Fight for $15. (Fast food protest)

[Shaun]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the average tradesman earns more in Australia than the average university graduate

I know I do in many cases.

I often have that very discussion with kids who are of school leaving age. When probed about what they want to do in life the answer is often go to Uni. To study what I ask and the answers are often surprising as they don't even know what.

It's all well and good to go to Uni if the degree you come out with helps with future employment prospects but that's often not the case.
I'll then add to the kids in question well what about a trade, the vast majority aren't interested and for some reason or another think a trade is below them.
From a selfish perspective I'm good with that as my worth only increases with less good tradesmen around.

 

[Imari]

From a selfish perspective I'm good with that as my worth only increases with less good tradesmen around.

That's it. There's not many tradies, and so their value is high.

That, and a skilled tradie has skills and experience at least as worth paying for has your average university graduate. Considering how many university courses these days have little to no practical application.

I'm a university graduate, but I've long since come to terms with the fact that I'm unlikely to make the big bucks. In fact, I'm only slightly above minimum wage at the moment, despite the fact that I have ten years experience. I'm in a tough industry, there aren't that many jobs and everyone thinks that what I do could be done by a monkey anyway.

If a kid were to ask me what was best, I'd say do the job that they like doing regardless of where they get the training. Money is a bit of a toss-up anyway, in ten years maybe there's a glut of tradies and they all get paid peanuts. At least if they like their job they won't hate their life even if they're not earning the big bucks, whereas if they just follow the money they're screwed if that happens to go away.

Any skilled job will pay enough to live on. The only people who worry about minimum wage are those who don't have enough skills or knowledge or ability to just work hard to legitimately be worth at least minimum wage on their own merit.

 

[Danoff]

If a kid were to ask me what was best, I'd say do the job that they like doing regardless of where they get the training.

I'd recommend the opposite.

Almost nobody really investigates how much money their chosen career path will eventually generate for them, and often times a slight tweak would have changed their quality of life dramatically. As an example, when I applied for College I knew I wanted to work in the space industry, and I knew that I wanted to do something challenging. I put down two majors:

1st choice - Aerospace Engineering

I don't know much about it, but I knew that it sounded hard and it had space in the name. I then listed a major that I felt had almost the same implications

2nd choice - Astrophysics

It has space in the name, and it sounds hard. So I figured either of these would be good choices.

In reality, both majors require heavy math, are highly specialized, and overlap substantially in terms of coursework and material covered. As a high school student, I'd probably have said Astrophysics has more courses that actually sounded interesting since it was more focused on space, whereas Aero engineering required fluid flow, materials science, etc - things I didn't care about at all. The only reason I listed Aero engineering first was that it had the word "engineering" in it, which sounded more serious than "physics".

At the time, graduating with a masters in Aero Engineering paid around $70k/year. With a PhD in Astrophysics you could basically make minimum wage (or just go further into debt) as a post-doc doing research. Maybe if you were lucky you could eventually land a decent paying job as a professor late in life. Aero Engineering was a viable career whereas Astrophysics looks a lot like a ponzi scheme. I basically lucked out that I landed on one instead of the other.

So we have

Aero Engineering Masters - $70k
Astrophysics PhD - nearly unemployable

...and then there's my wife. She has an undergraduate in Aerospace Engineering and a law degree, and leveraged her engineering education into patent law - which is a field of law that requires the lawyer to be an engineer. They started at around $140-$150. So here's the final list:

Aero Engineering Lawyer - $140k
Aero Engineering Masters - $70k
Astrophysics PhD - nearly unemployable

I was interested in all thee of those things - probably in the reverse order. The bottom two were the only ones on my radar, and I chose the one that seemed more employable. With a tiny tweak, I had gone from crushing debt to a decent paying job. With a slight additional tweak I could have gone from decent paying to highly paying.

 

[niky]

Uh, wait.

I understand that things are different in the Philippines then in the USA. But our economy is very diverse. While I truly wish our parents and system would push for better academic performance from out children, it doesn't mean that college is the only avenue to becoming a successful adult. Carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, electrician, Locksmith, AES mechanic, computer networking technician, etc. They all make upwards of $35K - $75K a year. That's a very good living, unless you're in Manhattan

So, college isn't the end all be all.

Never claimed it was.

What I was saying is that there is the perception that a degree makes you more employable... Even here, there's decent money to be made without a four-year degree. And there are technical/vocational tracks that are sorely under-served... and you have the government pleading with people to stop enrolling in certain courses, due to the oversupply of graduates who can't find jobs.

-

It's just that the perception of the superiority of having a degree... any degree... is so strong that people naturally tend to push for College, even if what they're pushing themselves/their children into is a degree with little opportunity for employment.

 

[Imari]

I'd recommend the opposite.

Really? It doesn't sound like you are.

