I see a bunch of stupid people, being duped into thinking they are suddenly going to have lots more money for no more work.

Is it just me, or did that white guy at the end need to have the smile bitch-slapped off his face?

Holy fuck i can barely understand what they're saying.

Employeers don't offer 40 hour weeks at min wage level jobs...they aren't going to pay for your health care too, hippie

If they raised the wage to $15/hour, college graduates would start taking all of the jobs, then where would they work?

I loved the quote about now "Here in New York City, it was business as usual."

Because it's true. I literally had no idea there was a fast-food strike today until I saw this. And I even popped into a little pizza joint at 23rd & 6th to grab a slice before getting on the train this evening.

I realize that we are sort of an oddity among American cities, but there's just no reason to have restaurants like McDonald's and KFC here in Manhattan. I do not understand how these places even stay in business, unless it's just 100% tourists with little kids. I can get two slices and a coke for $5* at literally every single pizza joint on the whole island, served to me by someone who didn't drop out of school in the 9th grade to raise their third child. Ditto the Street Meat carts. Or the kebab shops. Or the (insert ethnic food here) hole-in-the-wall. They may not speak English, but it's obvious that they take their work seriously.

* = I'm not joking. I think that as part of the business licensing process, every pizza parlor in all of NYC is required to offer two slices and a coke for five bucks.

And as for the rest of it, well shit, I worked at Wendy's when I was in college. I earned minimum wage, hated that job, and left it as soon as I managed to score a part-time gig at a local TV station. That was *also* for minimum wage and doing nothing but shitty grunt work, but it was grunt work that was relevant to a career path which didn't involve a deep-fryer.

I did tire changes and brake jobs at a tire shop and worked in an auto parts store my last couple of years in college. Before that I worked at a Singer dealership repairing and sometimes selling sewing machines. None were full time or paid awesome rates but they got me what I was worth.

I worked as a welding apprentice for $4/ hr under the table in 1997. Lots of shit work was involved, lots of dirty, greasy, sexy shit work. $4 an hour put gas in my 1971 Nova and I learned the fundamentals of metal fabrication/ welding. It contributed to abilities which I use to this day at my current career.
My brother worked at Burger King, said "what a scumbag job this is." It put enough money in his pocket to cart him around while he was becoming a commercial pilot though.
Moral of my story:
What kind of person decides that fast food is a fantastic choice for a full time career path? The kind that deserves to make minimum wage, that's who.

Stupidity is it's own reward.

This right here. Learning a trade is an investment in yourself. You can make it a career, or keep the knowledge in your back pocket. Being able to troubleshoot is always valuable, whether in software, automotive, or figuring out white the Sprite nozzle keeps clogging.