Fast food workers go on strike

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/11/29/fast-food-workers-protest-pay-aim-to-unionize/

So fast food workers are going on strike due to low wages (7.25/hr), and largely remaining at part time hours.

As a person who was in fast food for five years I know how hard it is to earn any sort of living in fast food. Heck I remember at one point I was losing money despite having a job, and living with my parents. I can only imagine trying to work on that same budget while paying rent, supporting kids, going to college, etc. Honestly I don't know if I would ever be able to move up in the world if I was in that position.

On the other hand I know that people do move up in the world, even in the fast food industry. While it's certaintly not easy work day in, and day out it's not as backbreaking as a construction position. Also there isn't a whole lot of mental effort required to fulfill this position. It does take will power however to continue to go into a job like this, because in general most people do not enjoy this type of work.

I guess I don't know how I feel about this despite having held down this type of job for a number of years. What do you guys think? Do fast food workers deserve more money?

I work in a fast food restaurant right now and honestly I will say that the ones that I work with, do not deserve more. All they do is bi*ch about how many customers we get and how rude they are to us. For one the only reason we get paid is because customers come to buy food from us, and two a big problem at least where I work is even the people in management just want to sit on their phone and not work. This is how it is at least at the place I work :P Now if there was a restaurant that ran 24 hours a day where the workers did not sit on their phone and actually helped customers and worked hard, not to mention the overnight shifts they would surely deserve more. Some of my friends work in other places right now and they are expected to work overnight shifts on christmas eve, for the same exact amount of money as if they were working today. The sad thing about it is that like you said it's hard to get hours and money in places like this so they have absolutely no choice but to work on days they should be with their kids and families. If they got paid more it would make more sense for them at least. The best motivation for me with the low wages at the moment though is to continue getting straight A's in college :lol:TrainerCeleste

I don't know about the place you work, but if you want to survive in fast food you need to grow a nice hard callous on your soul. All the mainstays I worked with (save a couple) were incredibly sarcastic and uncarring people. I think that it becomes part of who you are if you stay in fast food long enough.

Edit, which is another thing that makes me consider that people working fast food perhaps should get more money. It's a job that very much leads to an unhappy lifestyle. Or so it seems.

I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. BatCrazedJoker

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"]I work in a fast food restaurant right now and honestly I will say that the ones that I work with, do not deserve more. All they do is bi*ch about how many customers we get and how rude they are to us. For one the only reason we get paid is because customers come to buy food from us, and two a big problem at least where I work is even the people in management just want to sit on their phone and not work. This is how it is at least at the place I work :P Now if there was a restaurant that ran 24 hours a day where the workers did not sit on their phone and actually helped customers and worked hard, not to mention the overnight shifts they would surely deserve more. Some of my friends work in other places right now and they are expected to work overnight shifts on christmas eve, for the same exact amount of money as if they were working today. The sad thing about it is that like you said it's hard to get hours and money in places like this so they have absolutely no choice but to work on days they should be with their kids and families. If they got paid more it would make more sense for them at least. The best motivation for me with the low wages at the moment though is to continue getting straight A's in college :lol:Serraph105

I don't know about the place you work, but if you want to survive in fast food you need to grow a nice hard callous on your soul. All the mainstays I worked with (save a couple) were incredibly sarcastic and uncarring people. I think that it becomes part of who you are if you stay in fast food long enough.

They wouldn't have to have a hard callous on the soul if they simply sucked it up and tried to enjoy their job, sure you will still have the occasional rude customer but if a lot of them got off their phone and worked the amount rude people would go down. Still the rude people do change you a bit though working in fast food has taught me that you really can not please everywhere and that people are asshoels :lol: When it comes to the people who get pissy for the fact that their fries are "luke-warm" or that their drink has a little too much ice and throw temper tantrums in the drive thru I have no sympathy for them. People like that are bound to get **** service and uncaring attitude simply because it would kill us if we took all their comments to heart :P You paid a dollar, don't expect five star class 100% of the time.

I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. BatCrazedJoker

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. Serraph105

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. horgen123

[QUOTE="horgen123"][QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. BatCrazedJoker

I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. BatCrazedJoker

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

Why should they earn more? There is no shortage of people in this country looking for low skill labor. Just fire them all and hire new ones.

