Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Here's Chef Dave's thoughts on $15 an hour

Morning Party People,
              Ok so I just woke up, I have my coffee and I've made a scroll through on my facebook feed and so far all I've seen is a bunch of underpaid people bitching about how other underpaid people want more money. It was a mistake on my part as now I'm pissed and I haven't even been awake for half an hour yet ><
              Now as far as what you may or may not think about me from what you've seen on Mystery Diners, the truth of the matter is that I've been working in the Food service industry for twenty years and I've worked hourly as well as salary management in both private and corporate run units. That being said I thought I'd weigh in on the $15 an hour movement.
              As someone who used to manage a Peter Piper Pizza as well as a Fuddruckers (Two concepts whose labor force is mostly teenagers, people under 24 years old, or people who barely speak english) I can tell you the main reason why it was so hard to find good help was the rate of pay. You could get lucky and find the teenager who was taught how to work hard and that hard work was it's own reward, but more often than not you would get kids who didn't care about the job. To them it was like a high school class that they got a little bit of money for. More often than not I had to find ways of motivating people who ran off of red bull and apathy, meaning it wasn't a fun job.
              Does throwing money at a problem make it go away? Not usually, but it's a start. We still have to be smarter about how we make,keep and spend our money. However I think the thought of a single parent possibly only having to work 40 hours at one job instead of 60 at two jobs might have more time to spend with their kids. Maybe that kid has a better shot than before ?
             I wonder if people who hate that a fast food workers making $15 an hour get so pissed that they stop eating fast food and start losing weight? Out of rage they can finally run, skip and jump like they used to and find that sense of joy they had lost as a child .
             I wonder if the fast food biz finally can afford people who get my order right when I want an unreasonable amount of burgers at 3am?
             "Hey Chef Dave! I own a small business and I can't afford to pay that much! My business model sucks and they only way I can operate is by using dumb kids who aren't smart enough to know that they shouldn't work for me!" That's rough sir, imaginary person I just made up. I think the idea of a teenager work force needs to go away as a viable option for businesses. It doesn't help our communities as much as it should. I'd rather have happy adults in a business than happy teenagers. That being said I think there should be a lower wage for teenagers but once you're an adult then you should make an adult wage.
              In closing this wage increase is only part of a solution, next up would be regulating rent increases for apartments. Trust me if you think rent is high now just wait a few years . I might suggest finding a local rep where you live and see about what's being done in that area.
              I'd love to talk more about this but I need to get ready for work as well as squeeze in a work out so my ass doesn't get any fatter >< Hope you all have a great day!

Tuesday, March 15, 2016