Looking down on fast food workers (salaries, lobby, dollar, retire)
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Nobody is looking down on fast food workers. I personally am looking down at fast food workers that think they can demand to make more than they are worth. I have that right.
What phrase would you prefer us to use, dear? Bovine carcass engineer?
Well since min wage has not kept up with inflation they should be demanding at least $9-10 since that is what they should be worth I am sure you or someone else will argue for it to be less since you are so determined to make sure the poor get as little pay as possible. Worth is pretty much subjective and many times incorrect I mean who really thinks an actor should be paid millions of dollars just to make 1 movie or an athlete millions just for playing a sport. Whatever the worth is though a simple principle is true though that paying more will get happier workers who will do better work and stay on the job creating less turnover.
The lack of empathy from some of these "educated" folks is quite shocking.
I work a full time job as a Security Officer in Southern California where the cost of living is out of control. A one bedroom apartment in a bad part of town will fetch about 800 dollars a month, not including utilities. Factor in the high taxes, high vehicle registration fees, higher than average fuel prices. There are job here but good luck finding any that pay more than 8 dollars an hour. I'm fortunate enough to have a position that pays 9 per hour and I work a lot of overtime so it helps. I not only have to provide for myself but I also have a 5 year old son to care for as well. I work nights so that I can take him to school and be there for him during the day. Do I like it? Of course not. Working nights affects everything especially our health but it's the only shift that works for me in my current situation.
Years ago I worked for a major wireless carrier as tech support technician in Central Oregon. Cost of living was very low and I made a good wage so everything was great. Got married, had my son. Life was good. Then the economy turned to crap. The call center was closed. Hundreds of employees lost their jobs and in Oregon, a state with so few jobs already, it was a huge blow to the small town I lived in. Relocated back to Southern California where there were more job opportunities. After a couple of years of struggling to find steady work and a roof over our heads the wife decides she didn't want to live like this anymore and she ran off leaving me to care for and raise my son alone.
Did I choose to live life like this? No, of course not. Nobody ever expects these things to happen. You just have to do what you can to survive until something better comes along. I'm grateful that I have a job and that I work enough hours to be able to support my son and I, keep the bills paid, clothes on his back and food on the table.
I'm sure my story is not unique and it probably is more common than you think. Honestly? I couldn't care less what people think of me. Sure they make look down on me and my lowly security guard job but I take my job seriously and will continue to do so as long as the job provides me with my families income. I don't live beyond my means. I don't drive a new car. Don't own an Iphone or fancy clothes. I shop at Walmart and buy stuff on sale. I don't take cruises or vacations to far off lands.
That suits me just fine.
And good for you! (Although you'd do better if you moved to a lower COL area.)
I truly respect anyone who chooses to work, even if it's a low-paying job, over being on government assistance.
Good friend of mine lost a decent job in 2008, in an awful economy. She also lost her health insurance along with the job. She absolutely refused to go on assistance or unemployment. At one point she was working three jobs (part time office person for an electrical company, weekend receptionist at a health club, cashier at a gas station.) She hung on to the gas station job because she'd get her health insurance back after a year with them.
I also have acquaintances and clients who married men with money/lucrative jobs and have never worked a day in their lives.
What if these people went away and there was no one doing the jobs the rest of us don't particularly want? It would be a ****ing disaster. We need people to do the unglamorous jobs and we shouldn't look down our noses at them.
I think that the title of this thread is an attempt to veil its true nature as an debate on raising the minimum wage. I have not done the research to say with any certainty whether raising the minimum wage to $15 is economically a good idea. obviously, its a good idea for you if you currently make minimum wage.
I am pro-people being able to feed their families, BUT
I am middle class (I think) and will speak just for myself: I was born into abject poverty, and I avoided a lot of pitfalls, and made some "right decisions" in my life. also, not to flatter myself, but I might have been blessed with a descent head on my shoulders. so I was able to provide a nice, middle class lifestyle for me and mine. but that is getting harder and harder to do. when it comes to our elected representation, NO ONE is looking out for the middle class. our laws favor the wealthy, and our benefits favor the poor. my salary has been shrinking for the last four years, and I know I'm one of the luckier ones. so, no, while not automatically against raising the minimum wage, I am not automatically for it either.
if they're going to continually service the poor with stipends and augmentations while the cost of living keeps rising, I mean, good for them, I don't want to take away from people just for the sake of it, but what does the guy in the middle get? the guy at the bottom moves up, while the guy in the middle remains the same (moves down, actually as the cost of living rises.) what does the guy/gal who DIDNT drop out of high school, or spend the first 10 years of their adult life addicted to meth, have two kids by the age of 19, or go to prison get?
