a lot of families here on day/weekend trips that probably appreciate it.
If a business cannot figure out how to pay workers fairly and still make a profit, I'm sorry, I cannot exactly feel sorry for them. A LOT of posters in this thread sympathize with the executive. I have a problem with that. America is not some Third World backwater. Monthly rent for a flophouse single room occupancy in a blighted neighborhood is what people pay for a YEARS rental in Third World Countries. When people in Jamaica live like a working class person does in Brooklyn, NY they don't pay ANY rent. They barely have to pay for food. Just climb a tree, Bob's your Uncle. When you add up everything else an AMERICAN needs to exist. Not thrive, just exist. That simply isn't going to happen on $15/hr x 27hr/wk.
Why not 40/wk? Because no one paying $15/hr. allows workers to get above 27hr/wk. They have software that hustles workers around the clock and around the week so they never know when they are 'on' so they can't work anywhere else. Then they have to sign crap contracts that say they can't work for a competitor if they quit.
I know, I know, it isn't the City-Data way to understand how the other half lives. That's why I pop in now and then. To remind y'all that there IS another side. Someone said "we need to increase the labor pool". That ship has sailed. Y'all HAD an enviable labor pool. And you killed it. Unless I way miss my guess, rising gas prices will do jack all about the "Great Resignation".
The only thing that had any chance of getting workers back into wage slavery was ... wait for it ... better wages. Not amazing wages, but better. Much better. "Oh, they are amazing right now ... " No they're not. America has normalized compensation levels that haven't kept pace with the COL since 40 or 50 years ago! The working class has been struggling to keep up with 21st Century expenses on 19th Century wages. Something had to give. And it did. And workers needs are so far from what most executive types are prepared to offer that there is no meeting in the middle, or anywhere else.
Someone needs to tell him that his theory about people being "forced back into the labor pool" due to no more enhanced unemployment benefits has been disproven in recent months.
Couple of things:
/antiwork is a silly group of people. The United States will never be a society where people do not have to work. If / when it ever does come to that, it will mean the collapse of our society and it will be replaced with something much, much worse.
Innovation, human progress, all of those things occur because someone is willing to work hard for it and pay for it. Society and humanity has been built on the concept of Meritocracy... this is not going to change.
Second, he's right... whether you like this or not. But let's get to the fundamental question here... who's fault is this?
Who:
- cancelled two oil pipelines
- banned all future oil leases on public lands
- closed off the ANWAR region to drilling
- eliminated fracking on existing public leases
You have your answer. Some of the counter arguments:
- OPEC sets the price of gasoline ... NO they do not. They set the price of THEIR gasoline. The United States, when energy independent (which we were) set our own price based on supply / demand. The current administration took that away from us.
- The high gas prices are because of the Russia / Ukraine war ... NO they are not. Literally, gas was at $3.70 before the invasion took place. That it went from ~$3.75 to $4.00 is because of Russia / Ukraine. But that it went from $2.10 to $3.75 is because we put a stop to our energy independence... for some reason.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit
You gotta love those unprompted emails from execs sharing their wisdom with the rest of the team without anyone having asked them for their opinion. Also those sycophantic follow-ups of "wow great message" etc. sound oddly familiar. You can tell this guy thinks he's God's gift to the business world.
With regard to what he's actually saying and the tone..why would you be surprised that corporate leadership views labor primarily as a cost factor in their balance sheets. That's just the reality of it, especially but not only, in a larger company.
Not necessarily. There are those who were on unemployment benefits, many of whom are now on full-time welfare. There are also those who have outright quit their jobs, and are now simply accruing debt (which is horrible). We've all been through a difficult time with COVID, and we're all feeling the "languishing." I myself quit a career that I'd been in for over a decade that I worked so hard to get (had to have multiple degrees before they'd even consider me). I quit out of frustration.
