Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Our drive-thru is all AI now. No smalltalk. Keeps the line moving.

[AlabamAlum]

The wage pop caused by covid was like the release of a dam that had been building up for decades. Between 1980 and 2020 real wages grew at a snail's pace compared to the period between 1940 and 1980, especially for the bottom 50% which has experienced negative wage growth for much of the past 40 years.

Yeah, Covid and the tide of social activism starting several years before that laid the groundwork. Not paying a “living wage” to unskilled entry level jobs (like fast food, retail cashiers and stockers, etc) was considered cruel, heartless elitism.

[Mike]

The wage pop caused by covid was like the release of a dam that had been building up for decades. Between 1980 and 2020 real wages grew at a snail's pace compared to the period between 1940 and 1980, especially for the bottom 50% which has experienced negative wage growth for much of the past 40 years.

And it was all done without the government mandating a $15/hour federal minimum wage which the progs had long pushed for. Simple market economics did the trick, albeit with a bunch of helicopter money thrown in.

Also, we now have definitive proof (as if common sense didn't suffice) that when fast food workers start earning enough to buy a house, the prices for their products skyrocket. I don't think you can even get a combo meal anywhere for under $10. The prog argument was always something like $15/hour for fast food workers would translate to like a $0.09 increase in price. And when the 1BR apartment that Whitley dreamed of for years went from $600 to $750, well... they'll just need to make the minimum wage $20/hour, I guess.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Our drive-thru is all AI now. No smalltalk. Keeps the line moving.

You and "Intelligence" should never be mentioned together...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah, Covid and the tide of social activism starting several years before that laid the groundwork. Not paying a “living wage” to unskilled entry level jobs (like fast food, retail cashiers and stockers, etc) was considered cruel, heartless elitism.

I mean, yeah, it's not hard to portray that as selfish elitism when elites tell menial workers that they aren't deserving of raises but the elites, of course, certainly are.

"Let's keep wages low and all do our part to fight inflation!! Well except for me, your boss. I've earned it"

I mean it's simply human nature to want more money. I'm not judging McD workers who think $8 isn't enough to put with all the bullshit they have to put up with.

[AlabamAlum]

I mean, yeah, it's not hard to portray that as selfish elitism when elites tell menial workers that they aren't deserving of raises but the elites, of course, certainly are.

"Let's keep wages low and all do our part to fight inflation!! Well except for me, your boss. I've earned it"

I mean it's simply human nature to want more money. I'm not judging McD workers who think $8 isn't enough to put with all the bullshit they have to put up with.

Raises? No one is against raises. Having a minimum wage fast food job double in hourly rate is a huge overreach. Entry level unskilled labor was never meant to be a career. Ever.

But, yeah, don’t stop at a 100% adjustment in fast food entry jobs! Doubling isn’t enough! Don’t stop until everyone makes 6 figures! Until I see the Burger King fry cook buying a $500,000 house, I will not sleep!!!

[THE_WIZARD_]

There was a Minimum Wage bill in Nebraska that passed last year raising the Nebraska Minimum to $15/hr...incremented $1.50 per year (the old state minimum was $9)...of course it passed and the people voting for it really thought it was going to help the "little guy"...well...as anyone who has any type of economics study at all...the result is always the same...it drives some small biz out of biz...thus jobs are lost...the surviving businesses are forced to raise prices...and they already had pressure from energy costs, food costs, product costs rising...most that I talked to raised anywhere from 20% to 40% ACROSS THE BOARD...which is what you are seeing now...the miniscule by comparison wage increase didn't come CLOSE to what inflation has done to their buying power.

Raising minimum wages always sounds good in theory...in reality all it does is costs jobs and raises the COL...it hurts the very people it claims to help the most...but that has always been the Dem/Lib/Prog way...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Raises? No one is against raises. Having a minimum wage fast food job double in hourly rate is a huge overreach. Entry level unskilled labor was never meant to be a career. Ever.

But, yeah, don’t stop at a 100% adjustment in fast food entry jobs! Doubling isn’t enough! Don’t stop until everyone makes 6 figures! Until I see the Burger King fry cook buying a $500,000 house, I will not sleep!!!

Minimum wage workers saw their pay go up virtually not at all for most of the past 40 years. They saw their bosses getting big raises and they got bupkis. I don't at all blame them for the accumulation of anger and demands for one big jump.

