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

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

#391

Post by igneo676 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:31 AM UTC

amatecha wrote: post #383

For people who have worked these kind of jobs: how much difference in your day does it make when people are pleasant or friendly? I get takeout pretty often and I am always super friendly and pay a tip of $2 when I'm picking up -- they still had to do the work of packing up the food, right? And honestly, they probably need the couple bucks more than me. I assume it is appreciated but I always wonder how much of a dif…

Back when I was a McManager, I appreciated anyone who treated my employees and I like actual human beings. Whenever possible, I'd go above and beyond for those people :)

At my peak I made $11/hour and employees started at ~$7.50 so a $2 tip was a wonderful bump for the hour. Tips weren't generally shared since they never officially happened. We weren't setup for them because of tax purposes. Other fast food restaurants like Sonic rely on tips and are equipped to handle those kind of situations.

Since then (2015) McDonald's raised their USA minimum to be $9 and likely more since I last checked.

Source: I was a McDonald's employee for ~5 years, working my way up from an entry level position to eventually Asst. Store Manager at a Midwestern Franchise

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

#392

Post by kiba » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

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.

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

#393

Post by scarface74 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:33 AM UTC

URSpider94 wrote: post #384

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…

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 and having a universal basic income.

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

#394

Post by scarface74 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

henryfjordan wrote: post #385

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…

> 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. Some jobs aren't worth doing, thats for sure. We decided that if a job isn't worth paying someone $15 an hour to do, it's not worth someone doing. The market can figure that out. We're forcing the policy on the worker as much as the corporation, they cannot sell their labor for less t…

I know. I’m saying it should be more generous and easier to receive throughout the year.

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

#395

Post by liveoneggs » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:40 AM UTC

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…

[flagged]

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

#396

Post by amatecha » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:41 AM UTC

igneo676 wrote: post #391

amatecha wrote: post #383

For people who have worked these kind of jobs: how much difference in your day does it make when people are pleasant or friendly? I get takeout pretty often and I am always super friendly and pay a tip of $2 when I'm picking up -- they still had to do the work of packing up the food, right? And honestly, they probably need the couple bucks more than me. I assume it is appreciated but I always wonder how much of a dif…

Back when I was a McManager, I appreciated anyone who treated my employees and I like actual human beings. Whenever possible, I'd go above and beyond for those people :) At my peak I made $11/hour and employees started at ~$7.50 so a $2 tip was a wonderful bump for the hour. Tips weren't generally shared since they never officially happened. We weren't setup for them because of tax purposes. Other fast food restauran…

Interesting, yeah I pay by credit card so the $2 addition is definitely "on the books", unfortunately. I think each restaurant or chain has a different policy on how they disperse tips and I know some places do pool it (and I've def heard horror stories where the manager or owner keeps a huge chunk of the tips). But yeah I mean, everyone is valid and awesome and deserves to be treated right. Even if they make a mistake I only mention it if it's massive or repeated, and even then I don't want "a free meal", I just want to not have a key ingredient in my dish missing (or whatever) hahaha ;)

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

#397

Post by virmundi » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

whack wrote: post #215

excalibur wrote: post #133

Everybody seems to be latching on to the McDonald's part of her story, the author included. But it's the hospital part I find mortifying. McDonald's is pinching pennies left and right, it's their key to success. The hospital is not. How much would you guess they're charging per day for the average patient to stay there? I bet it's enough money to cover full-time employment and benefits for their food service workers.

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…

If the society will carry the individuals, can it require they not reproduce? While not necessarily germane to this report, many in poverty make it worse by having children. Can require those on the government programs be temporarily sterilized? If not, we will only continue the cycle of poverty.

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

#398

Post by bashinator » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

lurquer wrote: post #164

thinkloop wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no bigger lie than hard work = prosperity. It is literally the exact opposite. Think of the hardest shittiest jobs and they are almost always the least paying. The richer you get the less hard work is, until you're able to reach the pinnacle of doing absolutely nothing but managing your money and taking advantage of discounted cap gains taxes. I grew up rich with every opportunity and never had one of these…

>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…

By this logic, dead end jobs that do not lead to prosperity, should be among the easiest ones. No one has ever said, "I don't want to have to work hard, so I'm going to go into retail."

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

#399

Post by seem_2211 » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:48 AM UTC

monoideism wrote: post #209

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…

Having worked several years in both retail and waiting/busing tables (full-time, not just as a part-time college job), I have a great deal of empathy for folks stuck in these minimum wage jobs. That said, if I could get a retail job that paid what I make as a dev, I’d definitely consider it. Retail was grueling, but at the same time much less psychological pressure, and much less mentally exhausting. I always say I’m…

It seems like the struggle for people in these jobs is mostly around the consistency in hours, and the miserly low pay. Both of which are deliberate choices by the firms that employ them.

To some degree, serving the "customer" by cutting labour costs to the bare minimum (as a way to minimize the cost of everything), means we create an awful existence for the people who depend on these jobs for a living. The tyranny of their lives is dictated by a consumer base who constantly demand lower prices and will shop elsewhere to save a dollar or two.

I worked in a supermarket for four years, but it was part time, while I was in High School and in my first year of University. I didn't need the money in the way someone working full time needed it. I was given consistent hours every week.

Working retail for a modest wage (say $25 an hour), with consistent hours would be a really great career for a huge swathe of the population. Lots of people (myself included) enjoy interacting with people all day.

A lot of more traditional professions have a better balance between physical work and mental work (skilled crafts, engineering in the traditional sense, or being a doctor all come to mind). Modern knowledge work doesn't have enough physical movement involved.

I wouldn't like to do it full time, but sometimes I wish I could spend 20% of my time doing something enjoyable but menial like stacking shelves. I think I'd hate doing it full time, but one day a week? Practically sounds like fun!

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

#400

Post by virmundi » Fri, Dec 06, 2019, 1:48 AM 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…

As to education she probably would have received a stipend for college or have taken loans for a skill. She hasn’t. While it would suck to take out loans to be a chef or plumber, it would provide her with marketable skills. My reading of the article is she peaked at 14. She didn’t think anything would be better. She probably didn’t try.