Economy Employee Rage quits McDonald's over Pay and Headlines National News

[genecop]

This story is putting me in the mood for a #3…Med Sized

 

[WhiteMousse]

You also getting underpaid and working like a slave doesn't justify the system.
For the amount of money these corporations make, and what it costs to live, people should at least get a fair wage.
There's no justifying a mega successful corporation requiring so much and giving so little in return.
Not sure why conversations about fair wages/rent/affordable housing or education often turn into competitions of how much shit one can endure.

I will admit there was a bit of bragging in my post and in so doing I may not have explained my point properly-- which is, I don't think that the current wages are unfair for a worker at McDonalds. If the minimum wage is lifted to $15.00 as it has been in some areas, other professions will want bumps relative to their position. My data entry team people get paid more than $15.00/hour, but not much more, and they're asking themselves why they're doing this when they can take a slight hit in pay and do less. As soon as talks of a $15.00 MW start getting thrown around everyone who's making more starts grumbling about getting a bump for themselves too, as they should. And prices all around will go up everywhere because ultimately money isn't about the amount, it's about the allocation of it.

Society has a collective understanding of where a fast food worker is positioned on the distribution of wealth. And changing the amount doesn't change that image. That's the image that your friends, your senators, liberal and conservative both, have. It's possible that subconsciously even you have that image too, and even me, as some who, as you pointed out, slaved away in that very industry. And it's directly linked to how we value fast food. We pay plumbers and garbage men assloads of money because it's something you absolutely need, and it's something you absolutely don't want to touch. We value those things because it's tied to one of the first and most important pillars of civilization, not shitting where we eat. Fast food is kind of important to people- but not that important.

And I'm not saying the image is right or wrong, only that it exists. And it's a very powerful image, I mean it's hard to convince people that a service is more valuable than they think it is. As for what you said about how a mega corporation works, I truly agree with you. My company recently got rid of a middleman position. The guy was somehow getting paid six figures and doing nothing. He was, in actuality, taking information given to him by his underlings and just giving it to his bosses and that was his job. He got kicked the fuck out and of course the dreadful question is "how many other instances like this are there?" So no argument there. But even if you struck them down it would probably have very little impact on a food worker's relative wage status, for aforementioned reasons.

Now, the issue of whether we should take care of people regardless of what they "deserve" is a different conversation. I imagine that is what most people on the left are truly getting at in topics like this, and good people like you as well. It's a worthy conversation to have but I don't think it should be conflated into the unproven narrative that somehow fast food is more valuable than it actually is. It should be distinguished, in part because that would likely get more right wingers on board.

 

[WhiteMousse]

No one said that.

I think it was an intentionally absurd post to counter your equally absurd, intentional mischaracterization of mine.

You know what, I may not have articulated myself the way I wanted to-- see my response to Desp above and maybe you'll hate me a little less

 

[Natural Order]

I will admit there was a bit of bragging in my post and in so doing I may not have explained my point properly-- which is, I don't think that the current wages are unfair for a worker at McDonalds. If the minimum wage is lifted to $15.00 as it has been in some areas, other professions will want bumps relative to their position. My data entry team people get paid more than $15.00/hour, but not much more, and they're asking themselves why they're doing this when they can take a slight hit in pay and do less. As soon as talks of a $15.00 MW start getting thrown around everyone who's making more starts grumbling about getting a bump for themselves too, as they should. And prices all around will go up everywhere because ultimately money isn't about the amount, it's about the allocation of it.

Society has a collective understanding of where a fast food worker is positioned on the distribution of wealth. And changing the amount doesn't change that image. That's the image that your friends, your senators, liberal and conservative both, have. It's possible that subconsciously even you have that image too, and even me, as some who, as you pointed out, slaved away in that very industry. And it's directly linked to how we value fast food. We pay plumbers and garbage men assloads of money because it's something you absolutely need, and it's something you absolutely don't want to touch. We value those things because it's tied to one of the first and most important pillars of civilization, not shitting where we eat. Fast food is kind of important to people- but not that important.

And I'm not saying the image is right or wrong, only that it exists. And it's a very powerful image, I mean it's hard to convince people that a service is more valuable than they think it is. As for what you said about how a mega corporation works, I truly agree with you. My company recently got rid of a middleman position. The guy was somehow getting paid six figures and doing nothing. He was, in actuality, taking information given to him by his underlings and just giving it to his bosses and that was his job. He got kicked the fuck out and of course the dreadful question is "how many other instances like this are there?" So no argument there. But even if you struck them down it would probably have very little impact on a food worker's relative wage status, for aforementioned reasons.