It sounds like you're recommending choosing the field of work you like, and then being smart about which particular part you put yourself in. It's not like you're advocating someone who was interested in Aerospace or Astrophysics go and do Dentistry just because dentists earn truckloads of cash while having their assistants do all the work. You're advocating sticking with what you like, but choosing the best version of what you like.

I totally agree that you can be smart about which part of your field of interest you put yourself in, and that small changes can make a big difference. Hell, I should have been in Chemical Engineering instead of pure Chemistry, given that it's the job I ended up doing anyway but I get paid a hell of a lot less for not having the right bit of paper.

But to a certain extent, the job market is a bit of a lottery, hence while I recommend that while people should try and go for something that pays well if they can, they should absolutely make sure that they're in a field that is tolerable even if it ends up not paying well. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough about that.

 

[Danoff]

Really? It doesn't sound like you are.

It sounds like you're recommending choosing the field of work you like, and then being smart about which particular part you put yourself in. It's not like you're advocating someone who was interested in Aerospace or Astrophysics go and do Dentistry just because dentists earn truckloads of cash while having their assistants do all the work. You're advocating sticking with what you like, but choosing the best version of what you like.

I totally agree that you can be smart about which part of your field of interest you put yourself in, and that small changes can make a big difference. Hell, I should have been in Chemical Engineering instead of pure Chemistry, given that it's the job I ended up doing anyway but I get paid a hell of a lot less for not having the right bit of paper.

But to a certain extent, the job market is a bit of a lottery, hence while I recommend that while people should try and go for something that pays well if they can, they should absolutely make sure that they're in a field that is tolerable even if it ends up not paying well. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough about that.

I'm recommending making compromises in your field of work in exchange for money. I'm not recommending abandoning your interests entirely, but definitely make intelligent balanced decisions that don't only focus on your interests.

 

[Kent]

A degree from any properly accredited institution Can provide a greater prospect of employment.

My logic...

If a degree is required and I do not have one, I am immediately ruled out.

Am I less employ-able for having a degree? No. However, I will always have the requisite of a degree when requested.

Do I work in the field of my degree? No.
Does that make my degree less valuable? No.
Am I a better person for earning my degree? In my opinion, Yes.

 

[Swift]

It's just that the perception of the superiority of having a degree... any degree... is so strong that people naturally tend to push for College, even if what they're pushing themselves/their children into is a degree with little opportunity for employment.

Right, so why the constant push to get a degree? Even when many parents know that popular markets are saturated? That's more of a rhetorical question.

 

[Swift]

A degree from any properly accredited institution Can provide a greater prospect of employment.

My logic...

If a degree is required and I do not have one, I am immediately ruled out.

Am I less employ-able for having a degree? No. However, I will always have the requisite of a degree when requested.

Do I work in the field of my degree? No.
Does that make my degree less valuable? No.
Am I a better person for earning my degree? In my opinion, Yes.

Your degree itself isn't less valuable. But its relative worth to the market is. Much like @Danoff's comparison of astrophysics and aerospace engineerin .

 

[BobK]

A degree from any properly accredited institution Can provide a greater prospect of employment.

My logic...

If a degree is required and I do not have one, I am immediately ruled out.

Am I less employ-able for having a degree? No. However, I will always have the requisite of a degree when requested.

Do I work in the field of my degree? No.
Does that make my degree less valuable? No.
Am I a better person for earning my degree? In my opinion, Yes.

But that's when you start running into "You're overqualified for this position".

 

[Kent]

Your degree itself isn't less valuable. But its relative worth to the market is. Much like @Danoff's comparison of astrophysics and aerospace engineerin .

Even so, the relative worth to the market is still going to be higher than having only a GED or high school diploma alone.

 

[Swift]

Even so, the relative worth to the market is still going to be higher than having only a GED or high school diploma alone.

No argument here. But with a tweak, could it have been a more marketable degree? That was my point.

 

[Kent]

No argument here. But with a tweak, could it have been a more marketable degree? That was my point.

Absolutely. Maybe in time, never know.

 

[ryzno]

I can give first hand experience as to why you should not, depend on the Fast-Food industry as a career.

I started the working part of my life(age15) at a Fast-Food chain, that is well known for their quality of food and customer service. I worked there till I was around 20. I started when Americas minimum wage was $5.50, over time I got my raises and made it up to $7.50. The whole time working my way up from a porter to the catering supervisor. I was making $7.50, but the job bonuses(health, more paid vacation time, fuel credit, free food, etc... Made up for it.)