But businesses like this do NOT generate the kind of income that can afford to pay employees what you guys refer to as a "living wage." Unskilled restaurant jobs (waiting tables, bus-service, etc.) are meant for people who are teenagers and young adults that need a job while they're in college, or older people who need a second job or a part-time job to supplement their family income. These jobs were never designed to be "living wage" jobs. When I was in my younger years, I worked at McDonalds, CompUSA, and Scotty's Hardware. All jobs that I loved. I got paid peanuts. The first two, I was a teenager, the third one, it was enough to pay my half of the rent as I went to college.
People pay you based on your skill, experience, and worth in a particular field.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallysmom
Yep. This should be filed under “tell me you’re a moron, without telling me you’re a moron” because that exec — definitely a moron.
Can we please not do the "tell me this, without telling me this" comment? This was created by a really snarky unemployed Millennial with a liberal arts bachelors degree on Twitter, and all the other wanna-bes are now using it. It's profusely lame and doesn't make you look cool or hip for using it. It makes you look like a Boomer who's trying to stay relevant.
I generally follow this rule as well... Although, Longhorn is a guilty pleasure of ours... And quite frankly, a steak is the one item that won't be the exact same from one Longhorn to the next...
I tried Longhorn, it seemed like an Outback ripoff from what I recall of Outback
If a business cannot figure out how to pay workers fairly and still make a profit, I'm sorry, I cannot exactly feel sorry for them. A LOT of posters in this thread sympathize with the executive. I have a problem with that. America is not some Third World backwater. Monthly rent for a flophouse single room occupancy in a blighted neighborhood is what people pay for a YEARS rental in Third World Countries. When people in Jamaica live like a working class person does in Brooklyn, NY they don't pay ANY rent. They barely have to pay for food. Just climb a tree, Bob's your Uncle. When you add up everything else an AMERICAN needs to exist. Not thrive, just exist. That simply isn't going to happen on $15/hr x 27hr/wk.
Why not 40/wk? Because no one paying $15/hr. allows workers to get above 27hr/wk. They have software that hustles workers around the clock and around the week so they never know when they are 'on' so they can't work anywhere else. Then they have to sign crap contracts that say they can't work for a competitor if they quit.
I know, I know, it isn't the City-Data way to understand how the other half lives. That's why I pop in now and then. To remind y'all that there IS another side. Someone said "we need to increase the labor pool". That ship has sailed. Y'all HAD an enviable labor pool. And you killed it. Unless I way miss my guess, rising gas prices will do jack all about the "Great Resignation".
The only thing that had any chance of getting workers back into wage slavery was ... wait for it ... better wages. Not amazing wages, but better. Much better. "Oh, they are amazing right now ... " No they're not. America has normalized compensation levels that haven't kept pace with the COL since 40 or 50 years ago! The working class has been struggling to keep up with 21st Century expenses on 19th Century wages. Something had to give. And it did. And workers needs are so far from what most executive types are prepared to offer that there is no meeting in the middle, or anywhere else.
You are off base on many points!
Nobody "needs" subscription tv/streaming, the newest Iphone, $200 sneakers so back those purchases out of the equation and suddenly the household budget starts to take shape. Notice those things aren't priorities in 3rd world countries.
Nobody is signing a "crap contract" for a part time job and I don't believe "software" is keeping people from working full time or working two jobs.
Minimum wage was NEVER supposed to support a family of 4, buy a home and a new car in the garage! How about advance yourself.........learn a trade, get an education to make yourself more marketable rather than demand higher wages!
Also note the "free money" has been handed out, people are forgetting how to pay their bills/work for their money. So free money makes people feel rich/entitled but then the "evil inflation" has rocked their fantasy world. Guess what: The evil landlord wants to double the rent since you have all this free money, the insurance company charges more, the gas prices went up and then the interest rates go up so the minimum due on the credit card is $400 a month now. Fact is most lower income people are worse off now than 2 years ago before the free money train started rolling.
We desperately need to increase the labor pool. As a whole, the labor force has grown too affluent, and far too many just don't want to add value to society.
