Current Events > Why is fastfood considered an easy job?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The thing that makes it hard now is the short-staffing. Everyone likes to incorrectly say this is a result of no one wanting to work. The restaurant has twenty or so employees begging for hours, but corporate will only allow the GM to staff a skeleton crew to avoid having to pay paychecks. This means one person is doing the job of three.

It doesnt matter how low skill the job is. Having three peoples jobs forced on you (for any wage) is not easy. Then add the fact that the paychecks dont cover the cost of rent and you have your answer as to whose fault this whole thing is (corporate). Corporate is the reason it took you twenty minutes to get your order because they are too cheap to allow a full-staffed restaurant during rush periods and the workers are constantly stressed because they arent earning enough to pay their rent.

Why do you guys think there are people in their 20s and 30s working there? Its not because they like burgers. Theyve applied to everything else five times and the landlord isnt going to wait another day for rent. We. Have. A. Shortage. Of. Jobs. I dont know how hard it is for some of you to accept this.

sabrestorm posted...

Its very easy tell me one part thats hard? I worked ff in hs we stood around between customers laughing and joking

Hard: Being short staffed during a rush of customers, so you have to take drive thru orders, charge them when they get to the window and be your own runner (bag the food once it comes out of the kitchen). Oh and you're the only guy on shift, so you're the one that has to go upstairs to get more food out of the freezer, which happens a lot. Better run upstairs really quick, while the customer is waiting at the window for their food...

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CableZL posted...

and unreasonable bosses that add difficulty.

The #1 factor to how good a job is at pretty much any pay level.

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NoxObscuras posted...

Hard: Being short staffed during a rush of customers, so you have to take drive thru orders, charge them when they get to the window and be your own runner (bag the food once it comes out of the kitchen). Oh and you're the only guy on shift, so you're the one that has to go upstairs to get more food out of the freezer, which happens a lot. Better run upstairs really quick, while the customer is waiting at the window for their food...

When I had that job, I had to do all of that plus taking orders in the lobby at the same time. We would have customers wrapped around the lobby and a drive through line so long that the cars were spilling out into other parking lots. Thats sadistic to put all of that on one person. Not to mention there was about a 70% chance that every customer was going to give me a piece of their mind about having to wait. I would tell the manager to come help and they would come out for like five minutes and then leave me to handle the rush by myself.

Then I would tell the manager to start calling people to come help and he would look at me like I was crazy. I brought up the short staffing during rush times in a meeting once and they literally explained to me that corporate had decided on this because they saved money by overworking us. Needless to say, I quit. I would beg then to put me in the kitchen

For some reason, this concept is hard for some to grasp.

I used to beg them to put me in the kitchen after lunch rush so I could decompress. They would agree to do it, then the fresh staff would come in when I was mentally and physically exhausted and the manager would let them walk straight into the kitchen and not deal with customers.

People equate unskilled labor with "easy"

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Probably because they think flipping patties is easy.

And it is, but I imagine doing that while dealing with multiple rude customers with their weirdly specific special orders makes it a bitch.

So its probably just them not taking a moment to think about what actually working that job is like

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SSJPurple posted...

Probably because they think flipping patties is easy.

And it is, but I imagine doing that while dealing with multiple rude customers with their weirdly specific special orders makes it a bitch.

So its probably just them not taking a moment to think about what actually working that job is like

i had zero problems with special orders

sabrestorm posted...

i had zero problems with special orders

You never once made a mistake with one?


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sabrestorm posted...

i had zero problems with special orders

I dont think a special order is an issue, it would be getting multiple right during a lunch break rush with three Karens yelling at you, while also taking orders on a headset and then your coworkers also yelling back and forth.

Ive been inside a McDonalds during a frenzy and it looks like chaos which is why I dont give fast food workers a hard time

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Because it's a job that requires zero skills and is easily replaceable with anyone that can breathe. I think they should get paid more and be treated better but thinking they should make as much as people in educated fields is just crazy. I've worked at fast food before, it was a super easy job and I felt like my wage was pretty fair for it. Yeah, there's stressful moments, every single job on the planet has stressful moments.

I think it's a fast place of work. So it's hard. But with the rotation.

Maybe they meant how not complicated it is compare to the complicated jobs.

It's not easy, people who think that are ignorant.

It's easier to maneuver once you pick up every little detail, but that can take a while, and even all the training in the world can't prep you for being shortstaffed while angry people in backed up drive-thru/dine-in lines yell at you because the ice cream machine is broken.

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it's many things that add up at once. if you're a teenager doing it a few hours a week with friends and your home life is kush, it isn't that bad. if your whole life is dependent on it, that's a really bad place.

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PesticideDream posted...

Because it's a job that requires zero skills and is easily replaceable with anyone that can breathe. I think they should get paid more and be treated better but thinking they should make as much as people in educated fields is just crazy. I've worked at fast food before, it was a super easy job and I felt like my wage was pretty fair for it. Yeah, there's stressful moments, every single job on the planet has stressful moments.

But should people who serve food to the hungry make less than saya guy who gets paid to play kids ballgame?

Thats where stuff starts not making sense. We have essential workerspeople who literally save lives like surgeons or firemen who get paid dogshit compared to people like Brady who get millions for doing something that isnt important at all .

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One thing that people forget to mention is that the federal government takes WAY too much from minimum wage workers. You might be able to scrape by if you actually kept 100% of what you earned, but they take so much that its basically pocket change when theyre done taking their unfair cut.

