Recently there has been many posts and memes on Facebook and other social media sites about American's anger that Fast Food companies want to raise their minimum wage of their workers to $15. After doing some research and reading some comments on the subject I am very ashamed of some American's attitudes towards the subject. A lot of people don't think that the people behind the counter serving their food deserve a higher minimum wage and that the job is easy.
First of all, the job is not easy in the slightest. I know people here in the UK who work or have worked in such establishments and it is not just a case of "Flipping burgers and putting them into bread". A worker in a fast food restaurant has to ensure that the food is cooked, served properly and having to put up with ignorant and rude customers who are too lazy to cook their own food, yet don't want to pay for someone to do it for them. I am in FULL SUPPORT of the Fast Food companies raising their minimum wage because no one can live on a stupidly low minimum wage.
However there is this attitude and common assumption that the people who
give you your Big Mac Meal and Large Drink are simply uneducated,
stupid, immature idiots that can't spell their own name correctly. Well
this is wrong. They are people and they have feelings too. I know
several people who work at McDonalds right now and are at University.
Their main reason is because it gives them a damn good wage for part
time work that they have some extra income on top of their student
finance. Does that make them stupid and uneducated? Does that mean they
can't spell their own name when they are working towards a degree? No it
doesn't.
According to the McDonalds website the average worker who works full time earns between £18.5 to £21k annually. That is not a bad wage at all, its better than some. Thats on a wage of £5.55 an hour if you're over the age of 22. This translates to roughly $9 an hour. At that wage per hour no one can live and earn enough in their life to buy a car, rent a house with everything on the top without help, due to the price of todays living costs.
In comparison, I am a nursery nurse. My job involves the education and care of young children. This is a minimum wage job in most cases. On average in the UK a nursery nurse earns the average annual wage of 16 to 17k. So if we are basing attitudes off of annual wage sums, then all Nursery Nurses are thick people who have no idea how to look after children and can't even speak English properly? You are forgetting that Nursery Nurses have to have a qualification and in some cases a degree to do their job and yet they are on a lower wage than staff at McDonalds. However McDonalds have made the brave decisio to raise their minimum wage and its been hit by waves and waves of negativity because of the attitude of "I don't want to pay for my food because I'm lazy and don't care about others".
The same applies to childcare. If we were to get a higher wage the price
of childcare would rise and parents wouldn't want their children at
Nursery or Pre-School. Some people do not understand that the people who
are providing you with services have lives to live too and are not just
robots that do what you want when you want. A prime example of this is
when parents expect teachers and nursery nurses to teach children to do
things that parents should be doing. Some parents want their child learn
to potty train, yet show no effort in helping them because "I'm paying
you to teach my child this". Yes you're paying us, and you're not paying
us very much why should we raise your child and teach him/her to use
the toilet when you are too lazy to do it yourself? etc etc..
Lets have a look at the average price for a house in the UK for one
person who is on the £18.5k wage. According to the ONS (Office of
National Statistics) the average house price in the UK is £250,000.
First of all you need 10% of that as a deposit so thats £25 off the bat,
on a 18.5k wage that will take about 2 to 3 years if you put a little
bit away every month and cut on pretty much every expenditure you have.
Then you've got to get a mortgage and that isn't going to happen if
you're not earning enough, so you've got no chance in either jobs. So really, why are we complaining that McDonalds wants to help people they employ and not allow them to move on with their lives. Has anyone thought that the people at McDonalds might like their jobs and may want to progress further into the company?
But back to McDonalds. I am glad and happy they have raised their minimum wage. The company earns billions in profits worldwide and have finally seen that their workers do deserve better. The overall attitude that has come up is that people do not want to pay a few extra dollars for food because they don't see it as a career or a job for the person giving it to them. First of all, that person has a job and is providing you a service because you are too lazy to eat at home or wait to go home. They are human too, you should never look down on anyone because its not right. If you turn your nose up at someone then it goes to show how much of a selfish bastard you really are.
To sum it all up. If you don't like the fact that McDonalds are paying more to their employee's then don't go there. If you're so annoyed that they are getting more money than you, go and get a job with them. Maybe then you will appreciate them more and see just how much crap they put up with from selfish people who think they are superior to them. Show them respect, don't look down on them because of their job, they are your fellow citizens and they have the same rights as you. Don't discriminate against them and think you're superior because you're not. Treat people how you want to be treated and stop being selfish and learn to give instead of taking for once in your life.
