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Fast food jobs were supposed to be entry-level part-time jobs for teenagers to earn some pocket money while going through school with side benefit of gaining some valuable customer-facing job experience. Or for seniors who wanted to supplement their social security income with the side benefit of getting out of their homes for 20 hours or so a week while meeting other people.

Flipping burgers or taking orders at the drive-through is NOT meant to be a career occupation in which to support a family with.

Now I'm not saying that fast food should not be a career. There are managers, regional managers, and franchise owners/entrepreneurs that make very good livings in fast food. I'm talking the line workers here. If you are slinging fries all day with a family to support and a mortgage to pay, you are doing it wrong.

Paying an artificially high wage to a person that just flips burgers all day is economically unsustainable. Either food prices will have to rise or new automated technology will need to be brought in to displace these now overpaid workers for a lower OPEX.

I rarely go into fast food places but a few years back, I found myself in a McDonalds in Danbury, CT with a large, complicated order (I was getting food for a group of co-workers) and there was a self-serve kiosk that allowed you to place your order and pay for it. I found that a wonderful experience. I entered what would have been a painful order to convey at either the drive-through or counter and everything was perfect when I brought it back to the office.

Nowadays, you can place these orders on a phone app so it just keeps getting better and better.

I actually had a lot of fun in my high school years working fast food and retail. I learned a lot and had more $ than any of my friends did.

The good ones never stay in the front-line. The bad ones always get promoted, especially if they know the English language.