sometimes, you have to call a spade a spade. this is not to look down on Fast Food Workers, but if you are 30 years old, and working as a team member or assistant manager, or a dishwasher at Denny's things are probably not going as planned. calling a spade a spade, these are traditionally jobs held by teenagers and/or illegal Mexicans.
on the other hand, if the increase in pay relieves the taxpayer of money spent in the form of stipends and augmentations (welfare) by deferring that cost to the corporations, then i'm all for it.
i'm a fair guy. i'm a flat tax guy, in other words. my solution to this has always been, not to raise anyone's pay, but to lower the cost of living. I mean REALLY lower the cost of living. FOOD, GAS, MEDICAL CARE, A NEW CAR, A HOUSE...EVERYTHING needs to be much cheaper. that way, everybody wins - the rich, the poor, and the middle class ALL have their purchasing power and standard of living improve.
i'm a fair guy. i'm a flat tax guy, in other words. my solution to this has always been, not to raise anyone's pay, but to lower the cost of living. I mean REALLY lower the cost of living. FOOD, GAS, MEDICAL CARE, A NEW CAR, A HOUSE...EVERYTHING needs to be much cheaper. that way, everybody wins - the rich, the poor, and the middle class ALL have their purchasing power and standard of living improve.
To-MAY-To, To-MAH-To
Same thing, isn't it?
At some point, wages are what determines the price of an item. That $200k house costs $200k, at least partly, because of the wages paid to the people who build it. So.. How can you reduce the cost without lowering the wage paid to them, or, using less of them? Well, if we use less of them, then unemployment goes up. Reduce the cost of materials? Those materials have their prices set, at least in part, by the wages of the people making them. So, roll it back to that, use less people to make the materials or pay them less.
It's a nice fantasy world where we can say "Just make everything cost less". Reality sucks, though.
but I do have problems with those who accepted a wage, no matter the level, than acted like their desired pay should trump the pay they agreed to accept.
Like any jobs that require no skills initially and next to no training, as well as no education, they pay in commensurate proportion to the limited barriers to entry they impose.
At some point, wages are what determines the price of an item. That $200k house costs $200k, at least partly, because of the wages paid to the people who build it. So.. How can you reduce the cost without lowering the wage paid to them, or, using less of them? Well, if we use less of them, then unemployment goes up. Reduce the cost of materials? Those materials have their prices set, at least in part, by the wages of the people making them. So, roll it back to that, use less people to make the materials or pay them less.
It's a nice fantasy world where we can say "Just make everything cost less". Reality sucks, though.
No.
COL determines wages.
Go look up the salary for the same job in Texas or Florida vs NYC.
Different, due to COL.
That $200K house costs what it does in one area of the country, not all. Could be a $120K home or a $450K home ELSEWHERE.
The former has a STARTING pay almost double what the latter pays. Indeed you won't likely see anyone who works at In-N-Out joining this protest. Indeed one *could* make a career out of working there especially if you become a manager. In-N-Out from what I've heard has extremely low turnover and a very long waiting list to apply. Both are otherwise unheard of in the fast food industry.
For doing what is basically the same identical job.
So what is the difference between an In-N-Out worker and a McDonalds one?
(as an aside you would THINK that the McDonalds, Wendy's, and Burger Kings of the world would look at In-N-Outs formula and stunning success and attempt to duplicate it instead of constantly chasing pennies and reinventing their proverbial wheel every six months.)
They show up on time. Never mess your order up. They bust their tails. Always greet you with a smile. And know how to THINK. In short, they EARN their pay. That's the lost concept on MANY of todays workers. They seem to think that they should be fronted the money, and then maybe they'll "earn" it later, not the other way around.
Recently, I went to a Carls Jr and made a small order. The total came to $6.38. I paid with a $10, a $1, and a quarter, a dime, and three pennies.
Who can tell me WHY I paid that way?
The abject dumbfounded, puzzled, and confused look on that cashiers face as it took him a good two minutes to figure it out and punch the buttons on the register said it all as I thought to myself "and you think you're entitled to $15 an hour"?
The recent minimum wage debate has brought to surface a personal gripe of mine and it's the fact that some people feel the need to look down on fast food workers and other low wage type jobs. I will never understand why people feel the need to look down on fast food workers and other minimum wage jobs. I understand some of you may have gotten an education to get where you are at, that still does not give you the right to view them as worth less. Can someone please explain the logic of looking down on fast food workers, and using colloquial phrase 'flipping burgers' as insult? They already make a poverty wage and work hard why add insult to injury?
They love to do it because it make them feel that they have
accomlplished something in life better than others.
But if all of the low income wage earners were raised up to have equal pay
as the high and might people have, then all of them would be considered as
low lifes and worthless according to those who have better than they have.
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