There seems to be a disconnect from them and us on just about everything. It is too bad. Anyone that has had a business knows how hard it is to find good help. Getting someone that actually cares about doing a good job. Someone that won’t steal when the opportunity presents itself. People are just awful sometimes. My younger and much uglier brother just told me about a guy that he hired last week on Thursday. The gentleman said all the right things about wanting to work, physical labor that was required wasn’t a problem, and that a 6 AM start time was no problem. Awesome and he started on Monday morning. Actually he didn’t start Monday. He sent a text at 4 AM saying he couldn’t make it. Who raised this person?? People count on you to be there. Other people aren’t there because you’re expected to be. Two other people wanted the job, but Mr Smooth talker got it only to be a piece of crap 72 hours later.
He isn’t alone as there are too many people on this planet with zero work ethic. The thought of it is so foreign to me that I can’t understand how someone can suck that much. I grew up on a dairy farm where the work never ended. It didn’t slow down or go away. It was always there. There was always something that need to be done. I hated it as a kid. I wanted to be lazy like some of my school peers that only had to take out the trash two nights a week. I’m sure they complained about it as well. As kids we had to milk cows, feed all the livestock (chickens, cows, pigs, and my ugly little brother). Funny note he was so ugly we didn’t realize he wasn’t one of the baby calves for three years. He told me today he didn’t read yesterdays blog, but he did share it. Naturally I have to make fun of him a ton in this blog. The point is we always had to work to do and no one else was going to show up to do it. Even at a young age we were expected to handle things. If we saw something that needed to be done you simply did it. There was no that isn’t my responsibility so I’ll act like it isn’t there, but an attitude of “I’ll do it” without question.
Now this kid can’t even be bothered to show up the first day??? What kind of work ethic is that?? The answer is none. Zero. Parents are to blame in my opinion. You can learn work ethic as a toddler. Being held responsible for cleaning up your own toys, throwing your trash away, and simply picking up a room. Now I’m being told that this guy deserves $15 an hour?? What he deserves is a kick in the ass. Minimum wage is not meant to be a “living” wage. It is what you pay someone without skills, experience, and essentially filling a spot that needs a warm body. That being said once this person shows they are trustworthy, proves they will show up on time when scheduled ready to work, and learning how to be a better worker for your business makes them more valuable. That is how it is supposed to work.
My first “job” was helping a neighbor build a deck when I was 15. I made $3 an hour. I had no idea what I was doing. I was there to hold the other side of the board while it got screwed into place. I was there to dig a hole. Of course I learned from that experience and was able to apply that knowledge at my next job and make more money. I don’t understand how we switched from encouraging people to better themselves in order to make more money to demanding unskilled, unmotivated (not everyone), and untrained people get paid more for simply showing up. An employer hires people to do specific tasks and that is why you get paid. A whole lot of people somehow think that just showing up means you get paid. You are not trading your “time” for a paycheck, but using your skills as a human to help make an employers business better and more profitable.
The employer makes too much money Bucky. Hmm. So working 18 hour days many times to simply break even in the early years, risking everything many times to make your business work, and having the vision to create something is unfair to make more than the employee that shows up with a lip ring they can’t stop messing with for 8 hours a day??? Lip ring guy that is starting with you after quitting the last 6 jobs he had within 2 months. Choices have consequences. You want to call in sick your second week on the job so you can smoke pot with the neighbor girl go for it! It is America and you are free to do that, but don’t go whining to everyone that listens about it not being fair you only make minimum wage. You are the minimum. You don’t give a crap about the job or the business and you get paid accordingly.
Of course there is the woman with 5 kids working at McDonalds making minimum wage that the $15 an hour movement will exploit. Why not put lip ring guy in the spotlight??? I want people to make more money. I want everyone to be a gazillionaire, but to do that takes work. We should encourage people to read books, better themselves, and making themself so flipping valuable the company has to pay you more or lose you to another employer. Neither system is perfect and there will always be something unfair about either path. I will say this. When you out price or over price something (in this case we are talking about human labor) people will look to other options. Computer software and a kiosk work just as well as lip ring guy when ordering a Big Mac. There will be a point that employers just aren’t going to hire people to do these mundane low skill jobs. Many of these positions are being filled by high school kids who are gaining the skills to be a valuable employee.
In our rush to make everyone’s life perfect regardless of who they are or what history they have will open a whole new set of problems. For generations people have gotten the message if you want a bigger paycheck you need to grow your skill set. That is what we want in the world. More educated valued employees that are dedicated to bettering themselves so they have a bigger check every two weeks. There is also the freedom in America to go start your own business. No one is stopping you from doing that. The only person holding you back is yourself because you don’t want to work for free 18 hours a day for the first three years while you try to establish yourself and your business. It takes a lot of work, dedication, and of course risk to become a business owner.
I’m not all the way against raising the minimum wage, but I don’t see this amazing perfect world that everyone can now afford to live. What are they doing now?? Prices of good and services will go up making my dollar less valuable. Low skilled labor will disappear. People that make money creating businesses are not stupid. They will find ways to do business getting the same results without using minimum wage individuals. So what do you do?? I would suggest putting the weed down and picking up a book. There are literal books about how to make more money at your job. I’m willing to bet 99.9% of people earning minimum wage have never read any of them. Why don’t we encourage them to do so?? The only true way to be successful in this country is by educating yourself, working hard at every job you have, leave the poor me attitude at the door. Nobody wants to hear it cause we all got problems.
You can’t wait or rely on the government to make your life better. You can, but you will always be disappointed. I promise you they do not care about you Jill Smith in Pittsburg (totally made up name) and no one from the government is going to show up at your front door with a suitcase full of money saying “Life has been unfair to you, please take this bag of money as our apology.
Just my opinion. It felt great to rant yesterday, but now we are back to being kind to one another.
FknBucky
FknBucky 