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.
I suppose that since the heads of major corporations aren’t looking for replacements his job with Subway is the best he can get. But who knows, maybe Bill Gates will need a dept. head and move the lip ringed boy up the ladder. Maybe.
Male or female?
Even in a system where it was from each according to has ability to each according to his need the state would require a refund from this idiot.
Great minds think alike. Reading this was like looking at an accident on the shoulder of the road. This kid is a disaster. I am surprised they are even letting him work for 6 hours a week.
The kid's thinking is so screwed up it almost reads like an article from The Onion. I am also going to take a wild guess here and say this kid came from a single parent household.
My dear departed Pop told me he took a job without any idea what it paid. His explanation: "I had nothing, so whatever he decided to pay me would be better than what I had."
MM (in TX)
Google this moron... he’s a serial whiner on the op-ed page.
I guess we’ll be reading his stuff someday in the SF Chronicle or Village Voice.
He is probably the only employee with a hyphenated last name as well. What crap is running through this guy’s brains.. and he is only a “rising freshman....” Makes one rethink opinions about Virginia Commonwealth U! Takes a shot at everybody, and, as always, blast the EVIL CORPORATION that hired him. Lip rings are a banner of stupidity and he wonders why Subway won’t let him work with them decorating his (most likely) sappy face. How many days would he last in the Army?
Boy, reality is going to be a bitch when he tries to land a white-collar job with a junkyard haning off his libs.
As a proud 1987 grad of James Madison University, after reading this column, my sense of moral superiority over those who have attended Virginia Convict University has risen yet another notch.
(OK, we have idiots in Harrisonburg too, I’m sure. But morons like this guy couldn’t stand it there for long...too small, and the smell downwind from the Rocco/Wampler turkey processing plants would run ‘em right off.)
}:-)4
It's a business, not a charity, Addison.
Whoever paid the tuition for Addison's freshman year really ought to consider a malpractice suit against the institution.
I was thinking he must be a journalism major.
Yes.
That was my thought too...
He sure is on the cutting edge of conformity.
I’d like to read his manager’s blog.
This is hilarious.
I wonder if he is talking net versus gross.
Yet another socialist art student, wanting a government handout and relief from his oppressive victimhood.
i am going to find this kid on facebook later and see if it’s a dude or chick. can’t do it while i am at work. does anyone else here have a facebook profile who can check?
More evidence that Phil Gramm was right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.