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Rodney · 10-17-2004, 01:57 PM

There were a lot of young numbnuts in the service industry even 30 years ago when I worked minimum wage fast food. But in those days the general quality of workers was better because minimum wage was a better wage than it is now. They paid $2 bucks an hour, and you could just about live on it if you were young and healthy and single and didn't worry about insurance. So we got people in their 20s working along side me for the minimum, or maybe a quarter more. We even got people in their late '20s and '30s who were moonlighting for extra cash from the military. The wages were good enough that it was worth it to them.

Could you "just about live" on $5.75 an hour or whatever the fed minimum wage is today? Don't think so. Can you get a lot of decent people for minimum wage (who are legally in this country and trying to lead a decent life)? Don't think so.

Pay more, and find a way to make it work. Good employees should be more productive, maybe they'll pay their way. Oh yes, and pay good wages from day 1; don't make them work their way into it over a period of six months or a year. That way, the job will be valuable from day 1, more valuable than a lot of promises. And job seekers have heard a whole lot of promises from businessmen that never came to fruition.

10-17-2004, 01:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	There were a lot of young numbnuts in the service industry even 30 years ago when I worked minimum wage fast food. But in those days the general quality of workers was better because minimum wage was a better wage than it is now. They paid $2 bucks an hour, and you could just about live on it if you were young and healthy and single and didn't worry about insurance. So we got people in their 20s working along side me for the minimum, or maybe a quarter more. We even got people in their late '20s and '30s who were moonlighting for extra cash from the military. The wages were good enough that it was worth it to them. Could you "just about live" on $5.75 an hour or whatever the fed minimum wage is today? Don't think so. Can you get a lot of decent people for minimum wage (who are legally in this country and trying to lead a decent life)? Don't think so. Pay more, and find a way to make it work. Good employees should be more productive, maybe they'll pay their way. Oh yes, and pay good wages from day 1; don't make them work their way into it over a period of six months or a year. That way, the job will be valuable from day 1, more valuable than a lot of promises. And job seekers have heard a whole lot of promises from businessmen that never came to fruition.