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

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

#421

Post by ceejayoz » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #353

ceejayoz wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one truelly cares about self-service, it's just hype. My grocery store recently instituted scan-as-you-go via a smartphone app, and I love it. I bag as I go along, precisely the way I want everything bagged (no crushed bread, no meat juice dripping on the candy) and basically walk out the door.

> precisely the way I want everything bagged (no crushed bread, no meat juice dripping on the candy) I'm not sure what stores you go to, but just about every (bagger/cashier who bags) that I have ever interacted with has done their job quite well, and much faster than I would. They have incentive to do so, because when they fuck up, or are too slow, they get chewed out by their manager. They also have 8 hours a day t…

You mention a variety of solvable (and in Wegmans' case, solved) issues.

The system I'm talking about is scan-as-you-go. No issue with the size of the bagging area. You're just putting things into your reusable bags directly in the cart.

Produce codes are simple - every produce display is labeled with a four or five digit code, and there are scales with label printers scattered throughout. These scales also display a bar code for use with the scanning app so you can forgo the label entirely. Even the folks going to a human cashier use these.

I've also been fairly impressed with their self-service UI when my phone's been too low on battery. Several years ago when they tried it out the UI was abysmal - it's clear they've made serious improvements in that realm and I've found it fast and user-friendly.

I like being able to decide how I organize my stuff. I can forgo bags for cases of soda, I can make the bags heavier than a cashier might, I can load them up based on how I'm going to unload at home.

Wegmans has kept the human cashiers, incidentally, with no noticeable increase in lines. Self-service is thus far an option, but one I prefer.

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

#422

Post by tyri_kai_psomi » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:36 AM UTC

kiba wrote: post #392

scarface74 wrote: post #376

This by far not a popular opinion, but some jobs aren’t worth $15 an hour. We shouldn’t force social policy on private corporations. Sure she needs more than $9.15/hour to live as an adult and pay for insurance but a teenager staying at home doesn’t. I am strong believer in a social safety net but I think that should be the role of government. She shouldn’t have to depend on private corporations for insurance, that s…

Cheap and quality public housing along with good transportation options will go a long way in reducing poverty.

Unfortunately, it is either cheap or quality. And news flash, as someone who just recently built a new home, even the "expensive" stuff is hardly "quality" these days. We are paying more for homes with cheaper, younger, less treated wood that rots and warps faster (partially thanks to over-regulation). Majority of what is being thrown up in my city are 450-700k+ McMansions that are "stick built" and will almost assuredly have a host of problems in the near term.

Quality is just so rare these days. Everything is built to be replaced in 5-10 years.

American homes are a sham. My grandmother's home back in Greece is 180 years old at this point and I fully expect it to outlast my current home.

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

#423

Post by Consultant32452 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:36 AM UTC

taurath wrote: post #412

scarface74 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the role of every job to provide a livable income. How many people on HN wouldn’t have a job at all if their company wasn’t subsidized by VCs? There was an article posted here a few months ago that the average 7/11 owner makes $35K a year and that’s with them putting in 60+ hour weeks. Most small business owners aren’t getting rich. Actually, I wouldn’t be completely opposed to abolishing the minimum wage an…

> It’s not the role of every job to provide a livable income. It’s the role of the economy for someone to get a livable income if that’s what they’re seeking. If it’s not working then it needs a nudge.

What standard of living do you consider "livable" and what percentage of the 7.7 Billion people on the planet actually live at that standard?

The "living wage" thing is a marketing weasel phrase. It's intentionally non-specific and encourages the listener to fill in their own idea of what kind of lifestyle a "living wage" entails. I would encourage everyone to ignore "living wage" marketing weasel-speak and only listen to concrete, specific goals.

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

#424

Post by sterileopinions » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:37 AM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #393

URSpider94 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a counter-argument: if people are taking jobs that don't cover their cost of living, and the government is having to step in to subsidize them, then that's effectively a subsidy from the government to the company's bottom line. In general, we Americans believe in the free market, but we also believe that we need limits on what people can legally contract for. For example, we don't let people sell organs. We do…

It’s not the role of every job to provide a livable income. How many people on HN wouldn’t have a job at all if their company wasn’t subsidized by VCs? There was an article posted here a few months ago that the average 7/11 owner makes $35K a year and that’s with them putting in 60+ hour weeks. Most small business owners aren’t getting rich. Actually, I wouldn’t be completely opposed to abolishing the minimum wage an…

>How many people on HN wouldn’t have a job at all if their company wasn’t subsidized by VCs?

I can't tell if this is satire or not.

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

#425

Post by dragonsngoblins » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:38 AM UTC

lurquer wrote: post #326

jfk13 wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hard work leads to prosperity. Sometimes it does. Other times, it's barely enough to achieve survival. > Most prosperous people achieved prosperity due to earlier hard work and sacrifice of themselves (or their immediate ancestors.) Or their distant ancestors. Or due to their -- or their ancestors' -- criminal activities or exploitative behavior or sheer luck.

