Minimum wage. Workers at fast-food franchises are picketing and threatening to strike if minimum wage is not increased to $15 /hr.
Class, can you say “grossly inflated sense of self-worth”? How about “delusions of grandeur”?
Many of our veterans never made the equivalent of $15 an hour while serving our country... and I’m not talking about serving it a fucking cheeseburger, either. Sorry, your skill with a spatula does not trump a tour of duty in Iraq. Not even if your fries come out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside every time.
You know, if the UAW went on strike, I wouldn’t be able to buy a vehicle to get me back and forth to my job (by the way, if I decide I’m not being paid enough at my job, I will go find a better one and then quit the old one, in that order. More on that later). If the truckers go on strike, delivery of goods and services will shut down. ALL goods and services. Just two examples of labor strikes that would actually affect me in a negative way.
If fast food workers go on strike, oh, whatever shall I do?
I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll go home and cook. A fast-food strike will inconvenience America only slightly more than a pro sports strike.
You are struggling on minimum wage because you are trying to pay rent as an adult with a job that you should have been doing when you were in high school or college. That job was not created to pay you a living wage, because the owner cannot afford to pay skilled wages for unskilled labor and still sell his product at a competitive price. It was created to give a kid spending money and work experience while he still lives with mom and dad, or a retired mailman a chance to get out of the house for a few hours so his wife will quit bitching at him. Anyone between 20 and 65 years old who works at a fast food restaurant should be in management or management training so they can make a career of it. If, after 2 years on the job, you are still washing lettuce for $7.25/hr, here are a few things that MIGHT be part of the reason:
The “THUG LIFE” tattoo on your neck.
The 17 inches of underwear between your pants and shirt.
The 12 lb. barbell in your tongue preventing you from speaking coherent English.
The fact that you are taking someone’s order while sending a text message, and probably fucking both up… but the text message gets corrected. The paying customer’s order? Yeah, not so much.
The fact that when you push a wrong button on the cash register, you need a manager to come over and explain to you that the change from a $5 bill on a $4.82 purchase is 18 cents. You can’t figure that out on your own? I know you at least got through the fourth grade, which is where you should have achieved that level of math competency.
The fact that 5 people are standing in line at your register, while you and a co-worker are having a loud conversation behind the counter that has neither jack nor shit to do with taking their order, serving anyone, or for that matter, anything to do with the restaurant in general.
I have experienced each of these scenarios in fast-food restaurants. I shit you not.
Managers and business owners see this. They do not want to take a chance on putting you in a position to train or supervise others. You WILL NOT advance unless something drastic changes within you. They will tolerate you just long enough to replace you. When a manager sees potential, work ethic, and PRIDE in an employee… that employee is rewarded financially. It is Business 101. You don’t have to be satisfied with your minimum wage paycheck, but you bear the brunt of the responsibility for changing the situation.
People don’t eat fast food because it is wonderful cuisine; people eat it because it is cheap and fast. It is cheap and fast because the restaurant keeps prices low by keeping overhead costs low. That includes payroll. So when, to offset the overhead cost increase brought on by a 107% (yes, I did the math) payroll increase, a sack of tacos has gone up in price from $8 to $37 and you don’t even get free salsa with that shit, guess what?
I will go home and cook.
So will a lot of other people. We are going to be sitting at home eating spaghetti that costs about 5 bucks and takes 15 minutes to cook. I don’t have to pay ten bucks for a Big Mac. You now have NO job, minimum wage or otherwise, because if the restaurant doesn’t sell food, it doesn’t make money. If it doesn’t make money, it cannot afford to keep paying you.
Had you not skipped economics class in high school, you would have learned this.
The first “real” job I ever had was bagging groceries for $4.25 an hour, at age 16. Gas money.
Just a few of the ways I have made a living between then and now:
Detailing cars, washing cowshit from livestock trucks, driving those same livestock trucks and just about every other kind of truck you can think of, working on a ranch, moving houses (not households, as in furniture and shit. HOUSES, as in jack up an entire house, put it on a truck, and move it to another location), mowing lawns, cutting firewood, mechanic’s helper, fixing flat truck tires, operating heavy equipment, farming, and general day labor.
All physically demanding, all mentally draining, and mostly low-paying. I was always willing to start at the bottom and do the best job I could possibly do, because someone was paying me to do it. I started at the bottom in the oil and gas industry, found that I enjoyed the job and had an aptitude for it, and worked my way up to management level. That's how a job becomes a career. Not to say that I didn’t have some blessings along the way - excellent mentors, luck, and a positive attitude all played a big part. I have even been told that I am a fairly intelligent guy, and I’m sure that helped. But the one biggest reason I moved up and became a valued and well-compensated employee is simply this: I worked my ass off every day. I have never cheated my employer out of a dime; I made sure they got their money’s worth out of me every day, and most days they got a little more. Eventually, I reached a level where I make a living with my mind and not my back (mostly) and sometimes I actually feel like I didn’t earn my paycheck. Must be that damn work ethic acting up.
Before anyone can point out that I had a head start being born white and male, let me say one thing… some of my peers are minorities, some are women, some have prison records, some dropped out of school, some were teenage parents, some are recovering drug addicts, some are complete dumbasses, and a great percentage are combinations thereof. What matters is simply this: WORK YOUR ASS OFF. Prove that you want to be an asset to the business, not an expense. Do more than they pay you to do. A good company will reward that drive with promotions and pay increases. If you don’t work for a good company that rewards initiative and ambition, fear not. They are out there, in every single industry. Don’t be afraid to find them. They are waiting for someone like you.
One last thing… I do not have a degree of any kind. No college, no trade school, nothing. I make a very comfortable living purely from on-the-job and employer-provided training. I mention this because it is important, in the sense that my employer has invested thousands and thousands of dollars in the skill set that I possess… a skill set that is very much in demand by other companies in our industry. They know that if they do not treat me well, or compensate me fairly, I will be able to use that skill set to find a position with a competitor. Just as I know that if I do not do my job to the best of my abilities, or negatively impact the company’s business, then I will be encouraged to go be a liability on another company’s balance sheet. This, again, is Business 101. Take care of those employees who take care of the company, and cut the dead weight.
Even in the fast food industry. Business is business is business.
If you are an asset, your employer will recognize that and compensate you for it. If they don’t, take your skills and work ethic to another employer, and be an asset to them. If the government has to force your employer to pay you more, you are dead weight.
Dead weight has absolutely zero bargaining power. Looks like a lot of people are about to learn that the hard way.
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