There is no part of this diatribe that is not amazing or 100% true.
Yeah ok but people who work minimum wage didn’t go to college so they don’t have all the student loans to pay off so they don’t have to make more than 9 dollars an hour. These jobs are made for teenagers in high school and college trying to get a couple of extra bucks to go out with friends not a mom working at Walmart trying to pay all her bills which is not possible
Oh my god. Look at all of this wrong. So much wrong. I’m actually impressed they managed to fit this much wrong in such a small space. Good job on that wrong. Let’s correct all that wrong though.
People who work minimum wage jobs didn’t got to college?
Honey, when I was working retail, I was in college. That minimum wage job was how I ate. My co-workers were either in college, in grad school, or had degrees but couldn’t find jobs in their field because the economy was so shit. Hell, most of the managers (who are also not making that much money per hour when you take into account how much time they have to spend in the store working) have degrees in business. Most of the conversations between associates centered on how the fuck we were gonna pay back all them loans or if we were going to the homecoming concert that weekend.
These jobs are for teenagers in high school and college looking for some extra money?
I don’t know if you if you see what you just did here, but I’m gonna point it out to you. Your first sentence says that minimum wage workers never went to college, but the second one says these jobs are for people in college. Make up your mind. Either these people went to college or they didn’t. Pick a wrong ass lie and stick to it, you’ll only confuse yourself trying to go down too many different routes at once.
It looks like you’re just drastically misinformed and not willfully ignorant, so I’m gonna help you out a bit.
Just in case you can’t read that, let’s go over some facts.
Average age of a minimum wage worker is 36
89% are 20 or older
37% are 40 or older
56% are women
28% have children
57% work full time
On average, their earnings are more than half of their family’s total income.
You’re right when you say that it’s not possible to support families on these wages, and that’s the problem. These people should be making a decent living wage because they are raising families with these checks. Even for the single people working these jobs, it’s extremely difficult to pay bills and support yourself. The easiest way to fix this issue? Raise the minimum wage!
I can also see you and a few others frothing at the mouth to form the “but these jobs should be only worked by kids” argument. I’ve already detailed on my twitter account (yes those are my tweets) how that’s oh so wrong and I don’t wanna do it again here. So start here, follow the string of tweets, and throw that argument in the garbage.
I really hope you and someone else reading this have learned something.
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.
Oh god, actually there was something else I meant to say that I forgot about.
I now work in an office setting, after 10 years of working my way up through shitty retail jobs (after I had already obtained my bachelor’s degree, by the way).
It is the cushiest. Job. I have ever had.
I am currently sitting on my ass in a comfy office chair. Typing to you. On a social media website. No one is looking over my shoulder. And even if they did. They would not care. I will never get “written up” for not being “on task” and I will never be asked to stand up for 8+ hours doing physical labor. I don’t deal with the public. I’ve yet to be screamed at by a soccer mom who’s coupon didn’t work, or who’s pissed because the sign said buy two get one free but she thought it said by ONE get one free and tHE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!1
No one tells me, “If you got time to lean, you got time to clean!” or any of those other bs comments that retail managers just LOOOOVVVEEE to say when there’s nothing to do but you are still expected to be physically working at all times in order to fully EARN that shitty $7 an hour.
I’ve yet to clean up any actual human feces at this job.
And I make roughly twice what I made at my last retail position. It’s still not a huge amount of money - I still only make enough to barely make ends meet. But the fact that I put up with significantly less bs than I was ever asked to at my minimum wage jobs, and I make so much more money doing it? It’s crazy.
Why is it that in this country, the physically easier a job is, the more money you make???
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