Why do people lash out at this woman?

[Effie]

https://www.upworthy.com/shes-worked-at ... ame?c=upw1

If you go to youtube, you will see many negative comments. I don't understand why people are so cruel. Someone said that she was stupid for working at McDonalds for 10 years. I'm almost certain that she wouldn't have worked there for so long, if she had been able to get another job...

This woman in particular has two children. Someone commented that you shouldn't get children if you don't have the skills to raise them (or provide for them). It's great if you have set those standards for yourself, but please don't expect other people to have the same standards/values as you. Not everyone can get a decent job or an education either, because of financial reasons or health issues or whatever. I just hate that people try to portray this woman as irresponsible, instead of the organization (such as McDonalds). Suddenly people even question her as a parent? Working at McDonalds for 10 years shouldn't reflect badly on her as a parent, which I don't think it does. She does what she has to.

I probably belong to the kind of category who would get an education + well-paid job before having kids, but I would be deluded to think that everyone should do the same as me. It's possible that this woman also would have liked to get an education, but she can't by some reason. It's also quite possible that she wishes that she could have done things differently, but at this point she can't.

Then we have the people commenting who say that McDonalds was never meant to be a minimum wage job. What, is a minimum wage really that much to ask for? What kind of country is this again? :o U.S. - one of the most powerful countries in the world, or is it a developing nation?

Naah I give up. I don't understand why not more people encourage this woman and applaud her actions. I think that she is doing something great. It's a pity that someone who has been working for 10 years (no matter where) isn't even guaranteed a minimum wage. Of course you could then ask how much is a minimum wage? Can you make ends meet on a minimum wage? Perhaps not, if you have children. We have a law about minimum wage here in Sweden, but there are still employed people in need of economic assistance/help. But at least a minimum wage is a start, you know?

Also, corporations such as McDonalds cost U.S. lots of money, since there are people working at McDonalds who nevertheless need to take food stamps for example. (I guess McDonalds also gives U.S. a lot of money though?)

[Curious]

I'm pretty sure McDonald's and all fast food restaurants have to pay min. wage. "Sit down" type restaurants that have servers who get tips do not have to pay min. wage because they are allowed to figure tips into the wage. If a server doesn't make enough in tips to make their wage = to min wage then the employer has to make up the difference. However, any server not making enough in tips, won't be working there for very long because no employer wants to have to make up that difference.

Management at McDonald's actually makes fairly decent money, with the bonuses they get, from what I understand.

[Effie]

Yeah, she does get minimum wage, doesn't she? I didn't understand that part at first because she talks about living on poverty wage (?). She wants a raise in the minimum wage. So in that case, that problem with low minimum wage isn't just for U.S. but for many nations in the world. Still, I think that she is fighting the good fight.

[NoneandDoneinCali]

It's ridiculous to look down on a person who clearly has a strong work ethic (like this woman). I have 3 degrees (BA in lit, BS in neuropsych, MS in clinical psych) and guess what? I'm underemployed and waiting tables right now. Granted, I have a two year plan to get my therapy license and am doing an unpaid internship to gain experience, but nonetheless, I had to get food stamps and utilities assistance for the months of July/August because I couldn't find work fast enough after I graduated in June and lost my on-campus work study job. I know I have better things on the horizon - but what if I didn't? What if, like this woman, I were struggling financially FOREVER?? It's bad enough to do this temporarily and with the empowerment of education.

In my area, minimum wage is (I believe) $8/hour. That is ABSOLUTELY not enough to support yourself on, let alone a family. Rent around here is in the moderate range, and even though there are 300,000 people in my city, the public transportation is terrible and it is more suburban than urban so you have to have a car for just about any job.

McDonald's in particular irks me because, like many other fast food chains (and Walmart), they keep their people right under full-time so they don't have to pay for any benefits. It's ridiculous.

[Effie]

It's ridiculous to look down on a person who clearly has a strong work ethic (like this woman). I have 3 degrees (BA in lit, BS in neuropsych, MS in clinical psych) and guess what? I'm underemployed and waiting tables right now. Granted, I have a two year plan to get my therapy license and am doing an unpaid internship to gain experience, but nonetheless, I had to get food stamps and utilities assistance for the months of July/August because I couldn't find work fast enough after I graduated in June and lost my on-campus work study job. I know I have better things on the horizon - but what if I didn't? What if, like this woman, I were struggling financially FOREVER?? It's bad enough to do this temporarily and with the empowerment of education.

In my area, minimum wage is (I believe) $8/hour. That is ABSOLUTELY not enough to support yourself on, let alone a family. Rent around here is in the moderate range, and even though there are 300,000 people in my city, the public transportation is terrible and it is more suburban than urban so you have to have a car for just about any job.

McDonald's in particular irks me because, like many other fast food chains (and Walmart), they keep their people right under full-time so they don't have to pay for any benefits. It's ridiculous.

This. I'm now actually thinking of going to McDonalds. I mean, I haven't been there for several years and I don't want to support McDonalds but maybe I could leave anonymous tips. I'm not sure how that's going to play out, but I guess I should order something (but I don't want to...), or just leave a tip at the cashier and then run away. Hehe. I mean, I seriously doubt McDonald's working conditions are much better here than there.

Also, thank you for sharing your story. It gives me some perspective. Poverty exists here too, of course. I was born into poverty, despite my parent having a college degree (degree from another country though, which didn't translate well). Thanks to our quite so generous system (free university education + student contributions for 6 years) I have been able to get an education and make my life better. If I had been born and raised in my mother's country, I wouldn't have been so lucky. Of course times have changed, but it used to be that only rich people or super smart (who got scholarships) could afford to study at a university there. Or people who had managed to save money for studies of course.

[eohiken]

The vast amount of Poor Hate coming from the States (and filtering into Canada) in recent months has become nauseating. I read a comment (on an article in a similar vein) that said working 60 hours a week shouldn't be expected enough to provide a home, and support children. The new expectation is to work 60+ hours at 2 jobs at least AND raise a family AND educate to get a better job (because it's as easy as that these days, right? Degrees always get great jobs. :pull-hair: ) before any empathy can be given.

I just can't even anymore.

What ever happened to just working for a living and doing ok? Now we have to kill ourselves with ambition and drive just to reach mediocrity?

[PennySycamore]

Minimum wage IS poverty wage. People who make minimum wage are the working poor.

[Baudelaire]

What gets me is the folks who say "work harder" when the working poor are working harder than anyone else. They're putting in more hours and getting less pay.

Then we have the "life isn't fair" camp, but when it comes to fairness, they make sure that they are given "fair" wages and "fair" raises. It's just a double standard.

Then there's the "no one owes you a living" camp. Well no one owes you a business, either. If you can't afford to pay contractors and employees equitably, then you should not have a business at all. Workers don't owe you a business. Customers don't, either.

Minimum wage is a joke. And companies would not even pay that if they didn't have to. They would probably just go the route of tipping so that the employees can become irate and vengeful towards customers who don't tip or tip well enough instead of going after the people employing them who are the ones who actually owe them a wage.