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A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier

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

#481

Post by Noumenon72 »

seem_2211 wrote: post #399
monoideism wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

I am with you on:

* not having to cut labor to the minimum as a basic value

* sooo many jobs would be unobjectionable at 8 hours per week. Almost any job.

* professions should be designed to balance physical and mental labor, particularly to offer breaks from painful standing.

I am not with you on:

* Giving people 167% of the average hourly wage for an easy job like retail. As a society, we do not _want_ retail to be a great career. You don't develop the job skills or provide the same value as jobs that are more challenging, and the more valuable things you could have produced are lost. Retail should pay less than other jobs, _because_ it's more fun to interact with people all day than to work at a hot grill.

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

#482

Post by BurningFrog »

ShinTakuya wrote: post #365
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…

Low margin businesses fundamentally operate by exploiting low paid workers. What's wrong with making the playing field even by taxing them? The prices of food will go up, but that's okay. We do it here in Australia and nobody is crying over having to pay 12 AUD for McDonald's vs 9 AUD in the US.

> What's wrong with making the playing field even by taxing them?

This turns the low paid workers into unemployed workers.

I'm fascinated that people honestly think it's better that people make $0/h than $10/h while "exploited".

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

#483

Post by city41 »

seem_2211 wrote: post #399
monoideism wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

My favorite job ever was when I made glasses at LensCrafters. So much so I’ve considered leaving my software job and going back. It was like stacking shelves but just a bit more involved and pretty interesting. Most prescriptions you can just knock out in your sleep but you also get some unusual ones that take more thought. You’d get in a zen like groove and next thing you know your shift is over. Paid better than traditional retail to boot.

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

#484

Post by ShinTakuya »

BurningFrog wrote: post #482
ShinTakuya wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low margin businesses fundamentally operate by exploiting low paid workers. What's wrong with making the playing field even by taxing them? The prices of food will go up, but that's okay. We do it here in Australia and nobody is crying over having to pay 12 AUD for McDonald's vs 9 AUD in the US.

> What's wrong with making the playing field even by taxing them? This turns the low paid workers into unemployed workers. I'm fascinated that people honestly think it's better that people make $0/h than $10/h while "exploited".

Yes according to classical economics it'd result in a decrease in demand. But the reality is that these shops need the workers regardless. Moreover with a minimum wage people have more disposable income to spend at these shops, which can sometimes create more jobs than the increased salary destroyed.

Most studies that have been done on minimum wage found no correlation to unemployment rate. The economics you learned in high school can rarely be applied perfectly to reality. There are plenty of countries with minimum wages with no significantly different unemployment rates in the service industries.

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

#485

Post by baroffoos »

gonational wrote: post #479

I was born and raised just above dirt-poor, by American standards; e.g., lived in a poor area (now a full-fledged ghetto), we reused milk to each have a bowl of cereal with the same milk, we wore all hand-me-downs, any toys we had were hand-me-downs from church friends, nobody in my extended family had ever graduated high school, we never left the state once, we ate at restaurants a few times ever, etc. Both of my pa…

This is either a troll comment or a mountain of survivors bias. For every person who tries to "Pull themselves up by the bootstraps and start a business" Most of them failed and likely ended up with less money than before.

You might as well advise people to buy lottery tickets because they give away $1M for only $5

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

#486

Post by ShinTakuya »

scarface74 wrote: post #444
ShinTakuya wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low margin businesses fundamentally operate by exploiting low paid workers. What's wrong with making the playing field even by taxing them? The prices of food will go up, but that's okay. We do it here in Australia and nobody is crying over having to pay 12 AUD for McDonald's vs 9 AUD in the US.

Low margin businesses are also franchise owners and mom and pop shops. Who do you think is hurt the most if prices go up on fast food and at Walmart?

You think the countries with minimum wages don't have these mom and pop shops? Hint: I live in such a country, and they're doing just fine. The prices are higher across the board, including the prices they sell their products for. The margin shifts, it doesn't disappear.

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

#487

Post by Noumenon72 »

excalibur wrote: post #451
whack wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only "magical property" I claimed, is cash in your wallet, funded by taxes. I'm not sure what other magical properties you were expecting. My proposal is that instead of increasing the minimum wage, we beef up the amount of support provided by EITC

You suggested that this existing tax credit that we've all been accustomed to since the '70s was a suitable replacement for a decent wage. Completely aside from the SUBSTANTIAL increase in cost it would take to make the numbers fit, what leads you to believe that an annual tax refund is an appropriate substitute for a regular paycheck? Do you expect them all to save it all in a bank account and only spend a set weekl…

He stated that it _could_ give workers $15/hour, not that it does. (It maxes out adding a little over $3/hour.)

You can get a Notice of Withholding to get the credit in your paychecks instead of at the end of the year. I don't know how well it works.

It's clearly possible in theory to get $15,000 on April 15 and $15,000 from McDonald's and live the same lifestyle as someone who makes $30,000 from paychecks. I could manage it easily, it's basic consumption smoothing. Should be able to borrow against the credit if necessary, too, since it's guaranteed.

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

#488

Post by scarface74 »

ShinTakuya wrote: post #486
scarface74 wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low margin businesses are also franchise owners and mom and pop shops. Who do you think is hurt the most if prices go up on fast food and at Walmart?

You think the countries with minimum wages don't have these mom and pop shops? Hint: I live in such a country, and they're doing just fine. The prices are higher across the board, including the prices they sell their products for. The margin shifts, it doesn't disappear.

I bet your country also has universal healthcare and a better safety net.

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

#489

Post by ihm »

freeflight wrote: post #430
jackhack wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 not…

Because people with &^%$ jobs have basically no say in or power over how production/"the economy" is run.

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

#490

Post by trevyn »

freeflight wrote: post #430
jackhack wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 not…

This is going to be fun when we realize that all jobs are shit jobs. :-)
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