A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier • Hacker News Board

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#261

Post by nineumbrellas » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:23 PM UTC

derg wrote: post #144

duxup wrote: post #112

I worked a pizza (among others) job through high school and college. I've been overworked at many professional technical jobs in different roles before. I'm paid a great deal more now, and yet I was never more tired or worn out or found it hard to study than when I worked the ovens at the pizza place. I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their tim…

>I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their time in the fancy break room with all the perks. Many I suspect have no clue. Not that it's a realistic idea but damn if everyone had experiencing working in the demanding, underpaid, crappy jobs in the service industry, we might be more empathetic and better off as a whole.

I bring this up often with friends. I believe everyone should have to work a food service/retail job. It puts a lot of things in perspective. I feel like I am a better human, having worked many.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#262

Post by shantly » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:23 PM UTC

mulmen wrote: post #192

WorldMaker wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting reminder: kiosks don't eliminate the labor of the cashier, they pass the labor on to the consumer. The same amount of labor overall is still happening in that building, just more of it is unpaid.

I have always done the work of expressing my desired food item. Without a kiosk that desire gets repeated by another person to a computer. With a kiosk that repetition does not happen, the order is directly expressed to the machine. It appears to me there is 50% less labor with a kiosk.

The McDonald’s kiosks require more work than telling a cashier your order, IME. They’re crap.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#263

Post by rogy » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:23 PM UTC

jackhack wrote: post #207

derg wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their time in the fancy break room with all the perks. Many I suspect have no clue. Not that it's a realistic idea but damn if everyone had experiencing working in the demanding, underpaid, crappy jobs in the service industry, we might be more empathetic and better off as a whole.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. Everybody needs a &^%$ job once in a while to reset their empathy scale. Walmart does something interesting for their software development process. Say a developer is working on a warehouse automation system -- that dev. is then trained and works in the warehouse for a month. Same goes for checkout/cashier, or customer service, or whatever. You WORK that job for a month and you'll un…

I work on software for datacenter server technicians and try and spend a week every quarter on the floor doing their job, honestly find it one of the most enjoyably aspects to my role

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#264

Post by Scoundreller » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:24 PM UTC

bradley_taunt wrote: post #147

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Pan frying an egg and some veggies (using food item examples above) takes less than 5 minutes." Which includes: 1) Owning a pan 2) Owning a cooking surface 3) Selecting, cleaning, and cutting vegetables 4) Dishes, or owning a dishwasher vs 1) access to food 2) access to disposal of wrapping material

So we are going under the impression that this person is homeless? Renters/home owners would have ovens, simple cooking equipment. If the person doesn't have access to ANY of those things - there are bigger issues than food.

Depends who you share it with. Some people think that a communal fridge means that everything inside it is communal.

Not everyone has the same boundaries for that situation.

Can you use the cracked pepper that someone else bought? People have different opinions on that.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#265

Post by amelius » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:25 PM UTC

throwaway07Ju19 wrote: post #59

sebringj wrote: post #32

Before I had a programmer job when i was younger, i completely 100% empathize with her in having those types of thankless jobs and constantly being tired. I can't imagine being trapped in that going forward. I bootstrapped my situation but I had a nice parents, a middle-class upbringing and a decent school to start everything, and a knack for programming... but I know/met so many who do not have this leg up in whatev…

In the U.S. there is one presidential candidate championing a UBI of $1000/mo. It would be paid for by a VAT tax. Typically VAT tax is unpopular because it is regressive. But the UBI more than compensates for the extra tax burden.

The US will be the last country to implement UBI.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#266

Post by nerdponx » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:25 PM UTC

nlfwhulsdhouv wrote: post #256

sebringj wrote: post #32

Before I had a programmer job when i was younger, i completely 100% empathize with her in having those types of thankless jobs and constantly being tired. I can't imagine being trapped in that going forward. I bootstrapped my situation but I had a nice parents, a middle-class upbringing and a decent school to start everything, and a knack for programming... but I know/met so many who do not have this leg up in whatev…

100% agree that something needs to happen. The way we treat less-fortunate people is shameful and undignified. My biggest concern with UBI specifically is that it will be absorbed by landlords and other societal rent-seekers. My personal opinion is that we should democratize workplaces, through unions in the short-term and co-ops in the long term. McDonalds cashiers should have a say in their working conditions beyon…

