McDonald's restaurants across the US are shutting down for a 'Day Without Immigrants' protest

[Emjay]

Where is this coming from? Reality, life experience, history. Back in the 80's people in SoCal, especially Fountain Valley which was an affluent city were making so much money they gave their children everything including brand new fast cars which ended with more than a few deaths, those kids whose parents didn't have so much only wanted to work in clothing stores or video and record stores, remember them and those that couldn't and worked food were looked down upon not only by their peers but pressured by the adults. I guess you think there is another reason why once where there was no problem staffing over 135 crew suddenly became a labor desert. You would think that suddenly White people just stopped having children, yeah that's the ticket, ooh no wait maybe it's because all fast food owners suddenly became racists and refused to hire Whites. Different experiences across America, I also know that in the early to mid nineties I was losing Hispanic employees who along with their extended families were moving out of California to States in the midwest and east coast and they couldn't do that if there weren't jobs waiting for them there.

Oh and I don't consider any job demeaning, all have value and everyone working them has value, just not equal value dollar wise just the equal value of respect for working. My kids both had to work to earn their way, just as I did. My parents came to America with about $13 dollars, could neither ask for or receive government aid for 5 years, they never did, they became citizens after five years, bought their first house with $100 dollars of their and $200 borrowed and my dad worked eighteen hours a day for years to pay back the loans and the house and then was heaped by some born Americans because he had more and a payed off home after being in America for just a few years while they didn't. I worked as a janitor, busboy, line cook, food service manager for many years, I am the last one to find any job demeaning, but I do know how we got where we are now, it's not a theory it's history.
@Emjay

It's your history but not everybody's.  Sorry.

[anubias]

The restaurant was fully staffed yesterday where we ate Mexican.  If i hadn't read here that the illegals were staying home, I wouldn't have noticed.

[Silver Pines]

Same here.  And I never ever get breakfast fast food any more.  Used to all the time back when I worked full time though.  These days if I don't feel like cooking breakfast, I just pop a Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl in the microwave and voila.... breakfast is served.   

@XenaLee

Easy peasy, lol.  My favorite breakfast is a pumpkin spice Kashi bar.

[Silver Pines]

Jack in the Box is much better. I'll do a quarter pounder with cheese and a Big Mac 2 or 3 times a year.

@jpsb

We don't even have a Jack in the Box around here...I'd try 'em if we did.

I always wanted to try a White Castle burger, but then the other day I heard them described as smelly.  So much for that...

[Silver Pines]

I had my first cup of coffee in six weeks this morning and it was strong!  I made it myself.  So, if I seem a little combative ....

@Emjay

Six weeks is way too long to go without, lol.  I have a fridge magnet that says "Coffee---if you're not shaking you need another cup!"

[Wingnut]

Especially through The Vatican.

@dfwgator
I saw you did that.   I was going to say:

They said you was hung...... And they was right. !!!!

[GtHawk]

Jack in the Box is much better. I'll do a quarter pounder with cheese and a Big Mac 2 or 3 times a year.

Yeah Jack in The Box is better it's not like they didn't infect hundreds of people with E-Coli in the 90's resulting in three deaths

[GtHawk]

@jpsb

We don't even have a Jack in the Box around here...I'd try 'em if we did.

I always wanted to try a White Castle burger, but then the other day I heard them described as smelly.  So much for that...

The only chain I know of that still makes really good burgers is In-N-Out, but that's on the west coast, I'm sure there are others across the nation, but I would bet that best bang for your buck and best food nowadays is gonna be at a mom and pop, not McD, Carl's, BK, Jack's or almost any large chain, they've just lost the vision tossed the basics.

[GtHawk]

It's your history but not everybody's.  Sorry.

Didn't I say that, oh, though it's not my version of history or reality, it's SoCal history. Why be sorry, were you responsible? I don't think so, America is a vast country and mileage may vary, and yet here we are, I'm reading posts from people across America and damned if I'm not seeing people talking about the same situation with jobs, and young people happening across the U.S

[Wingnut]

The difference is stealing cattle vs working cattle!

So, 2 of the three are All Hat and No Cattle?

[Emjay]

@Emjay

Six weeks is way too long to go without, lol.  I have a fridge magnet that says "Coffee---if you're not shaking you need another cup!"

My hands were shaking later!  I wonder if it was the coffee or that I did too much in convalescence.

[Emjay]

I think the word you are looking for is wrangled.   

Maybe, but sometimes if a calf is really stubborn, you have to wrestle it.

