Quote from: greenbtc on August 07, 2013, 07:09:26 PM

Quote from: the joint on July 29, 2013, 10:44:02 PM

Quote from: FirstAscent on July 29, 2013, 07:12:13 PM

If they can strike, more power to them.

Agreed.

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Maybe it will weed out the fast food restaurants that aren't popular due to crummy food. In-n-Out pays well above minimum wage to start, and they do quite well, because they offer a superior product.

I'm struggling to find the relevance here. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. In-n-Out is tasty though

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Maybe you shouldn't be bitching about what other workers seek in the world, but instead about the idea that any business should succeed, even if they produce a lousy product.

My issue is more with the idea that my intuition tells me that this is an inefficient use of the strikers' time. I don't have a problem with people striking, but consider the following: the last time this happened, McDonald's workers in the area got a 10 cent raise. This means that if a worker was to go on strike for a single day, it would take >500 hours or about 3 months of working for that 10 cent raise to earn them back their lost wages. I wonder what percentage of those workers receiving that 10 cent raise remained employed for at least three months after the fact.

On a side note, ever drive through bumper-to-bumper traffic and realize the only reason the traffic jam is there is because some group is protesting about something you don't care about? When it starts affecting (objectively) the flow of my day, that's when I feel inclined to give my input.

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And don't pull the line about how it's going to make lunch prices go up. In-n-Out offers a soda, a delicious cheeseburger and delicious fries (all from fresh ingredients trucked to the store daily) for about $5.00.

I wasn't even thinking it.

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It's not the workers' fault here. It's businesses which choose not to streamline their process and offer a superior product and service that are at fault.

To me, this isn't an issue about placing blame. Rather, I see it as a failure-to-adapt problem. Let me be clear first off by stating that I would never even propose a dichotomy of "workers' fault vs. employers' fault." Instead, to me, the situation appears as follows:

There are some fast food workers who are dissatisfied with either pay, working conditions, or both. Three things are absolutely certain: 1) They applied for their current job on their own free will, 2) there were preexisting factors or conditions that led them to decide to apply for their current job, and 3) they currently have other options to choose from, and striking is at least one of those options.

I simply believe that out of the options available to them, striking is not an optimal one. Of course this is all my opinion.

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Essentially, it sounds like you're advocating a sloppy and lazy business plan. Quit your whining, enjoy your job, and instead of complaining about workers seek in this world, why don't you go enjoy a nice lunch somewhere?

Holy non-sequitor.

I think all you need to do is look in the mirror to see half the problems with the world you present. Calling someone entitled, yet you pretty much have come on here to flaunt your (non confirmable) success.

That said, $15/hr is chump change--the fact that you started out with this after having a degree shows me you are still young (as am I, but have no degree, and have been making nearly double that wage since I was 20 with no degree--and to this day, quite some years later still no degree...)

I'm all for everyone making $15/hour baseline, as it forces companies to re-evaluate how people are paid throughout the entire structure of the company. You are essentially arguing against your own raise by hating on people trying to raise the federal minimum wage. If everyone in the States got bumped to $15 and I'm sitting at $35/hour, do you think I'm not going to ask for a raise as well? My skills are still just as valuable in relationship to the minimum wage. This is good for every PERSON, just not big corporations bottom line--which we all know to be the bane of our existence today.

I'm not usually one for throwing rocks, especially at individuals, but it blows me away that you are so dense as to not see it. It's simple math and basic economics.

Though you did get a degree, so you did sit through quite a bunch of brainwash and American propaganda...that might explain this whole tantrum.

Thanks for telling me what my intentions are and for asserting that they are contradictory to my dozen+ explanations of what those intentions are. Without you, I'd be lost.

You didn't read this thread carefully. Moreover, your assumptions of me being "brainwashed" by years of exposure to "propaganda" couldn't be further from the truth. I'm mostly an autodidact, and, accordingly, I found school to be exceptionally easy because I learned how to think for myself. I can learn more from a month on the computer and in the library than in an entire year sitting in a classroom. The whole $15/hr thing wasn't about youth, it was because I made the (financially unwise) decision to work at a hospital funded entirely through public aid

Ill say it again, you're nuts if you think that using an example of personal success to illustrate a point automatically indicates an intention to flaunt success. If that's what you think, then fuck off. I'm allowed to have a self-esteem, thanks.

And, as far as being "dense" goes, it might help if you understand the context of the argument you're debating against first. For example, don't say I'm "arguing against my own raise" when I never received a raise, nor asked or demanded for one. Care to try again?