I think the push to AI and robots is the solution. And with the shortage of labor currently I believe people will be more receptive.
So free money makes people feel rich/entitled but then the "evil inflation" has rocked their fantasy world. Guess what: The evil landlord wants to double the rent since you have all this free money, the insurance company charges more, the gas prices went up and then the interest rates go up so the minimum due on the credit card is $400 a month now. Fact is most lower income people are worse off now than 2 years ago before the free money train started rolling.
Yes, exactly... and I want to address this... as I am a land lord. ~20 years ago, I bought a home that I could barely afford in a nice neighborhood. For years, I made the payments, but worked hard and kept my sanity during the 2008 boom and bust when I was upside down for a very short period of time. A little over a decade ago, I left the home to pursue a career and turned it into a rental. I moved back into it 7 years ago and I'd completely renovated the home, top to bottom. I did all the work myself while I worked full time, and went to school full time for another degree.
I get some renters, and charge the decent "going rate." I didn't gouge, but charged them on the low side of the reasonable rate. $2,800 a month is the rent I charge, and they get a large home, in an A+ rated school district, biking distance to three major universities, 100s of shops, parks, and a brand new hospital.
I promised them for 4 years that I wouldn't raise their rent. I continued that for a 5th year.
The going rate for that home is now $3,500 a month.
I raised their rent to $2,900... and best I can determine, they're appalled. They keep the inside of the home nice, but they're brutal on the property and appliances, and I've had to have the HVAC and water heater replaced, and they're constantly calling the property manager for little things that any reasonable adult would be able to fix for themselves.
I want to be a decent person, but with property management fees and all the constant repairs they're requesting... most of which would never have broken under my watch because of better maintenance / care... rather than see any kind of profit, I've actually lost well over $10,000. The ONLY benefit to me is that I do not have to pay any /additional/ taxes. And ever since the 2019 Trump Tax cut which the Democrats say was only for the rich, I am no longer allowed to claim mortgage interest payments from that rental property on my Federal taxes.
Am I being unreasonable to raise the rent by $100 a month? It literally doesn't even make up for the increase in property taxes that I've seen in the ~5 years they've been there.
I'm sick and tired of people saying they want free stuff. I've worked my ass off since I was pushed out of the house by my mom at 18 and said... "You're an adult, now you're on your own." There is no excuse... I'm tired of people telling me I owe them anything because of whatever inter-sectional bull **** they have going on.
Get off your ass (not you, but the others here complaining) and work hard... have some dignity and pride in what you do.
As for my renters, I think I'm being way to kind to them. Everyone else thinks I'm a dumb-ass for not having raised the rent every year, and promising to keep the rent at the rate it was. I'm a man of my word, and I promised them I'd keep that $2,900 for 3 years if they want to continue renting, but if they want to move on, I'm immediately going to put it up for $3,500... and someone will snap it up *immediately*... and then I'll actually start making a profit on it.
EDIT: I really want to be an *******, I really do. I can't express this enough. I'm tired of being the guy that's careful when I open my car door so I don't hit the person's car next to me, or allowing people to merge in front of me, or trying to keep my rent low because I feel bad or this and that. I really want to be a shrewd ******* that tries to get the most I can out of everything. Why am I not raising the rent to whatever the going rate is every single year? It's well within my power to do so. I'm a complete fool... especially when there are Millennials here that don't want to do s**t and want someone else to pay for everything. I paid out of pocket for almost all of my degrees, WHILE working full time. Why should I pay for your damned education too? If I'm going to have to... maybe I just need to be the person these losers think we all are. I've worked my ass off since I was 16. I wasn't always responsible, but I sacrifice. I drive a 13 year old car, and that's an upgrade from my 20 year old car that I donated to a kid in the neighborhood. We don't buy the latest and greatest iPhone or take expensive trips... because I want to be able to provide for my daughter so she can go to college and not be burdened and get a leg up. The hell with all of you who think someone else owes you something.
Last edited by Atari2600; 03-31-2022 at 07:59 AM..
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