[ABX]

Maybe, but sometimes if a calf is really stubborn, you have to wrestle it.

I have a feeling you are full of interesting stories.

[jmyrlefuller]

I think the youth are too short-sighted, thinking that these are the only jobs they are ever going to have.
Like someone said earlier, I also did menial jobs in High School and it did teach me that I did not want to do them when I grew up.

Well, consider what the job market has become these days. I can speak personally about my situation: I've worked at my "menial job" at a grocery store since high school. Honestly, I like the work; it's more complicated than most minimum-wage jobs are and I get to be creative. I just don't like the minimum wage pay.

I even went to college. I had a whole plan for my life: get a bachelor's degree in meteorology, get my foot in the door at a small-market media outlet and either find a steady home or work my way up until I did. Well, I got that degree... just as the recession hit. I was locked out of the job market, my applications were basically all ignored, and I ended up going back to that grocery store. Now I see what the jobs I wanted have become, and they're paying practically minimum wage, with a lot more corporate demands than there were before; even if I had gotten in I wouldn't have had the kind of middle-class life I had planned on. It was the biggest mistake of my entire life.

Yet I have no idea what I want to do now. My degree's practically worthless and my talents are all things that don't have a realistic chance of me finding steady work. Most jobs around here require ridiculous amounts of experience or prerequisites so specific no one qualifies.

So yeah, that idea that there might not be anything better? That's real. Without connections, the job market is daunting and flat-out demoralizing.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Well, consider what the job market has become these days. I can speak personally about my situation: I've worked at my "menial job" at a grocery store since high school. Honestly, I like the work; it's more complicated than most minimum-wage jobs are and I get to be creative. I just don't like the minimum wage pay.

I even went to college. I had a whole plan for my life: get a bachelor's degree in meteorology, get my foot in the door at a small-market media outlet and either find a steady home or work my way up until I did. Well, I got that degree... just as the recession hit. I was locked out of the job market, my applications were basically all ignored, and I ended up going back to that grocery store. Now I see what the jobs I wanted have become, and they're paying practically minimum wage, with a lot more corporate demands than there were before; even if I had gotten in I wouldn't have had the kind of middle-class life I had planned on. It was the biggest mistake of my entire life.

Yet I have no idea what I want to do now. My degree's practically worthless and my talents are all things that don't have a realistic chance of me finding steady work. Most jobs around here require ridiculous amounts of experience or prerequisites so specific no one qualifies.

So yeah, that idea that there might not be anything better? That's real. Without connections, the job market is daunting and flat-out demoralizing.

I'm sorry to hear about this Jmyrlefuller.


If you like computers, switch to tech. Tons of jobs in it. I can teach you some things.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Well, consider what the job market has become these days. I can speak personally about my situation: I've worked at my "menial job" at a grocery store since high school. Honestly, I like the work; it's more complicated than most minimum-wage jobs are and I get to be creative.

It sounds like you've got a ton of transferrable skills @jmyrlefuller   Computer skills, customer service, marketing,  vendor/supply management ... and on and on.  And, don't dismiss your college ... it matters and it counts. There are organizations that specialize in developing resumes that identify and highlight the skills most folks take for granted that are needed in other industries.  Send me a PM if you're interested. Happy to help.

 

[Emjay]

Well, consider what the job market has become these days. I can speak personally about my situation: I've worked at my "menial job" at a grocery store since high school. Honestly, I like the work; it's more complicated than most minimum-wage jobs are and I get to be creative. I just don't like the minimum wage pay.

I even went to college. I had a whole plan for my life: get a bachelor's degree in meteorology, get my foot in the door at a small-market media outlet and either find a steady home or work my way up until I did. Well, I got that degree... just as the recession hit. I was locked out of the job market, my applications were basically all ignored, and I ended up going back to that grocery store. Now I see what the jobs I wanted have become, and they're paying practically minimum wage, with a lot more corporate demands than there were before; even if I had gotten in I wouldn't have had the kind of middle-class life I had planned on. It was the biggest mistake of my entire life.

Yet I have no idea what I want to do now. My degree's practically worthless and my talents are all things that don't have a realistic chance of me finding steady work. Most jobs around here require ridiculous amounts of experience or prerequisites so specific no one qualifies.

So yeah, that idea that there might not be anything better? That's real. Without connections, the job market is daunting and flat-out demoralizing.

Interesting post.  So many parents are hell bent on sending their kids to college even if it bankrupts them or puts the kids in horrible debt.