It's odd how the same people who are prone to excuse criminals on the basis of the criminal's poverty, so frequently accuse rich people of having obtained their wealth through illicit means.

Eh not really. The idea that stealing because you need to in order to eat/have a place to sleep being a lesser crime than stealing to be wealthy makes a lot of sense to me.

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

#426

Post by scarface74 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:38 AM UTC

taurath wrote: post #411

formercoder wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a capex vs opex question. Raise minimum wage enough and firms cross the border to investing in capex such that they replace employees.

If they’re on the fence already, then they should be doing it. A few hundred dollars a day means next to nothing to McDonald’s, and everything to the workers. Don’t hold the threat of automation over them, if it’s gonna happen rip the bandaid off.

A few hundred a day means a lot to the franchise owner. It really means a lot to the mom and pop pizzeria down the street or the owner of the convenience store.

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

#427

Post by scarface74 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:41 AM UTC

taurath wrote: post #412

scarface74 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the role of every job to provide a livable income. How many people on HN wouldn’t have a job at all if their company wasn’t subsidized by VCs? There was an article posted here a few months ago that the average 7/11 owner makes $35K a year and that’s with them putting in 60+ hour weeks. Most small business owners aren’t getting rich. Actually, I wouldn’t be completely opposed to abolishing the minimum wage an…

> It’s not the role of every job to provide a livable income. It’s the role of the economy for someone to get a livable income if that’s what they’re seeking. If it’s not working then it needs a nudge.

So should we force companies to pay a “livable income” for the teenager staying at home? The couple with two small kids and the mom staying at home to raise them? The single mom who has to raise three or four kids on her own? The single person in the story who needs expensive medical care to stay alive?

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

#428

Post by e40 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:42 AM 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…

When I was 14 I worked as a busboy at a BBQ place. For like 2 weeks, before they found out I was underaged and fired me. I was never so exhausted in my entire life, before or after. And I was a strong swimmer when I started that job, and was quite fit.

I worked at gas stations after that, before college, and while it was tiring, nothing at the same level.

I can totally imagine a pizza job would be draining.

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

#429

Post by tzs » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:48 AM UTC

x2f10 wrote: post #18

Her job is already going away; McDonald's around me have already replaced cashiers with kiosks. Unionizing and requiring $15/hr + full benefits is only going to accelerate McDonald's automation plans. Is the answer to fight for $15/hr or is the answer to go back to school, apply to more jobs, and/or go into a trade? Honest question.

> McDonald's around me have already replaced cashiers with kiosks

My local McD just got them, as part of an extensive remodel. By "extensive", I mean that early this year they tore the whole place down and built a new one there, which opened near the end of October.

I've used the kiosks when I can, but for most of November I had to use the human cashiers. Why? Because the kiosks insisted on applying a "discount" that actually raised the price! The cash registers used by the human cashiers would also apply that discount, but the interface there allows the cashier to remove it. The kiosks (and the mobile app which also applies it) do not allow removal.

On the one hand, I am impressed that their software is automatically applying discounts instead of making the customer manually ask for it. I've seen at other places things like a parent order a burger and a drink and their child order fries and a drink, and unless the cashier notices that this is cheaper as a combo (burger, fries, drink) plus another drink, it will be rung up at full price.

On the other hand, come on! It's pretty obvious that if you are going to be looking for discounts to apply, the software needs to have a check to make sure that the total with the discount is not more than the undiscounted price and if it is not apply the discount.

This situation came about at my local McD because to celebrate being at the same location for 40 years, they rolled back prices on several items to '80s level for the month of November. Among the items rolled back were Sausage McMuffins, to $0.79.

Sausage McMuffins and Sausage Burritos are part of the "any 2 for $3" discount. So if your order included two Sausage McMuffins, or included one Sausage McMuffin with one Sausage Burrito, it would decide to apply the 2 for $3. In both cases that raised the price.

A couple times that month I wanted two Sausage McMuffins and a Sausage Burrito. To order that at the kiosk or on the app and get the correct discount ($0.79 for the McMuffins, regular price for the Burrito) could only be done by doing it is 3 separate orders! (Well, I suppose it could be done on one order and then selecting cash payment...that prints a receipt that you take to a human cashier, who can then recall the order at their register and collect payment. I assume that they can modify the order at that point to remove the 2 for $3).

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

#430

Post by freeflight » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 2:48 AM 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…

> Everybody needs a &^%$ job once in a while to reset their empathy scale.

Imho that's trying to solve a symptom, not the actual problem.

Why does society tolerate &^%$ jobs in the first place? Why not strive to make jobs non-&^%$?

Instead, it somehow has become completely normalized that these kinds of jobs exist, and anybody who doesn't want to work them is considered "too entitled", which all goes back to this notion of "work as a virtue".

And while the idea that this experience might help change something from the desk job, the reality is most people will just be glad to be having their desk job, with a lot having a mindset of "I went through the &^%$ jobs to get here, everybody else should have to suffer like I did!".