Now, the issue of whether we should take care of people regardless of what they "deserve" is a different conversation. I imagine that is what most people on the left are truly getting at in topics like this, and good people like you as well. It's a worthy conversation to have but I don't think it should be conflated into the unproven narrative that somehow fast food is more valuable than it actually is. It should be distinguished, in part because that would likely get more right wingers on board.

Great post.

 

[WhiteMousse]

Great post.

I try as best as I can to parse out the different problems rather than lumping them into one. The way society as a whole views the value of jobs and careers often dovetails with the problem of people not being able to provide for themselves, but they are not exactly the same issue. And neither is the serious problem of the fat executive. I know I come off as a right winger and I would agree that I lean right but I have no love for the fat cats. But I believe that most of the solutions presented would hurt not the fat cats, but the middle and upper middle class, who have largely done no wrong. I know I haven't. I think that the poorer folks wouldn't care if it came from the ultra rich or the middle class, and the ultra rich are rich enough to make sure that it would come from the middle.

 

[Halifax]

I was a manager at Burger King through my last two years of high school and my first two of college.

There's no doubt that working in fast food is a frantic and unappreciated line of work but to say that the pay isn't worth it, demonstrates how pampered someone is. I was getting paid $6.00 an hour, no overtime, no bonus, doing closing shifts and sometimes taking mid day ones to help pick up the slack.

Ultimately you have to do whatever you can do for money, and if loving what you do is some sort of prerequisite to doing that then I have to say you're pretty fucking fortunate to have gone so far in life while still thinking that's standard fare.

And if you're getting $15.00/hour shut the fuck up, pray that nobody else starts cashing in too and put more fries in

Also if anyone wants some hilarious BK stories let me know

That job is supposed to be a stepping stone entry level skillless job populated by high school students and retirees working a few morning shifts a week. I worked 1 as my first job back in the 90's. I stayed longer than i should have because i got comfortable and kept getting promoted. I was a crew trainer 2 months after I started working there and a shift manager in 5 months. By year 1, assistant Manager at age 17. I stayed 2 years total

Minimum wage at the time was just under $5. Somewhere around $4.75, which wasn't much after Taxes and Brian Mulrooney's fucking GST tax. You were lucky to clear $580 a month if you worked some overtime . Rent at the time on a shitty bachelor apartment was like $400. Power was like $80 a month) and phone/Cable I can't even remember, pre internet days because I didn't get cable, just a landline phone for like $15 and played video games. Car insurance and gas if you had a second hand car was a chunk unless you put the car in your parents name and rode their cheaper insurance(I was lucky enough to do this). Men under certain ages got blasted for insurance because of statistics.

So yeah, after expenses of living, I had like a whooping $50 for the month for food and entertainment. Usually you just ate a shitton of the fast food at the place you worked because it was free. Or arranged trades with your buddy who worked at a pizza shop a few nights a week. And i was honest. At least half the workers were not and spent their shift stealing food or money. One manager literally sold weed out the drive thru window when he was working. if someone came through asking for a 1 pack or 2 pack of nuggets, that was code for a gram of weed and for this guy to come to the window to talk to his buds. And he was never caught.

Others would T-Red the fuck out of the place. A t red stood for total reductions. if you worked drive through, you knew the prices by heart. So folks would tell me they were not ringing in the food in till last second to help "drive through times", because district managers literally sat outside timing you randomly some days and giving you shit if cars took longer than 90 seconds on average. But on days he wasn't timing you, you just fudged the times by ringing it in and clearing it in 10 seconds.

The T red crew would know a big mac meal cost $4.50 or whatever back then and once an hour would ring it in, then 0 it off and charge for a pack of sauce for $0.10 or something fast. if they do that, they just pocket the $4.40 once or twice an hour and turn it into a near $15 an hour job. The computer tracked if someone constantly redacted orders, but they would just cover it by constantly fucking up normal orders so you would hear over the headset and assume they just had hearing stupidity problems.