If we forced the rich to pay their fair share, we could let minimum wage workers work tax free. You literally should not have to pay federal taxes if your pay is below $50,000/year.

One other thing:
I was expecting they would put me on the night shift for a few weeks to be trained. They dropped me in front of a register at 8am and said good luck. I almost walked out. Seriously, yall have no idea how close I came to ghosting on the whole thing.

SSJPurple posted...

Thats where stuff starts not making sense. We have essential workerspeople who literally save lives like surgeons or firemen who get paid dogshit compared to people like Brady who get millions for doing something that isnt important at all .

There's only person qualified to be Tom Brady. A few more than that are qualified to assemble cheeseburgers.

Questionmarktarius posted...

There's only person qualified to be Tom Brady. A few more than that are qualified to assemble cheeseburgers.

The number of people who can assemble cheeseburgers vs. number of people who can throw four yard slants behind elite OLs with a shutdown defense is pretty similar

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PatrickMahomes posted...

The number of people who can assemble cheeseburgers vs. number of people who can throw four yard slants behind elite OLs with a shutdown defense is pretty similar

So... Burger King constantly screws up your order too, huh?

if you're working fulltime at the mininum wage for an entire year (which is pretty difficult to actually manage since less than 1 million people a year do since most places will give you a small raise after 6-9 months once you proved you aren't going to leave immediately), you would pay about $400-700 in federal taxes as a single with no deductibles.

FICA will hit harder and local state income tax (if you're in a state with one) will hit you harder.

not to say most fast food workers, retail workers, and other low wage jobs aren't paid less then they should be. Just that's one of the shittiest reasonings to argue for increased wages.

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Its not that its easy its just that its anyone can do it.

I managed a pizza hut for 6 years through college. As long as someone wasnt lazy i could plug anyone into the job and it would work.

I dont think the job is that hard. Some burger places are killer but overall they arent hard

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Among things that have been mentioned, there's also the responsibility factor. It's like an old joke: the difference between a brain surgeon and a meat cutter is room for error. Fast food is a field seen as one can show up high and fuck up orders and get away with blaming unreasonable customers. The rest of us have to be on game 99.99 percent of the time or face worse consequences than an angry Karen.

Toss in how many old requirements are now vastly computerized away limiting or eliminating diner short hand, making proper change, or inventory tracking, and while no one would say it's effortless, it's a lot easier than it could be while some of us got greater bureaucracy with our technological innovations.

While my work at that level was in a volunteer position, I found it easier than my office job most of the time. Less pressure to be perfect and had actual slow periods.

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I4NRulez posted...

Its not that its easy its just that its anyone can do it.

I managed a pizza hut for 6 years through college. As long as someone wasnt lazy i could plug anyone into the job and it would work.

I dont think the job is that hard. Some burger places are killer but overall they arent hard

Things have changed a lot over the past few years, especially after the pandemic. These massive corporations now pretend like theyre one bad day away from bankruptcy when you can see what theyre making and what theyre spending on advertising. Ita like comparing apples and oranges.

Considering fast food an easy job is looking at it like an employer. It's not looking at how hard the employee is working, but at how easy it would be to replace them. And even if a job is backbreaking labor, if you can teach someone to do it in an afternoon.. your employer considers it an easy job (to fill again).

The more it's physical instead of mental labor the "easier" it is.

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I can only imagine how out of shape some of you are if you consider fast food backbreaking labor. Jesus Christ!

when the fast pace and shitty customers are what make it hard, then its still an easy job but with hard conditions.

The actual tasks are not difficult.

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1234Life posted...

I can only imagine how out of shape some of you are if you consider fast food backbreaking labor. Jesus Christ!

When I said "even" it meant that even if a job is much more intense than fast food like building a damn silo by hand or plowing fields it's still shitty pay. I realize you felt it was really exciting to catch me there but try and keep up.

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Payzmaykr posted...

Things have changed a lot over the past few years, especially after the pandemic. These massive corporations now pretend like theyre one bad day away from bankruptcy

This is how it's always been.

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You place dah bun, squirt dah sauce, smack the meat, done.

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I did it for about a month and it was shit and frustrating

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SSJPurple posted...

Thats where stuff starts not making sense. We have essential workerspeople who literally save lives like surgeons or firemen who get paid dogs*** compared to people like Brady who get millions for doing something that isnt important at all .

Tom Brady (and other player's) salary comes from a pool of money that's ~50% of the revenue that the NFL brings in every year.

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Its hectic but its not hard. Theres no real responsibility. If you fuck up, all you did was waste 5 minutes or however long it takes to cook a burger. Compare that to a doctor or an IT person or an engineer fucking up. The stress involved working at a place like that is just that youre busy and have to deal with rude customers or demanding management etc. the stress isnt that if you fuck up then people die or the entire business stops and people lose their jobs. And theres no real problems that need to be solved. Just follow the script.

ive got nothing against people who work menial jobs, most of them are nescessary. But most of them arent hard.

1234Life posted...

I can only imagine how out of shape some of you are if you consider fast food backbreaking labor. Jesus Christ!

If you bosses don't give a fuck about safety and understaff it absolutely can be.


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Kloe_Rinz posted...

ive got nothing against people who work menial jobs, most of them are necessary. But most of them arent hard.

Doing the things you've described once, twice, or even a few times is easy. You're at least partially underestimating the mental fatigue of having to do repetitive mind numbing shit over and over, at top speed, however. Then having to go back and do it again, day after day.

One thing better jobs have that those don't is certainly job satisfaction.

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