And so many of them major in things are are absolutely useless in the marketplace.  Skilled workers in construction, mechanics, repair work can make really good livings.  I lament that schools stopped teaching shop.  Irving High used to have an auto repair class that all the teachers brought their cars to.  You can bet those kids got good paying jobs.

Irving High also had a class that built a house every year (with teacher supervision)  The house was sold at a good price because it was well constructed.  I don't remember what was done with the money ... maybe something that benefited schools.

With what's going on in colleges today, I'm not sure they're worth the money anymore.
Really, the main thing a college degree gets you today is that so many companies only hire college graduates, a lazy way to screen out applicants.

[geronl]

I bloody well can't wait.  I have to check my order every time now to make sure the person behind the counter entered it correctly. 

I pump my own gas and I scan my own groceries (and bag em, too).  I have no need for some slob who's going to put the wrong blend in my tank and spill gas on the paint, and I don't need some sloth at the register scanning my groceries at a snails pace and then putting heavy stuff on top of fragile stuff.

won't even need a kiosk, you'll be able to do it on your cellphone -pay with a card and just pick up the food when you get there. Or maybe McDonalds will hire delivery drivers like they do in some countries.

[geronl]

Irving High also had a class that built a house every year (with teacher supervision)  The house was sold at a good price because it was well constructed.  I don't remember what was done with the money ... maybe something that benefited schools.

I've seen those homes, they were nice. I'm not sure they still do it though, it might have stopped a while back.

[Bigun]

[Silver Pines]

@Emjay
I agree....   There are great jobs out there in the trades.  Anyone called a plumber lately?  $60 an hour and up.  Electrician....even higher....  Heating and A/C person...  The list goes on and on. 

My business partner hired a local high school to build his house years and years ago.  Very well built house and it taught the kids skills.  They don't do that here anymore...kind of sad.

@mrpotatohead

An acquaintance of mine has a son who went into an apprentice electrician program after he graduated high school, but she worries about the fact that he won't have a college degree.  Why??  He'll have a skill that will enable him to knock down serious money.

Our car mechanic is a guy in his fifties who runs his own little garage.  I say "little", but the lot is always overflowing with vehicles needing work.  The rumor around the community is that he's a millionaire.  I believe it.  My husband went to the guy's home to look at a Corvette he was selling.  He owns God knows how much land, with a large house, and a spanking-clean custom made garage housing six vintage Corvettes.

[alicewonders]

@mrpotatohead

An acquaintance of mine has a son who went into an apprentice electrician program after he graduated high school, but she worries about the fact that he won't have a college degree.  Why??  He'll have a skill that will enable him to knock down serious money.

Our car mechanic is a guy in his fifties who runs his own little garage.  I say "little", but the lot is always overflowing with vehicles needing work.  The rumor around the community is that he's a millionaire.  I believe it.  My husband went to the guy's home to look at a Corvette he was selling.  He owns God knows how much land, with a large house, and a spanking-clean custom made garage housing six vintage Corvettes.

I was talking with the plumber I called to fix a problem at my father's house once - an older guy probably in his 70's or maybe older - still spry and he fixed the problem quickly and for not as much expense as I was expecting.  He was lamenting that he couldn't get his grandson to work with him - that the kid didn't want to "do that kind of work".  Too bad, he said - "I make plenty of money, probably more than he will ever make". 

[Bigun]

I was talking with the plumber I called to fix a problem at my father's house once - an older guy probably in his 70's or maybe older - still spry and he fixed the problem quickly and for not as much expense as I was expecting.  He was lamenting that he couldn't get his grandson to work with him - that the kid didn't want to "do that kind of work".  Too bad, he said - "I make plenty of money, probably more than he will ever make".

Young people today don't want to touch anything that doesn't have a keyboard and mouse hooked up to it!

[alicewonders]

Young people today don't want to touch anything that doesn't have a keyboard and mouse hooked up to it!

Makes you wonder what a future with them in charge will be like.....makes me glad that I'm old and I got to live my life when I did.  Kids today will probably never get to experience the things we did.  Makes me sad.

[Silver Pines]

I was talking with the plumber I called to fix a problem at my father's house once - an older guy probably in his 70's or maybe older - still spry and he fixed the problem quickly and for not as much expense as I was expecting.  He was lamenting that he couldn't get his grandson to work with him - that the kid didn't want to "do that kind of work".  Too bad, he said - "I make plenty of money, probably more than he will ever make".

@alicewonders

It really is sad.  I think a lot of them are willing to settle for less money as long as they don't have to work hard. 

I hope we don't have to deal with a shortage of skilled tradesmen someday, but the way it's going...