"The only time you look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don't look in your neighbor's bowl to make sure you have as much as them."
this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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I wrote mine and I think it's unique enough to not be considered plagiarism. Louis probably has pretty good lawyers, but I'm standing my ground.
I really wish we wouldn’t treat fast food as work that should be at the bottom of the pay scale. If you’ve ever worked fast food, you know that it’s hard work. Like ok, Steve, you think it’s easy? You’re now running the burger station through a lunch rush. Oh, and a bus just pulled in.
Jobs don't pay based on how hard they are or how hard you work. It's a combination of how much "value" you bring and how difficult you are to replace. These so called "low skill" jobs pay so little because each individual worker doesn't provide much value (it's all economies of scale) and they are relatively easy to replace (the vast majority of people could be proficient enough in a week or two).
I've worked at Burger King and McDonald's. It's pretty easy. Compared to all the jobs I've ever had, those two were two of the easiest.
So is your argument that fast food jobs should be at the bottom of the pay scale based on your experience? I never flipped burgers, but cut my teeth in the job market waiting tables at a pizza joint, also made pizzas after some mild cross training. Cashier work also.
IMHO these types of workers deserve better pay for the actions expected of them.
That's just from my own experiences though
Yeah, there's not much to the job. That said, I don't think anyone working full time should be unable to get an apartment and feed themselves. That's a symptom of a wicked system. Though I'd rather see the government get our inflation under control and bring prices down, than continue to raise incomes, devaluing our currency, and any savings people have managed to sock away.
I think the Main Problem is greed and that the Companys want more every Day. More winnings etc. Inflation is only a problem Because the few at the top hold all the money and refuse to pay the work slaves a fair wage.
Easiest job I worked was at an amazon warehouse fastfood was way harder than that. Amazon was like scan the thing put in pile, or unload truck, or sort shit, or teach people to do any of the above. At least didn't have to deal with any customers
Here's a fun exercise to try:
When the 3rd quarter financials come out in a week or 2, find out how much YoY profit was and how many employees there are at your company. Divide the profit from the workforce. That's how much money is being stolen from you and your coworkers.
ETA: If you want to share that data with your coworkers, I recommend picking an arbitrary amount from the profit margin and subtracting it. When I did it at my job, I calculated for the company "only" making $2 Billion with the rest going to a raise for all employees. It worked out to around an $86/hr raise for everyone.
What if we also cut exec compensation in half and add that in?
(Also... $86/hr holy shit)
Isn't that also impliyimg that people who flip burgers are general less worth as a whole? That's kinda a butthole thinking
Like have any of these people who say shit like this ever worked a single day in their life? Especially fastfood
At least theoretically in a labor market, wages are based on an equilibrium between demand for a given type of labor and the people who can do that labor. Their worth as a human being doesn't enter into it. The people who equate the wage equilibrium with worth as a person are indeed buttholes who are trying to use economics to justify their buttholeness, even though they haven't a clue what they're talking about.
Also, it doesn't necessarily speak to how difficult the job is for the individual who is doing it. I'll give myself as an example. I'm a quite good software developer and it comes easily to me. I don't have to work hard to do it, and it honestly has never been a struggle. But when I was younger, I had a couple of restaurant jobs. I had trouble keeping up. The difference? Software development hits a bunch of my areas of strong cognitive function. Food service hits a number of my worst weaknesses.
It's more about Qualifikation
i get that but the implication is there
exactly. people with such mindset deserve in fact lower pay
If they start paying burger flippers as much as me I'll just go do that instead. I love mindless repetitive tasks like that. I worked in a tire/lube shop when I first got out of high school and it was the best job I ever had. No mental strain whatsoever, physical work to keep in shape, get to talk to mostly nice people that appreciate your work. I could get off work and game or go out drinking or whatever and come back the next day hungover af without really affecting my performance. Everything except the pay was great.
Now I do IT and pretty much hate everything about it except the pay.
Well that's the thing, a bunch of burnt out IT guys will go and flip burgers, and then there'll be a shortage of IT guys, and the salaries for IT will go up in an attempt to lure them back to the soul destroying black hole that is IT. Some might, some won't.
But after all that the burger flippers will still be getting paid a wage that they can live on.
Maybe...or ihe increased IT salaries will cause other industries, like say mechanical engineering, to also raise salaries to avoid losing their workers to IT. And then people have more money and are willing to spend more money, increasing the price of things such as housing and food.
Eventually that fast food worker is back at the bottom of the barrel, even if they are being paid a higher number. Throw in the government printing money like crazy too to seal the deal.
You should also stop using money as an estimate of people's worth
I think the question to ask is:
"Why would anyone spend the time and money I did to go to school and become an expert of their craft when they can flip burgers for the same pay?"
The obvious answer is "because human's aren't robots, and enjoy pursuing different fields"
Because some skills are learned in school and some are learned on the job. They're called "low skill" but got can definitely tell when someone is new to food service versus when they've had 1, 5, 10, etc years experience in it.
Why does the cook make as much as myself?
You are asking that question so your manager doesn't ask the same question about you 🤣
Also, job demand reflect what society thinks it needs at a certain point in time, and you may happen to be in demand or not, based on factors that may be out of your control. Maybe AI surgery will become a thing and top surgeons will become useless overnight. Who knows? Point is, stop judging people for fuck's sake