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. nunovlopes

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

Why should they earn more? There is no shortage of people in this country looking for low skill labor. Just fire them all and hire new ones.

Chickity_China

It's this sort of despicable, arrogant attitude that I despise. They're people for crying out loud, not cattle.

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. nunovlopes

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. TrainerCeleste

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

That's precisely what I'm talking about. We should be rewarding hard work, even in the case of low skill labor.

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

Why should they earn more? There is no shortage of people in this country looking for low skill labor. Just fire them all and hire new ones.

nunovlopes

It's this sort of despicable, arrogant attitude that I despise. They're people for crying out loud, not cattle.

At least cattle don't b**** and moan about minimum wage.

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. Chickity_China

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

You don't seem to grasp where I'm getting at. You can't have EVERYONE being a doctor, keyword being *everyone*. You can't have EVERYONE in college. There aren't enough seats. You will ALWAYS need the low skill jobs. You can tell people "hey don't like it go to college" but in reality you NEED to have people doing low skilled jobs. Now obvioulsy you won't pay them exorbitants amounts of money, but hard working people should be rewarded regardless of occupation. That attitude of "fire them all" creates no incentive for doing a good job.

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"]I think 7.25 is a decent salary for a fast food worker, if they want more money maybe they should consider going to college so they could get a better job with better pay. Chickity_China

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

I've also seen some smart ones, that simply just don't have time to go to school. They don't get as much money help as the others for some reason, and have to work 40-50 hour weeks, with sleeping it'd be dam near impossible for those people to go to school.

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

Why should they earn more? There is no shortage of people in this country looking for low skill labor. Just fire them all and hire new ones.

Chickity_China

It's this sort of despicable, arrogant attitude that I despise. They're people for crying out loud, not cattle.

At least cattle don't b**** and moan about minimum wage.

I think you're on to something. Maybe we should just kill all those lazy people and turn them into burgers.

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

nunovlopes

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

You don't seem to grasp where I'm getting at. You can't have EVERYONE being a doctor, keyword being *everyone*. You can't have EVERYONE in college. There aren't enough seats. You will ALWAYS need the low skill jobs. You can tell people "hey don't like it go to college" but in reality you NEED to have people doing low skilled jobs. Now obvioulsy you won't pay them exorbitants amounts of money, but hard working people should be rewarded regardless of occupation. That attitude of "fire them all" creates no incentive for doing a good job.

What do you mean there aren't enough seats? You think all the colleges in the US are all operating at max capacity or something? I agree that hard working people need to be rewarded, but when they're not and they're not satisfied with they lives they need to look at other ways of improving themselves. And I say fire them all because they obviously don't want to work, yet there's plenty of people out there who would be more than willing to take up their positions.

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

It's this sort of despicable, arrogant attitude that I despise. They're people for crying out loud, not cattle.

nunovlopes

At least cattle don't b**** and moan about minimum wage.

I think you're on to something. Maybe we should just kill all those lazy people and turn them into burgers.

Maybe lazy people need to shut the f*** up and stop being lazy or deal with their own shortcommings.

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

I see that argument being used all the time. The problem is that realistically speaking not everyone will go to college simply because there won't be enough seats if EVERYONE decides to go. And there's not enough demand for EVERYONE to be a doctor. And we still need the fast food workers. Like we need teachers, nurses, plumbers,etc. If all you have is 3 chairs, you can tell 4 people that if they fight hard enough they'll get a chair but you damn well know 1 guy will be standing up. Now I'm not saying lazy fast food workers deserve more money, but I'm sure there are plenty of hard working fast food workers that deserve better pay.

TrainerCeleste

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

I've also seen some smart ones, that simply just don't have time to go to school. They don't get as much money help as the others for some reason, and have to work 40-50 hour weeks, with sleeping it'd be dam near impossible for those people to go to school.

Yes, then there's the stupid people. I admire stupid people who work hard. Then there's the stupid and lazy people. They can all just rot for all I care since all they're good for is complaining about what work they can manage to find and creating burdens for every other tax payer.

