I Work for Burger King at $7.40 an Hour Here's What It's Like & Why Fast Food Workers Are on Strike

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/labor/i-work-burger-king-ive-never-made-over-15000-year

Claudette Wilson is 20 and works two jobs in the fast food industry, one at Burger King and one at a pizza place. She is on her feet, sometimes for 12 hours a day, and makes $7.40 an hour. She agreed to share her experience for the Guardian's A Day's Work series because she wants people to understand why fast food workers have been striking for better wages.

Wilson participated in a protest in Detroit, Michigan last week.

1. What is your typical day like?

Everyday for me is different. I can tell you how a typical Saturday is like: first I wake up around 8am to go to work at Burger King from 10am to 6pm. After I get off of work from Burger King, I go to my second job at Jet's Pizza from 6pm to midnight. After I get done with working, sometimes I hang with friends, sometimes I just go to sleep.

2. There's been a lot of talk lately about people wanting work/life balance. Does your job provide that?

My work/life balance is pretty rough at times. There's not even much time for me, let alone anyone else. In a weird way though, having both jobs does provide balance to me and a change of scene, but I'm not sure about others.

[Sherman A1]

1. K&R

Gives a good perspective on what these workers face on a weekly basis.

[KurtNYC]

2. I have much more

There is a time clock and you punch in and punch out so you are paid to the minute. If it is slow you may be asked to clock out early and go home or you may be told to clock out and come back for the next rush -- in other words clock out after lunch around 2pm and then go back on the clock at 5pm. What are you supposed to do with those three hours? You aren't getting paid and unless you live very close to the job you can't go home and come back. Some places have made employees clock out and then continue to work in order to stay under the time limits set by upper management. Illegal but it happens. You complain and you're gone.

Your schedule will probably be changed on a weekly basis. Many of these places do their skeds on Mondays for that week. This makes it difficult to work 2 of these jobs because YOU as employee have little control over the sked changes. You may be told to work split shifts -- that's the 'off the clock from 2 to 5' thing above, only it gets scheduled.

You will never get near 40 hours a week, especially in states which require time and a half for hours over 40. So in addition to the wage being low, you can't get enough hours either.

Some places make employee pay for any theft by customers during their shifts. There is a chain if gas station / convinience marts in my area where people regularly drive off without paying for gas. It would seem easy enough for management to change the policy to "pay first" but they have a different solution -- they take it out of the paycheck of whatever employee was on the register at the time (!) In my way of thinking that makes the store management an accessory to the theft. Worse, because these are the only gas sellers that don't have pay first, they are a magnet for gas thieves. Same inside the store, customers steal off the shelves and management tells the employee "you just got ripped off". There are similar systems in theatre chains -- they count the drink cups and charge employees the full retail price of a soft drink (and that's movie theatre price) for any CUPS that are missing.

No sick days. It's a restaurant. You're handling food. Serving hundreds of people but you are under enormous financial pressure to work even when you have a contagious condition because if you don't work, you don't get paid.

As we have all seen on YouTube, customers at fast food restaurants can freak out when they get a small fries instead of a large one, or if you check their $50 bill to see if it is fake or if you don't serve breakfast after 10:30 or if they are drunk on New Year's and you don't perform miracles at the drive through window. Employees get assaulted, threatened, video'd, verbally abused and shot in some of these incidents. There was a meme last year called "fire in the hole." Teens would go to the drive through, order large beverages and then pull up to the window with their cell cameras rolling. When the employee gives them the drinks, they throw them back at the employee's head and yell "Fire in the hole!" and then drive off laughing and put the video on YouTube.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Fast food workers get treated worse than dogs.

They desperately need a union, but they're fighting an uphill battle. These days they have to coax the government into helping them organize. There was a time when the government stood up for workers, but now the government more often sides with employers.

[AngryOldDem]

9. You just described my daughter's life when she was a senior in high school.

Worked at a fast-food place -- there were many times when I'd drop her off, and I'd no sooner get home when she'd call and say, "They don't need me tonight." Or, when she would work to close (11 p.m. or so) there were some nights, for whatever reason, the manager would keep everyone around until well after midnight.

And yes, they do take their fair share of grief at the drive-in window. How incredibly rude people can be over a shitty burger and greasy fries is astounding.

And morale? She could also tell you stories about how well co-workers got along with each other **and** management.

It was a nightmare, and sad to say hardly worth it. I feel for those who depend on this as their living. They deserve more.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. K&R! Solidarity with fast food worker strikers! n/t

[yellerpup]

4. Kick and Recommend!

[Brigid]

6. One thing stood out to me:

A cashier and a shift manager chased after a robber and tussled with him? At those wages? Forget that.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. I thought the same thing.

I worked at a restaurant once where the manager did something similar. The robber was armed and he was driving a pickup truck and the manager hopped in the back and stayed back there until the police caught up with them. The manager was a scrawny little guy in his 60's. He couldn't have beaten his way out of a wet paper bag. It's crazy how much loyalty you'll see in workers for these companies that don't give a shit about them.

[certainot]

7. the crease in price per burger if we raised the min wage to $12 0r $15 is negligible

and i can't remember exactly, but isn't it about 5 or 10 cents?

and i think i heard it went up to $12 a typical walmart shopper would have to pay an extra $17 a year!