Fast food is an easy job everyone can do...

... and thus it deserves to pay crap.

BS. I've worked Wendy's, McDonalds, and Burger king, plus some random sub place before.

I've also worked factory jobs, currently working one now, I've worked at a greenhouse, and at a theme park.

The worst jobs were the fast food, your position is precarious, your worth is next to none, you need to react to a constantly changing atmosphere, you need to know multiple drastically different positions, your schedule is all over the place, you're pushed to rush, rush, rush, while trying to work around others, and react to constantly changing orders.

I'm getting paid much better now, but my job is much easier and more relaxed than fast food ever was. In fact every single job I have ever had was better than fast food. If I had to go back to the others, I "could" live with it. If things ever got so bad I had to go back to fast food again after working ANY other job, I wouldn't bother, I'd go live on the street first.

To be fair some of the other jobs I've had were almost as bad, BUT I got paid more, so it was a little more livable. Maybe it's just me, but I found fast food to be the worst job imaginable compared to a rather extensive work history. Personally I think the "It doesn't deserve better pay" argument is ridiculous, because most people are getting paid more to do an easier job, AND not get treated like dirt in the process.

Anyone who can stick with fast food deserves a living wage in my book. I seriously might kill myself if I ever got stuck in that position again. Worked like a dog, treated like #, and told by the world at large that you're second class dog manure that deserves pennies compared to everyone else for the hard work you do. No thank you, I'll go live in a gutter or find the barrel of a gun or some nice sleeping pills before I go back to living that way again thanks.

a reply to: Puppylove

In Western Australia, Burger King is Called Hungry Jacks - and religiously I always order a bacon double cheese burger deluxe with heavy pickles.

hmmmmm.......pickles.

If it was not for the awesomeness of the "would you like to upgrade" voice at the drive-thru, I would feel lost - like on a strange non-burger planet far off in the galaxy.

Tell you what get my god dam order right at McDolands for ONCE in your greasy lives then I will consider a freaking pay rise!

It will not take long before all these jobs are automated, the technology is already present and ready, the plans too. It will just take one fast-food company to do it and the others will have to follow if they don't want to disappear. Jobs like this are the easiest to automate.

a reply to: Puppylove
Congrats on your new employment. I agree with your OP on working at fat (oops Freudian slip) food places. In fact , I will go further.I have often wondered why they consider certain occupations as unskilled.When you observe the employees in a fast food restaurant (I mean really watch) their actions look as if they are highly coordinated.This takes real skill.I know I am going to get ripped for this but why are they no payed more ? Just because the job qualifications are lower ? Tell me how many Theoretical Physicists would last more than an hour or 2 on these jobs ? They serve a function for the people as well as a surgeon does.

a reply to: Puppylove

Awesome post

I worked it too when I was younger and it was not easy. Many times we got treated like crap by customers and management. The thing that bugged me the most is that they usually blame the "punk kid who doesn't care" for messing up their order but most of those places are managed so horribly that the main problems come from the top.

As you, I have had many jobs, and all were easier than fast food. Some were strenuous such as construction (started as laborer but learned some trades) but as you pointed out the hard work was worth it then as you got paid more for it, and for me at least my employers in the construction business always showed appreciation for a job well done. I never got many compliments for my hard work as a young teenager working his ass off after school and on weekends.

There were always a few who didn't care about their work but eventually they would pick up the slack or get fired. That seems to be the only thing management was good at, firing people. Sometimes it was very valid, other times it was certainly uncalled for.

Maybe if they payed them more, and the franchises focused on management, perhaps fast food employees would not be hated.

I've gotten crappy service at 5 star restaurants where the employees are making much more so we can't blame it on the wage.

The unfortunate thing about raising the wages for these workers is that it hits our pockets and cuts their hours so much of the time it does more harm than good on the grand scheme of things.

Complicated for sure...

Anyways I went back to college and have an easy boring office job that pays well and I still struggle to get by. I'm a monday - friday tax slave. Not something I like admitting but it's a sad reality for most of us.

It's not about how worthwhile you feel at the job. It's about how many other people on the planet at that time can do the very same work you are doing that determines the pay.

If I can go out and pick up random schmo off the street to do what you're doing with next to no training at short notice (and pretty much all fast food jobs are those jobs), then the job doesn't command much pay.

But feel free to start your own fast food joint a pay people what you feel the jobs deserve.

But what my parents told me when I used to loathe my fast food job was that it was training me for the future an teaching me what I definitely DID NOT want to do for the rest of my life so stay in school.

a reply to: Puppylove

I can see where you're coming from, because you're right, fast food industry can be hectic and unrewarding.

But at the end of the day, it's an unskilled profession that requires and targets unskilled workers.

If these unskilled jobs payed well, there'd be no reason for people to upskill themselves so they can get better jobs.

And what about those that have made the effort to gain more skills? Reckon they'll be happy to earn the same as some pimply kid straight out of high school?

originally posted by: ketsuko
It's not about how worthwhile you feel at the job. It's about how many other people on the planet at that time can do the very same work you are doing that determines the pay.

If I can go out and pick up random schmo off the street to do what you're doing with next to no training at short notice (and pretty much all fast food jobs are those jobs), then the job doesn't command much pay.

But feel free to start your own fast food joint a pay people what you feel the jobs deserve.

But what my parents told me when I used to loathe my fast food job was that it was training me for the future an teaching me what I definitely DID NOT want to do for the rest of my life so stay in school.