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

Chickity_China

You don't seem to grasp where I'm getting at. You can't have EVERYONE being a doctor, keyword being *everyone*. You can't have EVERYONE in college. There aren't enough seats. You will ALWAYS need the low skill jobs. You can tell people "hey don't like it go to college" but in reality you NEED to have people doing low skilled jobs. Now obvioulsy you won't pay them exorbitants amounts of money, but hard working people should be rewarded regardless of occupation. That attitude of "fire them all" creates no incentive for doing a good job.

What do you mean there aren't enough seats? You think all the colleges in the US are all operating at max capacity or something? I agree that hard working people need to be rewarded, but when they're not and they're not satisfied with they lives they need to look at other ways of improving themselves. And I say fire them all because they obviously don't want to work, yet there's plenty of people out there who would be more than willing to take up their positions.

Do you honestly believe that if EVERY single person in the US decided to go to college tomorrow there would be enough seats? Of course not. And even if they could there isn't enough demand. You need to have people in low skill jobs as well, otherwise society stops.

I agree lazy people should get fired, no question there, I was taking an issue because you were implying that because they're low skill people they don't deserve any raise, regardless of hard working or not, and should all just be fired and replaced with new ones.

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"]

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

Actually, there is a sortage of doctors in this country. And if you can't get into one college, apply to a different one, or even go to community college. That's way better then working minimum wage the rest of your life. The only legitimate excuse is not being able to afford college, but even the people who grew up in trailer parks, if they do well in high school, they can get scholarships, financial aid, and student loans, and go to a state school.

Chickity_China

I've also seen some smart ones, that simply just don't have time to go to school. They don't get as much money help as the others for some reason, and have to work 40-50 hour weeks, with sleeping it'd be dam near impossible for those people to go to school.

Yes, then there's the stupid people. I admire stupid people who work hard. Then there's the stupid and lazy people. They can all just rot for all I care since all they're good for is complaining about what work they can manage to find and creating burdens for every other tax payer.

[QUOTE="BatCrazedJoker"][QUOTE="horgen123"] That's nothing :| horgen123

Meanwhile Big Macs in Norway cost almost double what they do in America.

Where I live most of the fast food workers are kids with maybe one middle-aged manager or something. I don't feel hugely sorry for them.

And yes I have worked in a restaurant before.

This is uninteresting. Mods please close the thread. Daves_Alt

[QUOTE="Daves_Alt"]This is uninteresting. Mods please close the thread. Serraph105

Why should they earn more? There is no shortage of people in this country looking for low skill labor. Just fire them all and hire new ones.

Chickity_China

^ This guy knows what's up. Fast food is not meant to be a career. You're supposed to get in, get some skills, and get out. Don't like it? Well too bad.

[QUOTE="Chickity_China"]

[QUOTE="nunovlopes"]

You don't seem to grasp where I'm getting at. You can't have EVERYONE being a doctor, keyword being *everyone*. You can't have EVERYONE in college. There aren't enough seats. You will ALWAYS need the low skill jobs. You can tell people "hey don't like it go to college" but in reality you NEED to have people doing low skilled jobs. Now obvioulsy you won't pay them exorbitants amounts of money, but hard working people should be rewarded regardless of occupation. That attitude of "fire them all" creates no incentive for doing a good job.

nunovlopes

What do you mean there aren't enough seats? You think all the colleges in the US are all operating at max capacity or something? I agree that hard working people need to be rewarded, but when they're not and they're not satisfied with they lives they need to look at other ways of improving themselves. And I say fire them all because they obviously don't want to work, yet there's plenty of people out there who would be more than willing to take up their positions.

Do you honestly believe that if EVERY single person in the US decided to go to college tomorrow there would be enough seats? Of course not. And even if they could there isn't enough demand. You need to have people in low skill jobs as well, otherwise society stops.

I agree lazy people should get fired, no question there, I was taking an issue because you were implying that because they're low skill people they don't deserve any raise, regardless of hard working or not, and should all just be fired and replaced with new ones.

Amazing thaat you talk about things like "demand" yet seem to have no concept of demand in terms of the labor force. Did you take your 1st year Microecon class yet? Rejoin the discussion when you do.