Keeping people constantly tired and "on the edge" might be a deliberate strategy. Or at least a very convenient coincidence. If they're too tired and too reliant on their current jobs to protest or quit, they'll stay quiet and politically compliant.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#267

Post by whack » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:26 PM UTC

k-godwin wrote: post #235

whack wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it very interesting that most people assume it should be the employer's responsibility to provide for the employee's wellbeing. Call me naive, but I think it should be society's responsibility. What about Hedge Funds, Technology companies, Law Firms and every other company that hires primarily 6-figure white collar employees. Should they be completely off the hook, just because their business model only requir…

> Should we be completely immune from minimum wage increases just because we can afford to pay for the finer things in life? You aren't immune. Minimum wage laws impact the supply chain that feeds Whole Foods and nice restaurants by increasing the cost of rural labor. https://www.indeed.com/salaries/farm-worker-Salaries A quick google will show you that farm workers are well below the $15/hour goal most progressives…

You're right that the "trickle down" effects of minimum wage laws will impact everyone in society to some extent. But it seems like a fairly obvious conclusion that people eating at McDonalds and shopping at Walmart, will be impacted more than someone who only buys premium organic food and spends the majority of his income on other luxuries.

> you are really talking a negative income tax or UBI. At which point, you are probably better off supporting those proposals instead of pushing the EITC.

I do support UBI too but it seems like an extreme stretch to say that is easier to sell than EITC. Especially when you consider that EITC already exists today as a federal law, and UBI does not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_income_tax_credit

> Personally, I'm not a fan of subsidizing low margin businesses that from a Capitalist perspective should probably be allowed to die if their workers can't afford to live on what they pay.

Allowing McDonalds to hire workers at wages set by supply-and-demand, is the very opposite of a subsidy. Killing off profitable low-margin businesses, will by definition, lower the nation's GDP and tax base. Everyone, especially the workers like the one featured in the article, will be far better off in a world where profitable low-margin businesses aren't killed off by government regulation. It's far more effective to tax McDonalds, as well as every other profitable company, in order to fund the safety net that every citizen deserves.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#268

Post by nlfwhulsdhouv » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:26 PM UTC

outworlder wrote: post #73

Other than the low salaries, there are two compounding issues here: – Transportation. The US is very unfriendly to forms of transportation that are not cars. There are a few exceptions, but these are exceptions. Good public transport or even bike lanes would massively improve conditions for a lot of people. – Health care. Private companies are overcharging people and have made health care(hospitals and medication) un…

> Health care. Private companies are overcharging people and have made health care(hospitals and medication) unreachable if you don't have your costs subsidized by your employer.

Medicare for all is one of the most important policies to alleviate pressure on lower-income people. Even for the middle class, the freedom to change jobs or take time off without fear of disaster will take such a load off of society.

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#269

Post by tartoran » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:27 PM UTC

ameister14 wrote: post #245

Miner49er wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yang's implementation is very regressive. You have the regressive VAT tax, but then you also have the fact that you are cutting government benefits then giving everyone $1000. So the poor just end up net poorer. Example: Now: $12,000 a year + $12,000 in benefits = $24,000 $50,000 a year + $0 in benefits = $50,000 UBI: $12,000 a year + $12,000 in UBI = $24,000 $50,000 a year + $12,000 in UBI = $62,000 The poorer perso…

You're missing a couple of things - first, it isn't zero sum. I don't care if I'm poor relatively as long as I'm not poor absolutely. Second, the average benefit isn't $1,000 a month and in almost all cases the $1k per month is an increase on existing benefit numbers. Third, since it doesn't come with strings, you don't have to worry about losing your benefits when you get a job or a kid leaves the home, when you rel…

Or you can simply move somewhere else where life is cheaper, a place that nowadays isn't sustainable because currently the local job market is nonexistent. UBI can solve that!

Re: A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

#270

Post by Baeocystin » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 10:27 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #112

I worked a pizza (among others) job through high school and college. I've been overworked at many professional technical jobs in different roles before. I'm paid a great deal more now, and yet I was never more tired or worn out or found it hard to study than when I worked the ovens at the pizza place. I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their tim…

I worked as a welder in a shipyard for a couple of years after the .com crash.

No complaints, I actually enjoyed the work, but it was exhausting in a way that no office job can compare. The experience also makes me want to throttle folks who have never lifted anything heavier than a pen as I hear them whine about utter trivial things.

I don't, because it is considered rude to throttle one's co-workers.

The urge remains.