People Working for a Pittance

I feel the need to roll my eyes every time a friend of mine on facebook, who usually works in the fast food industry, shares something along the lines of not being able to live on their wages. Their firm belief that they are owed more than they are given and the righteous anger with which they defend this belief. These posts always have the effect of making me want to shake that person silly and release a comment storm of how I really feel about them ‘deserving’ $15/hr for flipping burgers. However, I so far have kept these feelings to myself knowing that my commentary will do nothing but cause like minded people of the poster to band together and figuratively burn me at the stake. So I take a deep, not as calming as I'd like it to be, breath and exercise my ability to scroll away.

My reasons for feeling this way are not founded in beliefs that they aren't working hard or that they are lesser beings for working these jobs, they lie in the feelings of them feeling owed for these things. In my opinion the hardest part of these jobs is not the job, it's the people you work with and for. There are many articles you can find on the Internet describing the horrors of working retail or food industry jobs. The problems are with customers and bosses. Not how hard the tasks are and how people are overwhelmed by the knowledge it takes to perform them. Stocking shelves, pressing buttons on a register, knowing basic information about the products you're selling, these are minimal tasks. Minimal effort deserves minimal pay. If dealing with people who annoy you deserves $15/hr, anyone who grew up with a sibling would be set for life by age 10.

Now I'm not an inhumane monster of a person. I don't want people to struggle because they can't afford to live off their wages due to whatever reason they have. College students trying to make enough to eat dinner half the week after paying for books, single parents trying to provide a good home for their children, and people who have recovered from terrible illnesses only to be hounded for the money it took to make them better are all people who deserve things they work hard for. And sometimes these people get the shaft. Stuck in a job they don't want, but it's their only option. I really do feel bad when I read or hear about these people. But something tells me these people are not the ones demanding a raise in wages. These people are more than likely the ones looking and fighting for a better opportunity, instead of trying to get more money for the same level of work.

I'm not standing here on my soapbox in a fancy house, with my full time job that comes with benefits and a six figure salary, and looking down on those lesser than me. I am 24 years old trying to pay for college and living in my grandparents’ attic and struggling with the same ‘deserving’ fast food employees. With one major difference from them: I am an EPA certified analytical chemist working in an independent lab that tests our environment for toxic contaminants in order to keep our food, water, and selves safe and healthy. I make $12/hr and I can only work part time with no benefits.

So yes, I am angry with these posts on facebook. People who want everything while doing little. They have rude people and demanding bosses. I have vats of acid, tubes of cyanide, and I touch equipment worth more than I'll make in a decade at this wage on a daily basis. It's hard for them to make a living, but it's just as hard for people like me.

The only thing that makes me smile about those posts is that the lazy people who just want the money for the same thing they always do, aren't going to benefit from it for long if it happens. There are hardworking people who will fight for that $15, even people like me. I did my dues in the food industry, and I hated it with the rest of them. I got out, but I would go back for the money if I had to. And so would other people who needed that money. I don't doubt those people would out compete the ones who are just looking for a free handout.