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How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

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181–190 of 279 posts

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#181
post #62
post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

Are you implying that companies outsource all of the janitorial duties now? I'm in Arkansas, so crack all the jokes you want, but the big places that produce a lot of food (McKee comes to mind - Little Debbie) staff their own positions. https://mckee.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/mckee/jobs So, in other words, yeah, you could be a janitor and potentially propose a new Little Debbie snack right now. That particular dream is s…

Not all companies, obviously, but the proportion of staff outsourcing has grown in the past few decades.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#182
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that companies outsource all of the janitorial duties now? I'm in Arkansas, so crack all the jokes you want, but the big places that produce a lot of food (McKee comes to mind - Little Debbie) staff their own positions. https://mckee.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/mckee/jobs So, in other words, yeah, you could be a janitor and potentially propose a new Little Debbie snack right now. That particular dream is s…

Yep - many, if not most, factories staff these positions themselves. It fits in with their existing maintenance, assembly, cleaning, warehouse type roles. It's mainly white collar places that don't know how, or don't want to, hire anyone who does blue collar work.

I work in a place with one third white collar and two thirds blue collar workers. We have our own 'Facilities' folks that do all kinds of things. We hire a cleaning crew to come in after-hours and handle the janitorial part. Just sayin.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#183
Unfortunately my experience has been when a CEO is asking you to “act like an owner” it is code for “spend less” and “work more.” The subject of this article had an advantage because he took things quite literally and hadn’t heard the BS before.

3G Capital also uses the “act like an owner” code - the problem is that their employees cut a bunch stuff and they cut a bunch of their employees.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#184
post #62
post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

Are you implying that companies outsource all of the janitorial duties now? I'm in Arkansas, so crack all the jokes you want, but the big places that produce a lot of food (McKee comes to mind - Little Debbie) staff their own positions. https://mckee.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/mckee/jobs So, in other words, yeah, you could be a janitor and potentially propose a new Little Debbie snack right now. That particular dream is s…

There are not too many companies where you can start at the bottom and work your way up to the top. Very unlikely in 2021.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#185

That's $18.52 an hour in today's dollars. The average pay for a janitor today is closer to $12 an hour. In fact, just a few years after 1976, janitors' wages (at least in LA) started falling sharply below the cost of living: https://socialjusticehistory.org/lalabor/workingla/archives/... The fact that our economic system worked for him does not mean that it works for the vast majority of people in similar jobs. It's…

This was in "the late 1980s". Even if we're assuming this was in 1985, $4 in 1985 is $9.36 - $9.85 today. Sources:

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://smartasset.com/investing/inflation-calculator https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html?cstarti...

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Janitors are able to demand $18+/hour in SoCal, plus benefits in some companies.

You're able to demand anything you want anywhere... but you're not likely to get it.

“Able to demand” colloquially means they are getting it.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#187
post #132
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the reason white collar firms outsource is that benefits usually need to be uniform across all employees. If you are a white collar firm with generous benefit packages, it becomes comparatively expensive to hire blue collar workers yourself compared to outsourcing. Decent health insurance (~$20K/year) is more than the federal minimum wage ($14.5K/year). I'm not suggesting this is moral, but it is reality. At…

That's not true. You can offer better packages for your higher paid employees. Outsourcing blue collar labor has to do with offering any benefits at all. Once your company has 50 employees or more, you must offer at least a bare minimum health insurance plan to all full time employees. Outsourcing is cheaper, because you can deal with small companies that are more focused on taking advantage of employees by doing thi…

> You can offer better packages for your higher paid employees.

Wouldn’t the company lose the tax benefits if they fail non discrimination testing because the highly compensated employees (HCEs) received disproportionate benefits?

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#188
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that companies outsource all of the janitorial duties now? I'm in Arkansas, so crack all the jokes you want, but the big places that produce a lot of food (McKee comes to mind - Little Debbie) staff their own positions. https://mckee.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/mckee/jobs So, in other words, yeah, you could be a janitor and potentially propose a new Little Debbie snack right now. That particular dream is s…

There are not too many companies where you can start at the bottom and work your way up to the top. Very unlikely in 2021.

There are tons of companies where you start at the bottom, work your way into a basic management role and then after a few years of that start your own company.

You go from janitor to floor polisher to supervisor to manager to slightly more important manager to "I'm starting my own company".

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#189
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s weird but not wrong, the area he lived in is still there. Guasti, CA: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guasti,_California

I'm confused now - the Ontario international airport is in California? (As opposed to Ontario, Canada; both of course confusingly abbreviated 'CA'.) https://www.flyontario.com/ Yep, yes it is. Not confusing at all..! (To be fair I've tried to check in to a hotel on Newmarket Rd, Cambridge for a booking in Newmarket, North of Cambridge; which was at least wrong with reference to the same Cambridge UK and not Cambridge…

Ontario, the province, is freaking huge (and, as these things go in Canada, populous). An "Ontario Airport" would make no sense at all.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#190
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused now - the Ontario international airport is in California? (As opposed to Ontario, Canada; both of course confusingly abbreviated 'CA'.) https://www.flyontario.com/ Yep, yes it is. Not confusing at all..! (To be fair I've tried to check in to a hotel on Newmarket Rd, Cambridge for a booking in Newmarket, North of Cambridge; which was at least wrong with reference to the same Cambridge UK and not Cambridge…

Ontario, the province, is freaking huge (and, as these things go in Canada, populous). An "Ontario Airport" would make no sense at all.

Many UK airports describe themselves as 'London airport's without that making much sense.
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