Posted on 07/18/2008 8:29:48 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day
IT NEVER FAILS: Murphy's Law. When applying for jobs, the one place you do not want to call you back inevitably will. I encountered this annoying fact applying for jobs in Richmond, when I landed one at the local Subway.
Of all the interesting, vibrant-looking places in my area that I could have worked, this was definitely my last choice. But the only other places I had wanted to work told me it would be a few weeks or months, and I had to have something ASAP so that I could pay the rent.
At first glance, the job didn't seem as horrible as it could have been. I have plenty of experience making sandwiches and working in food service, so it wasn't hard at all. The man who hired me seemed nice enough, and I liked a few of my co-workers. I even got all subs at an employee discount, which made the delicious veggie sub I love cost mere chump change. I failed to take into account, however, my inability to function in this kind of a situation for very long and my disdain for the restrictions that come with employment at any fast-food restaurant.
First of all, some of my co-workers whom I met later are not exactly savory. They are much older than me and don't seem to respect me at all, even though I am doing my best to comply with their every wish and to be the best employee I can be. The management also demands that I remove my lip rings while working--which is ridiculous considering how many people with piercings I serve every day. This makes things a bit difficult due to the fact that I don't have the extra money right now to go out and buy spacers to put in the holes while I'm at work.
The one fellow employee that I really liked has crumpled under the awful pressure and quit, and I am being paid minimum wage--a fact I did not learn until the first paycheck came out.
But what makes the situation really unbearable is not the employees at Subway or even the stupid rules and pay, but the fact that I am barely getting any hours at this terrible job. At places like this, a worker is just a commodity, serving the functions of the business--not a person with needs that should be met. Six hours a week is not exactly going to cut it for someone who asked for more than 40 hours and has rent and bills to pay. I worked more hours than that a week as an intern at The Free Lance-Star, a job that was supposed to be educational and never a means to earn a living.
To top it all off, the fast-food industry is wasteful and goes against even the most basic environmentalist practices. Mishandled food or food that can't be served is thrown away, not saved to be taken home by the workers. Each sub is wrapped in paper and then placed into a small plastic bag--basically the equivalent of a grocery store giving customers one bag for each grocery. Even the apples we sell come sliced and packaged in plastic, although they would be perfectly sellable without any of that. In short, it is all about the profit and not about the overall good of society.
So what can I do about all of this? Well, apart from complaining in my column and trying to get another job as soon as possible, not much. I just have to keep going to work and hoping for the best. And maybe, some day, I will start my own restaurant, just to combat all the evil that I see in the fast-food industry. But until then, I will have to try to content myself with the fact that at least I am getting paid.
Addison Herron-Wheeler is a rising freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University.
At what hour each afternoon does he rise, I wonder?
and I am being paid minimum wage--a fact I did not learn until the first paycheck came out.
Has anyone ever accepted a job where the pay wasn't known until he got his first paycheck? Or maybe he just didn't know that the pay he was offered was minimum wage.
so much left to learn, this one. Businesses exist to make profit. That is their sole purpose for existence.
small violin needed
Management demands that he remove his lip rings (?) when he works, which he feels is silly since he serves many people every day that have piercings.
Does he also serve some people that wear shirts and ties? Shouldn’t he then also wear a suit?
Heaven help us.
You fascist! Don’t you know that a business only exists to meet the needs of persons “with needs that should be met”?
Where is your sensitivity?
Addison Herron-Wheeler is a rising freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University...who is voting for Obama for change.
Kid - I really encourage you start your own restaurant or other business. It will answer EVERY question you just asked - why you can’t wear your lip rings, why left-over food isn’t given away, why others get more hours than you, why entry-level kids are paid minimum wage.
management also demands that I remove my lip rings while working—
He’ll fit right in at VCU with the rest of the art students.
The hyphenated surname gives him away.
Has anyone ever accepted a job where the pay wasn’t known until he got his first paycheck?
Louisiana state legislature
Most of this brought into place by liberals and their big government approach. Used to be they could sell the excess food or donate it. Can't do that now.
I live very close to this. My daughter attends VCU and I apologize. My daughter does not think like this, I just wanted ya’ll to know.
I do believe he is a special kind of stupid.
Or, owing to his liberal entitlement mentality, he probably ASSumed that he’d be earning a “living wage,” which in his resin-coated brain probably means he expected to pull in about $20 an hour. With full benefits.
Is this satire? Lip rings? Good Lord, if you choose to be a dingdong and look like a freak then you will be doing a job that fits the look. Dress for success buckaroo, you freakin loser. Grow up.
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