That boss would qualify as a jerk.
That boss would qualify as a jerk.
Submitting that this is in the instance minimum wage was actually $15/hr ... the teen who would dump a $15/hr unskilled entry-level job in order to go to the Prom would qualify as inferior to a Mexican teen who would crawl over broken glass to get to work on time when expected. To the American teen, no matter what job he gets, it's going to pay the same and $15 bucks an hour won't even take him and his girlfriend to the movies; to the illegal Mexican teen ballsy enough to risk it, five hour's wages as a busboy will support his family in Mexico for a week.
Look, I know a lot of illegal Mexicans are very bad news -- I have lived all my life on the front lines in California, So Cal particularly, including San Diego and it don't get any "fronter" than that. But the higher the minimum wage, the greater the temptation for good productive folks, particularly men or boys with men's family values (something Catholic Mexico has aplenty), seeking to support their families as best they can. I know it because I have worked side by side with them and even hidden them from INS because I know the American teen that replaces him will be inferior in every way except legal status.
Employers know it too but it is a forbidden topic for them.