r/SubredditDrama • u/treebog MILITANT MEMER • Nov 26 '15
Are people who make minimum wage at 35 years old lazy? /r/oregon debates
/r/oregon/comments/3u7wvp/subway_fires_80hourweek_employee_from_1_job_after/cxcmcu142
u/491231097345 Nov 26 '15
You know, it's not uncommon to have to float on a minimum wage job when you're fired from a better paying position.
Pretty much every town is going to need plenty of people to make sandwiches, but same cannot be said for, say, architects. If things are going particularly poorly in your chosen field, it may take quite some time for a new position to open, or require you to relocate halfway across the country. Unemployment insurance is intended to help you through a gap like this, but many people still end up taking menial positions unrelated to what they've studied for.
Assuming that anyone working a minimum wage job is someone who just drifted through life getting high is to assume the worst of a person for no good reason.
And even if that assumption were to be accurate... Well, someone has to do the job, no? It wouldn't exist, elsewise. Why look down on the person making you food? That just makes them more likely to spit in it.
41
Nov 26 '15
I've never understood the "Everyone who doesn't do X is a lazy scum bag." Like motherfucker, are you gonna throw your trash into your car once a week and drive it a shithole and throw it in? Are you gonna change your own oil? Are you gonna make your own shitty fast food burgerito (note self: explore combining burgers and burritos, does adding chili make it better or worse?).
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u/mizmoose Nov 26 '15
There's this idea amongst some people that every city/town/village has this giant Pool Of Jobs, and that if you're not working your way up to the good ones, you're stupid and/or lazy.
And this theory is full of the most amazing reasons why it's true. What about if there are no "better" jobs in town, but only in the next town over? "So drive there."
What if the person has no car? "Take a bus!"
This area has no mass transit system. "Get a ride from a friend!" (Because everyone has friends who can drop everything to take someone to work.)
It's the reverse of people who make excuses for not doing things. In these cases, there's this pile of reasons why anyone can make money if they just try.
Along with the anecdata of "But BillyBob made tons of money selling [bizarre obscure thing that requires a specific talent]!" as if everyone just happens to have that specific talent. Or my other favorite, "I worked hard to do the exact work I wanted by buying my dream business and now I'm wealthy!" (You borrowed from every friend and family member you could, plus put a second mortgage on the house you already owned, to buy that business, and should it have failed, you would be on the streets. But, no. Since it worked, that makes you the RULE, not the exception.)
6
Nov 27 '15
Unemployment insurance is intended to help you through a gap like this, but many people still end up taking menial positions unrelated to what they've studied for.
Hell, I was unemployed for only two months and unemployment insurance wasn't that helpful; it only kicked in after severance ran out, and the maximum payment was less than half my former salary. I was locked in a lease that was perfectly acceptable at my salary (~25% of post-tax) but barely able to cover rent on unemployment.
-6
Nov 26 '15
Isn't the point of unemployment to prevent that? Floating in minimum wage in-between jobs I mean.
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '15
> Works up to 80 hours a week at two separate locations
> Works as a manager of both stores
> Also cares for three children and a permanently disabled wife
Yup, must be too lazy to find a better job.