Why working minimum wage sucks.

There are so many reasons why minimum wage sucks, I’m going to try and lay them all out.

1.)  The places that pay minimum wage suck.  McDonalds doesn’t even pay minimum wage any more (well the ones near me don’t).  Which means that the places that DO pay minimum wage are about on par with it.  This generally means fast food, cook work, cashier, bag boy work, ect. 

2.) You get paid crap.  It’s minimum wage for a reason.  If you work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year you can make a little over 16 grand.  Except most places won’t work you 40, it’s too close to ovettime, so 30-35 is the most you’ll work (12 to 14 grand respectively).  If you’re unlucky and you get a job that ONLY takes part time, you’re looking at 8, maybe 10 grand a year. 

3.) It’s crap work.  Minimum wage is some of the most ungrateful work you can do.  Not just because you’re working for cheap while the people above you make a killing off of exploiting you, but people treat you like crap too.  It’s the “The Customer is always right” motto that has made minimum wage such shit.  This motto means a customer can complain about anything and even try to get someone fired for nothing. 

I’ve a good example of this, at Kinkos I was putting together something for a project and this lady was having a hard time working her computer.  She turned to a Kinkos guy who was working on something and demanded help, he told her in just a minute once he finished what he was doing and she went nuts.  “I’m paying for this every minute and you refuse to help me!  I want to see your manager!” ect.  The guy just wanted to get to a stopping point to help her out but she went nuts.  I understand where she was coming from but still it doesn’t give you an excuse to be an ass.  And that happens every day to people who work minimum wage. 

Here’s the problem though.  You can’t raise minimum wage.  When you do all it does is raise inflation and then minimum wage still sucks.  The only thing to do really is be nice to people and don’t treat people how you don’t want to be treated.  I like that saying better than “Treat people how you want to be treated.” Because it means you don’t have to be nice, but it also means you shouldn’t be an ass. 

What means most to people, just ask “How are you today” to your host/hostess, or cashier.  They’ll appreciate it.