There were a dozen ways to scam those skillless jobs and it happened always and often. Christ back in the days when people had scannable cards like air miles, except they were "Sobeys club cards' for grocery stores you could accumulate points on, only like 20% of people used those cards. So the other 80% my girlfriend at the time would just enter her own card, which had the name John Doe attached to it and accumulate the fuck out of points and get free groceries every week.

 

[Halifax]

You also getting underpaid and working like a slave doesn't justify the system.
For the amount of money these corporations make, and what it costs to live, people should at least get a fair wage.
There's no justifying a mega successful corporation requiring so much and giving so little in return.
Not sure why conversations about fair wages/rent/affordable housing or education often turn into competitions of how much shit one can endure.

"Working like a slave'.......fucking lol.

Yes Im sure they forced you to work 18 hours a day on 1 meal and no water breaks doing backbreaking physical labor like wrapping a big mac a bunch of times and flipping burgers on a grill and then not paying you. How does your back lift those 3 beef patties without help? Man your figners must get tired of wrapping different burgers.

Shut the fuck up

The job is a skilless stepping stone job. The one thing you bring to a skilless job is labor and yes that means moving and working hard yet doing very simple things and having a modicum of communication and teamwork skills. Most jobs have semi stressful aspects. If you can't coordinate making sure drive thru takes the burger without pickles for the kids meal and having enough beef patties cooked to be ready for rush hour, there is a reason you are stuck in skill less jobs. The job is fucking easy. You are not making big decisions that could lead to company losses on the regular where you will get blowback from above. The worst blowback you get is management complaining your drive thru times are horrendous because it is taking each car 10 minutes to get their order. And that is the store managers who get that grief, not the shrub line workers.

 

[HereticBD]

For someone unemployed, you talk a big game.

 

[Scheme]

Professionalism and work ethic are just fake things people tell you about when your a kid



I worked a lot of jobs, in the oil field, in meat lockers, in assembly lines full of saw dust, and food service was equally awful


it sounds like you’re romanticizing “hard work and grit” and pumping it up as the real meaningful work of real Americans.


I don’t by it. I came from the oil field. Those people act like their the only ones who matter or who have hard jobs.


They are not. Most people in the country are undervalued for the jobs they do, teachers, service industry, manual labor, etc.


but saying fast food is a miserable job is spot on

No, I am saying there are jobs that pay as much that require intense physical labour, have a high risk of dying, getting injured, etc. Flipping a burger in comparison is not a worse job. Hell I'd say in the total landscape of jobs, it's middle of the road.

 

[CantCucktheTuck]

Where are these illegals ? Almost every fast food place near me is shut down at like 7 clock and it's next to impossible to get anything to eat at all in this town after 9 but taco bell. They sure as hell aren't here.

its only been 5 months......come back in 4 years and lets see how it is.

 

[Seano]

How much money should one make for handing someone a bag of food?

These people quit because they are quitters. They quit life well before they applied at McDonalds. Its why they have to apply at McDonalds.

 

[Seano]

Where are these illegals ? Almost every fast food place near me is shut down at like 7 clock and it's next to impossible to get anything to eat at all in this town after 9 but taco bell. They sure as hell aren't here.

Still believe they "just want to work" eh?

 

[oldshadow]

A lot cheaper then paying 15 an hour. Pay high and cut the need for the number of people.


"But.......but...... that's not fair"

 

[SmilinDesperado]

I will admit there was a bit of bragging in my post and in so doing I may not have explained my point properly-- which is, I don't think that the current wages are unfair for a worker at McDonalds. If the minimum wage is lifted to $15.00 as it has been in some areas, other professions will want bumps relative to their position. My data entry team people get paid more than $15.00/hour, but not much more, and they're asking themselves why they're doing this when they can take a slight hit in pay and do less. As soon as talks of a $15.00 MW start getting thrown around everyone who's making more starts grumbling about getting a bump for themselves too, as they should. And prices all around will go up everywhere because ultimately money isn't about the amount, it's about the allocation of it.

Society has a collective understanding of where a fast food worker is positioned on the distribution of wealth. And changing the amount doesn't change that image. That's the image that your friends, your senators, liberal and conservative both, have. It's possible that subconsciously even you have that image too, and even me, as some who, as you pointed out, slaved away in that very industry. And it's directly linked to how we value fast food. We pay plumbers and garbage men assloads of money because it's something you absolutely need, and it's something you absolutely don't want to touch. We value those things because it's tied to one of the first and most important pillars of civilization, not shitting where we eat. Fast food is kind of important to people- but not that important.

