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

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

#321

Post by fortran77 » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:40 PM UTC

CharlesColeman wrote: post #107

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't just eat 3000 calories of junk food a day and expect the doctor to "fix it" What you're saying is true, but that's not what everyone believes. If you watch any episode of My 600 Pound Life, you will realize just how unwilling some of these people are to help themselves because it's hard work (and many people featured on the show die as a result). Yes, those are obviously extreme examples, but they're all…

> If you watch any episode of My 600 Pound Life, you will realize just how unwilling some of these people are to help themselves Please don't use point-and-gawk trash TV shows to make generalizations about the world. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9al-mpqXjc

I watch that show. It's one of my favorites. Maybe it's beneath your level of intellect--I presume you're a 10x'er who only watches PBS--but I've learned a lot about the super-obese and their challenges from this very sensitive show.

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

#322

Post by cameronbrown » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:40 PM UTC

throwaheyy wrote: post #181

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’ve always thought that working in a retail/fastfood/service job of some kind should be a necessary requirement for graduating from childhood to adulthood.

I found it annoying to work in retail but I appreciate where I am now 1000x more.

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

#323

Post by aaron695 » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:44 PM UTC

Slartie wrote: post #54

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.

It's not like they can replace human personnel that easy. Ordering kiosks are the low-hanging fruit, and then comes a long, long stretch of nothing, because it turns out that developing McDonalds-compatible robots capable of preparing burgers and packing up meals is about as easy as developing actually-working autonomous vehicles. And about as expensive. It's probably easier to automate the managers away. Meaning the…

> Ordering kiosks are the low-hanging fruit, and then comes a long, long stretch of nothing,

DOM Pizza Checker (Domino's camera 'AI' that checks the pizza toppings are correct) could be used for other things, other than it's 'other' current use of store tracking. https://www.itnews.com.au/news/dominos-turns-its-pizza-check... Stores now get updates ;)

Designing food so it's optimised for cooking has been going on for a while but I suspect there gains there. Even if you can design more food variety for fast food that can be cooked or created efficiency, it can cut out labour at other food outlets as they close and society moves to highly efficient food outlets like McDonald's.

Automation in processes is where it's at. Designing food and processes for mostly automated machines and schedulers.

But you are correct, so far the threat of automation to keep wages low seems to have had more impact than automation.

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

#324

Post by stevenwoo » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:45 PM UTC

basch wrote: post #99

WaylonKenning wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only she had the time to do meal prep, outside of the four hours a day she takes to commute.

50% employee discount. McDonalds is a great place to eat healthy if you so choose. Healthful may be boring but its available.

I looked at the USA menu and there are only a handful of healthy options (the salads, and possibly custom egg only dishes via the all day breakfast menu and talking to the line cook) https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu.html and that's without the salad dressing, were this the only diet available it lacks any substantial quantity of fruit, dark green veggies, fatty fish, whole grains/nuts off the top of my head that are usually recommended as items in a healthy balanced diet, the salads are also mainly iceberg lettuce which is not that great nutritionally. Also, not sure what would fit into her choices as diabetic.

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

#325

Post by cameronbrown » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:47 PM UTC

matz1 wrote: post #171

jonnycoder wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think purchasing power for common goods will do once millions of people are on UBI? My bet is that prices will go up.

Could be stay the same or even go down. Producer still have to compete with each other and they even might lower their price to entice buyer to spend their UBI.

I doubt it.

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

#326

Post by lurquer » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:48 PM UTC

jfk13 wrote: post #298

lurquer wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There is no bigger lie than hard work = prosperity. It is literally the exact opposite. Hard work leads to prosperity. That's not the same as equating prosperity to hard work. Most prosperous people achieved prosperity due to earlier hard work and sacrifice of themselves (or their immediate ancestors.) Clearly, the 'value chain', as you put it, exists as evidenced by the numerous posts on this thread of describing t…

> 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.

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

#327

Post by jdkdnfndnfjd » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:49 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…

This makes me literally laugh. McDonald’s employees will destroy whatever they are given control over. In the past, smart people could get out. But with automation we need to change our views because then people really will be trapped in these kinds of jobs. Ubi or something.

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

#328

Post by cameronbrown » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:53 PM UTC

archeantus wrote: post #314

The higher I climb the corporate ladder, the higher my salary goes. This is all well and good, but the expectations and stress climb with it too. I like working and applying my brain to solving problems, but I sometimes pine for a job that pays little and expects little. I can’t afford to make that change now and there is a good chance I wouldn’t actually enjoy bagging groceries at the store again, but it’s nice to d…

There is no job where you're paid little and expected little of. You'll just be paid little and you'll do some "low value" physical labour instead.

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

#329

Post by Scoundreller » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:53 PM UTC

eyepea2007 wrote: post #285

Scoundreller wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds already has those. French fry hoppers automatically filling baskets from a frozen mini-closet. Out comes fresh fries. Same for the cups that they can use in drive-throughs. I think it’s up to the franchises to buy/install them. Depends on volume/space whether its worthwhile/possible. Or they just push it to the customer to do it.

About those automated drinks at McDonalds...when I order mine with 'no ice,' the machine is apparently incapable of filling the cup with the additional amount of coke that would normally be displaced by ice. It will simply fill the cup just 2/3 of the way. They seem to have realized this though, but instead of increasing the volume of coke dispensed, the machine drops ANOTHER cup which the employee is supposed to use…

I hope one day they integrate the ice together with the drink and scoop out a single solid cube of ice to keep it from watering down right away.

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

#330

Post by rconti » Thu, Dec 05, 2019, 11:54 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.

Fewer jobs for teens, fewer parents willing to 'allow' their kids to take a part-time job rather than participate in that additional extracurricular to give them a "leg up" in college admissions, school that's too expensive to afford on a part time income, all probably creates a feedback loop here. Nobody wants their kid working a crap job for life, so they do everything they can to keep them from that life, including any opportunity to even have a taste of it.