[QUOTE="Serraph105"][QUOTE="Daves_Alt"]This is uninteresting. Mods please close the thread. Daves_Alt

Btw thanks for the bump ;)

The problem with that is :3 The people I work with anyway, well they aren't too smart :P A few try college and all drop out of community college as it is too hard for them. Of course these are all the people who sit on their phones and just like lazily manage the store. I don't think I want them being a doctor to me :P So for them scholarships aren't an option, and if they can't get the grades financial aid sucks. Oh and student loans bwahaha they can't even pay for their cost of living now so for them it'd be stupid to borrow money for something "too hard" but this I think is largely because a lot of them just don't want to try. Why should they? They get money from the government, have a job, and a place to live for some that's all they really want unfortunately. But in no way do I think these people deserve more money, if anything they deserve less for the lazy attitude. The next group needs mroe though. the smart ones.

I've also seen some smart ones, that simply just don't have time to go to school. They don't get as much money help as the others for some reason, and have to work 40-50 hour weeks, with sleeping it'd be dam near impossible for those people to go to school.

TrainerCeleste

$15 an hour? No way in hell they deserve that, and I work at McDonalds.

oh no.. a strike. now who will make my mcnuggets? :roll:

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"]The problem with that is :3 The people I work with anyway, well they aren't too smart :P A few try college and all drop out of community college as it is too hard for them. Of course these are all the people who sit on their phones and just like lazily manage the store. I don't think I want them being a doctor to me :P So for them scholarships aren't an option, and if they can't get the grades financial aid sucks. Oh and student loans bwahaha they can't even pay for their cost of living now so for them it'd be stupid to borrow money for something "too hard" but this I think is largely because a lot of them just don't want to try. Why should they? They get money from the government, have a job, and a place to live for some that's all they really want unfortunately. But in no way do I think these people deserve more money, if anything they deserve less for the lazy attitude. The next group needs mroe though. the smart ones.

I've also seen some smart ones, that simply just don't have time to go to school. They don't get as much money help as the others for some reason, and have to work 40-50 hour weeks, with sleeping it'd be dam near impossible for those people to go to school.

cain006

$15 an hour? No way in hell they deserve that, and I work at McDonalds.

Working in fast food, or any kind of minimum wage job, shouldn't be anybodys end goal. This isn't the America of old, we're never going have reasonable costs of living, so minimum wage will not cut it. People need to go learn a trade, or go to college. That's their only option.

I work about 20 hours a week with school and it's fine. But yes 30 hours may be fine enough but maybe I have the strange one :P All of the managers by me work 40+ hours a week and still can't afford to do anything, maybe all the management people by me just can't handle their money :P Even still if your working 40+ hours a week it will be VERY difficult to go to school and get grades worth having :PTrainerCeleste

Also I probably would have quit by now if I didn't get a meal every shift. That alone makes the crappy 3 hour shifts worth it in my opinion :P.

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"]I work about 20 hours a week with school and it's fine. But yes 30 hours may be fine enough but maybe I have the strange one :P All of the managers by me work 40+ hours a week and still can't afford to do anything, maybe all the management people by me just can't handle their money :P Even still if your working 40+ hours a week it will be VERY difficult to go to school and get grades worth having :Pcain006

Also I probably would have quit by now if I didn't get a meal every shift. That alone makes the crappy 3 hour shifts worth it in my opinion :P.

[QUOTE="cain006"]

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"]I work about 20 hours a week with school and it's fine. But yes 30 hours may be fine enough but maybe I have the strange one :P All of the managers by me work 40+ hours a week and still can't afford to do anything, maybe all the management people by me just can't handle their money :P Even still if your working 40+ hours a week it will be VERY difficult to go to school and get grades worth having :PTrainerCeleste

Also I probably would have quit by now if I didn't get a meal every shift. That alone makes the crappy 3 hour shifts worth it in my opinion :P.

Also, where do you work? I can't imagine somebody hating everything on the mcdonald's menu. I mean the grilled chicken sandwiches are pretty good in my opinion and they're not awful for you.

In Canada they would make $10-10.25.

[QUOTE="TrainerCeleste"][QUOTE="cain006"]Well the managers probably have houses, bills, insurance, etc. Some of them also have kids. I think it would be very difficult to pay all that and still have money left over for fun.

Also I probably would have quit by now if I didn't get a meal every shift. That alone makes the crappy 3 hour shifts worth it in my opinion :P.

cain006

Also, where do you work? I can't imagine somebody hating everything on the mcdonald's menu. I mean the grilled chicken sandwiches are pretty good in my opinion and they're not awful for you.