Smiling is dangerous for your health

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Odin
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24 May 2008, 11:05 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
monty wrote:
So - are you in favor of the $7.25 minimum wage law? It may make some service jobs more tolerable (and raises the wage floor for about 40% of workers - not just those on minimum wage).


The lowest I have been paid is $7.00, and that was at McDonald's. An extra quarter wouldn't make a difference. What I find disgusting is that people who work on their feet get paid the least whereas people who sit on their butt all day get paid the most.

Also, businesses wont increase wages for everyone. Those already beyond the new minimum will either remain where they're at OR get lowered to compensate for the other worker's increase. Jobs that pay little now will just cut staff rather than lose money.

Economics is a complex subject. That is why I don't know WHAT capitalism should be replaced by, only that it sucks for the financially disadvantaged. There are many complex issues to be addressed, hopefully by a team of mathematicians...

:shrug:


IMO no person should have to work more then 40 hours per week in order to make ends meet; I think people having to work 2 or even 3 jobs just to get by is an outrage. Ideally increased productivity through technology should mean that people should have to work less to make the same amount of money in a way that is inversely proportional to productivity increase.


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Macbeth
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24 May 2008, 11:05 am

slowmutant wrote:
I see. Punters = soccer players?

It doesn't seem like a friendly place, that. No legal actions taken against your establishment on account of the violence? Maybe you should get Mr. Patrick Swayze to watch over the place.

In some cases, I favour the "hands on" approach over litigations and lawyers. Some people just need to have their bell rung for their own sake.


Punters = customers. Though we do have a small and violent football fan crowd. It does sometimes have a certain "Roadhouse" ethic, but oddly, the building lacks violence. We have a reputation for not taking any s**t. Stupidity, violence, arsing about, bullying etc are responded to rapidly and with (sometimes slightly unreasonable) force. Thus people feel safe there. Also, we have several disparate groups who, on the relatively neutral grounds of the pub, get on reasonably well. Due to the incidence of alchohol in most events, and the fact that staff are mostly sober, we have an advantage in both the physical and legal areas.


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Odin
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24 May 2008, 11:10 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
monty wrote:
OK, Macs was paying above the federal minimum wage, which was 6.25 I believe. The recent law was to raise it one dollar and hour, or $40 a week for full timers.

I also think that the law helps people other than those at the very bottom - If you had been on a job for a year and were making a dollar more than the minimum wage, and the minimum wage gets raised a dollar, then you are going to get a raise as well. Employers would find that those who had experience would be far more willing to quit if they were being paid the same as the new employees - why not try a new job somewhere else if the boss suddenly placed a value of zero on your experience?


Employers don't care about their slaves as far as I've seen; money is the only thing that matters.
If an employer doesn't legally HAVE to do something, what is the likelihood that they WILL?


That is Corporate Capitalism for you, the only thing that matters is maximizing the profits of shareholders, employees are just cogs in the machine that are treated as an expense whose costs must be minimized. The law doesn't matter (corporations will manipulate governments to order to help their profits), morality doesn't matter, treating people like people doesn't matter, all that matters is surviving the God of Profit Maximization.


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slowmutant
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24 May 2008, 11:49 am

aka the Almighty Dollar

aka Mammon



Brittany2907
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24 May 2008, 12:18 pm

Quote:
Smiling against your will at work is dangerous for your health


Wow...finally a positive for being unemployed and depressed. :roll:


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