And I'm not saying the image is right or wrong, only that it exists. And it's a very powerful image, I mean it's hard to convince people that a service is more valuable than they think it is. As for what you said about how a mega corporation works, I truly agree with you. My company recently got rid of a middleman position. The guy was somehow getting paid six figures and doing nothing. He was, in actuality, taking information given to him by his underlings and just giving it to his bosses and that was his job. He got kicked the fuck out and of course the dreadful question is "how many other instances like this are there?" So no argument there. But even if you struck them down it would probably have very little impact on a food worker's relative wage status, for aforementioned reasons.

Now, the issue of whether we should take care of people regardless of what they "deserve" is a different conversation. I imagine that is what most people on the left are truly getting at in topics like this, and good people like you as well. It's a worthy conversation to have but I don't think it should be conflated into the unproven narrative that somehow fast food is more valuable than it actually is. It should be distinguished, in part because that would likely get more right wingers on board.

Thanks for the clarity. Appreciate the response.
Allow me to clarify my position as well. I'm not stuck on a mandatory number of where minimum wage should be at. I think whatever the appropriate number is is going to depend on a variety of factors. But I do think people deserve a fair wage, whatever that may be, regardless of the job they're doing. Who decides what jobs are stepping stones meant to only be done as a student, and which ones can be considered careers?
If you're spending 40+ hours a week working at a place that's bringing in billions of dollars, you should be getting a fair wage...a fair slice of that pie. Not whatever society thinks you should get based off of their arbitrary feelings of your job. Why does the multi-billion dollar company get to hoard more of the money just because society thinks fast food workers don't deserve more?

Regardless of what society thinks of fast food workers, society is still paying billions of dollars a year to eat the burgers and fries those workers are making. Society obviously does value the product they're getting from these workers.
So why is the value of that dependent on what people think of the worker, and not on what money is being brought in? Why does the multi-billion dollar company get to remove itself from the conversation and let the fast food worker and society decide the fast food worker's wage?
People have similar views about people that work at Walmart. Whatever you think of Walmart, it's bringing in billions of dollars. So what does society's opinion of 'respectable, grown up jobs' have to do with them getting paid the money that is already coming in?

 

[deadshot138]

The photo of the sign quickly took off, with many people not only vocalizing their thoughts on the employee's actions but also cracking jokes about the sign.

Upon first glance, it appears a lot of users were supportive of the employee's bold decision.
"As someone who works at one, kudos to that person for standing up for themselves and getting out of that s*** show," said one commenter in full support of the resignation.

"Can't blame them, working in fast food really does suck," commented another. "For all the crap we have to put up with isn't worth the money we are paid."

This isn’t an isolated incident. Minimum wage workers have been rage-quitting their low-level jobs in mass quantities as businesses begin to open again in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Combined with a need for new hires and a push for working wages, companies have begun to take action.

McDonald’s reported in May that it plans to raise employee wages by 10% in the next few months, based on location.
https://www.newsweek.com/i-am-quitt...ee-sparks-debate-sign-left-drive-thru-1601001

https://www.today.com/food/mcdonald-s-employee-apparently-quits-drive-thru-i-hate-job-t222598

10% that'll be like 10 bucks a day

 

[Cherry Brigand]

How are you supposed to train when it does not even pay enough to live above the poverty line, and you are working a full time job?

Millions of people motivated to better themselves have done it over the centuries. It's a lack of will.

 

[Cherry Brigand]

How much money should one make for handing someone a bag of food?

These people quit because they are quitters. They quit life well before they applied at McDonalds. Its why they have to apply at McDonalds.

I agree with everything except the last statement. Lots of people coming up through the ranks start at McDonalds. No problem with that. That's what those kind of jobs are for.

 

[terrapin]

Hopefully this is a sign of coming general strikes accross the country. We have the power and its time the leaste among us forced the hand of dignity.

This is the kind of initiative people need to take. General strikes for higher wages and benefits.

 

[lfd0311]

That's dope as fuck.


This guy wants more out of his life than a shitty job. I bet he goes out and gets it.

100% chance this is a woman in her early 40s with 6 kids.

 

[Prefect]

Anyone going through your post history knows you don't work. You sit on sherdog like 8-10 hours a day. I would invite anyone to look at his post history if there is any doubt. If you do have a job, it is something retarded like watching a parking lot.