Then America decides the minimum wage should be $7.50 per hour. Let just say I was not happy that someone who started out just like me, was making as much as me, after me trying to show the company my interest in the long haul as a career. And even getting a few "Safety Certificates". So they had the audacity, to get this! Give me a raise to $8.00 and make me night supervisor. I was not trilled with the opportunity, to work the most dangerous shift, as the supervisor at closing time. For $0.50 more then the fool taking your order. After getting taken off the schedule for complaining about the raise and the manager hiring his brother for me to teach him so he could replace me at $11.00. I quit.

After that I took a vacation. Got out. Got my G.E.D. Took Automotive at a Trade school. Got all my certificates of hours completed. Passed an A.S.E. test.(Automotive Electrical systems) Had a job set up by my Instructor. Was denied job cause of my vacation. I tried countless other shops with failure for the same reason. Even begging to work as a apprentice for experience.

Needless to say I got tired of chasing my tail looking for a job. Thankfully my girl works a decent job and doesn't have the baggage I do. So after 6 months(3 years total of unemployment... wait I just realized this will be our 10th anniversary soon, of being together. Thanks for riding it out with me boo! OT sorry)
She found me a job delivering newspapers and gave me $2000 to buy a old work van. I only spent $1600(she's a steal). And the $600 on a little TLC for her. Of course being young and the noob, they did not give me the best routes in the world. One route was so rural it was 2/3 dirt roads! Just for the AJC(Atlanta's main newspaper) I now only work weekends and make more than a burger flipper could fathom. But lets not get into how much it cost me to deliver them at times.

I also have continued on with my Automotive career(and doing scrap metal in hard times). Albeit as a self owned mobile mechanic. But still over the years I have accrued more tools, then jobs I remember.



I have had numerous people ask me where they can find a job. I explain to them: if you got a car that you don't care about damaging, a valid license, insurance and current tag you got a job. Then I get the whole: I'm too good to deliver newspapers.
I say to myself no. You're to stupid to get a job.
Perfect example is a neighbor of mine, she drives a freaking Tahoe and is unemployed. Yet she complains of how her GF mooches off HER child support, when either one of them could easily get a job. That attitude deserves a

My whole point is you don't have to have a college degree, be the brightest bulb in the pack or work for "the man". But there is no reason to rely on minimum wage jobs or demand a higher minimum wage.
Money just ain't coming to ya, you gotta find it and earn it. #ryzno's wisdom tip of the day:idea:

PS this is a BIG 🤬🤬 to all the people and jobs that turned me down!!

When my girl gets back, I'll post a few pic's(in the member's rides section) of my work horse aka: BIG MAMA and "the Honda". With a few cans of Beans for good flavor

Good Luck EVERYONE, with your fight to work and get by.

PPS If you live in the Atlanta Area they have warehouses in Marietta, Stone Mountain and the Airport. Hit me up if you need work and are willing to deliver papers.

EDIT: just started my members ride thread if anyone cares...
EDIT 2: Huge error near the end of my post.

 

[Swift]

Thanks for the post. I'm confused at one point. Why were you denied work because of your vacation?

 

[ryzno]

Vacation is another way of saying : serving time. *cough jail/prison*

Edit it was not a fun vacation.

 

[Swift]

Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up! 👍

 

[Johnnypenso]

Welcome to the future:

http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/201...fast-food-healthy-cheap-and-served-by-robots/

Across the country, restaurants are looking for innovative ways to keep humans out of the picture. But what’s unique about Eatsa is the focus on health and taste. It’s a fully-automated experience, so Eatsa can afford to offer high-quality food for less. Workers’salaries account for about 30 percent of the restaurant industry’s costs. The team spent over two years rigorously testing the texture of the sauces and the grain to optimize the taste. Eatsa will also offer a range of beverages, which are sugar-free or low in sugar. Eatsa plans to open two more locations in the coming months, including a restaurant in Los Angeles.

 

[squadops]

 

[1241Penguin]

 

[FoolKiller]

At least you can pick off the pickle. I order no cheese.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I don't eat at McDonalds. Problem solved.

 

[Adamgp]

I should order no pickles next time. I order it with pickles and I am lucky to get 2.

 

[Joel]

I should order no pickles next time. I order it with pickles and I am lucky to get 2.

I was just thinking the same thing, I don't think I've ever got a burger at McDonald's with that many pickles .

 

[Johnnypenso]

Should've went to Burger King. Special orders don't upset them.

 

[TeamCZRRacing]

Should've went to Burger King. Special orders don't upset them.

But asking for good food does.

OHHHHHH

 

[FoolKiller]

Should've went to Burger King. Special orders don't upset them.

I have yet to find a place that doesn't screw up special orders at least half the time. Last night I had to send a steak back at a fairly nice steakhouse because they coated the thing in their salty seasoning, which I specifically requested they leave off.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I guess nobody gets the "special orders don't upset them" reference

 

[Adamgp]

I guess nobody gets the "special orders don't upset them" reference

I did, right away.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I did, right away.