So, this post is already amazing. But I have a couple things.
Bottom line, these jobs are not going away. We all enjoy the benefits of shopping, eating at restaurants, and a multitude of other minimum wage level services provided by the workers in these jobs at some point in our lives. The simple rules of supply and demand are enough to show that the demand for these types of jobs is never going to disappear. The jobs exist. Someone has to fill them.
And the idea that someone performing a necessary job (for a multi-BILLON dollar company, no less) for 40+ hours a week does not deserve enough money to MAKE ENDS MEET is disgusting.
ALSO: Guess what happens when those people don’t make enough money to pay their bills? They are forced to apply for public assistance so you and I get to cover the rest in the form of welfare. (Not that what they qualify for is often enough to make up the difference anyway… Believe me, I’ve been there.) Wouldn’t you rather have McDonalds foot the bill??? You don’t think you pay enough taxes already???
Also would like to chime in to say… as a teenager who started working part time after school at the age of 15, I never worked for “extra money.” Wtf is extra money? My parents live at the poverty line, always have. I got a job in high school as a way to help pay for my own clothes, gas to drive to and from school and band practices, and food. Sure, I bought the occasional CD, or went for milkshakes at Sonic, or to a movie. All of those things were rare treats, but they happened. But honestly. Most well-to-do kids got at LEAST that in the form of a free allowance from their parents. My parents literally could not afford to give me allowance. So I went to work.
Last bit, and this might piss some people off, but fuck it. I’d like to respond to this: “Even for the single people working these jobs, it’s extremely difficult to pay bills and support yourself.”
Yeah, let me actually amend this to say, it is WAY MORE DIFFICULT TO LIVE ALONE THAN IT IS TO LIVE WITH A SPOUSE OR PARTNER assuming that both spouses work. Obviously if you have children, that’s an added expense as well. But it is WAY. CHEAPER. For two people to live together than it is for one person to live alone. Think about it. As a single woman living in my own apartment, I have to cover all my rent, utilities, groceries, the cost of things like internet and tv, by myself. If I had another person living with me, we’d split that cost. And even when it comes to things like cooking, it’s WAY cheaper per person to feed a couple or a family than it is to feed one. Just is. Cell phone bills are cheaper per person when you have multiple lines. Literally everything is cheaper as a group!
In fact it is arguably more affordable to support a family of two parents and 1 child than it is for a single person - depending on the income of both parents (again, assuming they both work) after the child has grown out of the “needs diapers and daycare” stage.
But anyway. That’s an irritation of mine. People with kids always looking down on me like, “You should have plenty of money… you’re single and have no children…” Yeah, yo, I know your kids are like 15, they aren’t that expensive to feed at that point, okay? Also I know your husband makes like, $50,000 a year alone, and YOU also work, so don’t talk to me. UGH.
TL;DR: Minimum wage is bullshit.