Do you want good service? Then you should probably be grateful for the people who DO treat their menial jobs as a career because I'd expect those are the best workers. If you don't mind being waited on by teenagers with IDGAF attitudes then by all means, make sure these jobs are as transitory and underpaid as possible.

[Dr. Strangelove]

AA leaving 10% tips and a note saying "Bartending is NOT a career!!!" on all his checks. Beloved around Tuscaloosa.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Minimum wage workers saw their pay go up virtually not at all for most of the past 40 years. They saw their bosses getting big raises and they got bupkis. I don't at all blame them for the accumulation of anger and demands for one big jump.

Do you want good service? Then you should probably be grateful for the people who DO treat their menial jobs as a career because I'd expect those are the best workers. If you don't mind being waited on by teenagers with IDGAF attitudes then by all means, make sure these jobs are as transitory and underpaid as possible.

Again...that is the Prog way...empty promises that sound so good...

Look...wages need to be commensurate with the output...the minimum wage jobs were never meant to be career jobs...they are entry level...part-time...etc...when you raise the minimum wage all you are doing is subsidizing the workers who don't produce (their production) what they earn...and they end up being the victim...why do you think retail operations are all looking to AI to replace minimum wage workers...the long term costs are cheaper...you can say that was coming regardless...true...but this has expedited AI exponentially...

[lineygoblue]

When I worked for McDonalds back in the olden days, (1972), a hamburger was .25 cents, cheeseburger was .30 cents. A Big Mac was .55 cents, and when the Quarter Pounder came out it sold for .60 cents, .. .65 with cheese. Fries and a small drink was .25 cents. Shakes were .40 cents. I remember because all our prices ended with a 5 or a zero so we didn't have to keep a lot of pennies in the drawer. All prices were tax included. And no girls were allowed to work at McDonalds. All guys.

When I got out of HS, I worked a 40 hour week. My hourly wage was $1.65, and my take home pay was about $55 per week

I drove an old '63 Buick LeSabre with a 22 gallon gas tank. I remember putting in about $6.00, on payday, and driving all week on that.

:::sigh:::

[THE_WIZARD_]

...and yet you are still alive?

[THE_WIZARD_]

When I worked for McDonalds back in the olden days, (1972), a hamburger was .25 cents, cheeseburger was .30 cents. A Big Mac was .55 cents, and when the Quarter Pounder came out it sold for .60 cents, .. .65 with cheese. Fries and a small drink was .25 cents. Shakes were .40 cents. I remember because all our prices ended with a 5 or a zero so we didn't have to keep a lot of pennies in the drawer. All prices were tax included. And no girls were allowed to work at McDonalds. All guys.

When I got out of HS, I worked a 40 hour week. My hourly wage was $1.65, and my take home pay was about $55 per week

I drove an old '63 Buick LeSabre with a 22 gallon gas tank. I remember putting in about $6.00, on payday, and driving all week on that.

:::sigh:::

Braggart. White Privelege.

[lineygoblue]

Wrong. The black kids where I lived drove better cars than I did.

[AlabamAlum]

Minimum wage workers saw their pay go up virtually not at all for most of the past 40 years. They saw their bosses getting big raises and they got bupkis. I don't at all blame them for the accumulation of anger and demands for one big jump.

Do you want good service? Then you should probably be grateful for the people who DO treat their menial jobs as a career because I'd expect those are the best workers. If you don't mind being waited on by teenagers with IDGAF attitudes then by all means, make sure these jobs are as transitory and underpaid as possible.

Minimum wage jobs are just that. So, a HS Junior gets a job at a burger joint and makes minimum wage. If she sticks with it, she gets raises and something to put on her resume. Odds are she uses this as a step-stool to go to college, trade school, or open her own business. If she sticks with it and does a good job, she goes into store management to make more or uses her “restaurant” experience to become waitstaff at a higher end place.

Entry-level minimum wage jobs were starting points, not end points. If a high schooler can be hired and be a functioning member of the team within a couple of days, then your value is limited. The more uneconomical the minimum wage entry level job becomes, the more automation will take over.

When minimum wage started, it was 25 cents an hour (about 5 bucks in today’s money). We have lost our way. Bring on the robots.