Not entirely correct . I was hired on at the very high-tech place I work (many years ago) with no training whatsoever . I did it with no degrees nor certifications relevant. Within a month I had won various awards and bonuses. Explain that one.(In other words I was a random schmo off the street)

a reply to: Puppylove

I worked at a McDonald's when I was in high school and it took zero skill to do any job in that place.

Fast food is a job for kids, if your still an adult working fast food. It's because you made poor life choices.

If you don't like it, improve your situation.

And as was already posted, all those jobs are getting automated within the next 5-10 years just like truck drivers. It's going away. So those folks better start looking into another industry. Soon.

a reply to: Chadwickus

I understand you point of you and partially agree but I am one of those that "bettered themselves" and I'm still no happier in certain areas.

When I look at fast food workers I don't see an unskilled lesser person.

When I see some a holes smashing bottles in the parking lot, I feel bad for the kid who has to show up in the morning and clean that, plus the piss stains from the drunks and junkies.

I many times had to pick up syringes.

A coworker of mine got poked by a syringe taking out the garbage.

They got hep-c from it.

Some things to consider IMO.

a reply to: watchitburn

Fast food is a job for kids, if your still an adult working fast food. It's because you made poor life choices.

You chose to fight wars based on lies for the bankers.

I chose to number crunch for the bankers.

Are our life choices any better?

originally posted by: gosseyn
It will not take long before all these jobs are automated, the technology is already present and ready, the plans too. It will just take one fast-food company to do it and the others will have to follow if they don't want to disappear. Jobs like this are the easiest to automate.

The only thing not automated is the warming and handing of food to the customer.

To OP:

If I had to go back to the others, I "could" live with it. If things ever got so bad I had to go back to fast food again after working ANY other job, I wouldn't bother, I'd go live on the street first.

You might like the above movies.

a reply to: Gothmog

Clearly your a super genius.

Just kidding. Most people think they are better than they are. Cookie cutter education makes you awesome!

a reply to: real_one

I have to agree. Been working in medical for 15 years, and any monkey could be a nurse. All you do is read the docs orders and give the patients the right dosage that the doc writes down. In fact I remember when they had that fiasco with people who never went to school, just paid online for a fake degree, 5 of our nurses just disappeared, who had never gone to school and had been working there for years. And yet nurses get paid quite well.

a reply to: Puppylove
I spent my time in fast food when I was a teen. It sucks! Wanna real challenge? Try self employment. It's the worst job on the planet, but the most rewarding career you'll ever have. You'll never want to work for someone else again.

a reply to: pexx421

Every job becomes redundant after a period of time. Well almost anyway...

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: Puppylove

I worked at a McDonald's when I was in high school and it took zero skill to do any job in that place.

Fast food is a job for kids, if your still an adult working fast food. It's because you made poor life choices.

If you don't like it, improve your situation.

And as was already posted, all those jobs are getting automated within the next 5-10 years just like truck drivers. It's going away. So those folks better start looking into another industry. Soon.

If you don't like it, improve your situation.

How do you propose they do that? An adult stuck in a fast food job or any other minimum wage job has very little opportunity to "improve" their situation. 99% of their time is spent just trying to make ends meet, and improving things is nearly impossible. So tell us, how do they improve their situation?

originally posted by: Puppylove
Personally I think the "It doesn't deserve better pay" argument is ridiculous, because most people are getting paid more to do an easier job, AND not get treated like dirt in the process.

Nailed it right there.

It seems that's how society is...the more money you make, the easier the job and the better we are treated. Education is waaaay overated in most professions and getting out of sh**ty jobs often takes much more than individual effort. It's much more about WHO you know than WHAT you know.

I'm happy that, even if now you make more money, you don't go bashing on low wage workers because you actually UNDERSTAND that it's society that's wrong and not the slaves working for un-livable wages.

a reply to: Puppylove

When I was in the process of moving away from where I used to live, I was offered a job as an assistant manager at a Carl's Jr. in Denver. It was going to pay me $32k/year. My previous job I averaged $24k/year, so the raise in wages sounded promising. I've worked at regular restaurants growing up, so I figured fast food wouldn't be too much different. Boy, was I wrong.

After I started working there, I found out that I'd be in the kitchen 90% of the time helping out during the day. I quit after two weeks. I couldn't do it. The menu was extremely large, way too much different food to memorize that you had to have out extremely fast. I think this is the part that people either don't understand, or just flat out don't care about. The people in the kitchen rarely ever get a break. They have to have their menu memorized, they have to be fast on a regular basis, working in very hot conditions, with equipment that probably doesn't work properly half the time. The broiler at the store I worked at kept destroying hamburger patties, which annoyingly slowed down the process.

Then you get people like this:

originally posted by: crazyewok
Tell you what get my god dam order right at McDolands for ONCE in your greasy lives then I will consider a freaking pay rise!

Here's an idea.......try not being picky at a fast food restaurant.

The cooks have the standard menu memorized, but when you get picky ass people like you changing up how they want their damn food, they have to actually stop their brains from being in automatic mode, and read how you want your food. That actually slows things down. So when you're making 10 burgers normally, then you see that the next order wants 2 burgers custom made, but each one is completely different, it's like hitting a speed bump. Then you're trying to read the order screen to make sure you're making his majesties burger the way they want it, all the while being yelled at by your manager to hurry up because food times are going up.

So seriously, if you're going to eat at a fast food restaurant, stop being a picky asshole. If you want something custom made, go to an actual restaurant, or make it yourself.

I'm a firm believer that fast food people deserve a liveable wage, because whether many want to admit it or not, their job is hard. If you don't believe me, I dare you to work in a busy fast food restaurant for a month.