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Fast food is the absolute worst job a person can possibly have in the United States. It destroys your body, kills your spirit, and pays less than nothing when y

Fast food is the absolute worst job a person can possibly have in the United States. It destroys your body, kills your spirit, and pays less than nothing when you consider the lack of health benefits and high possibility of injury. I did it for years before learning to code, and it's work that no human being should have to do. I don't know what will come next for low skilled people, but I know the world will be a better place when we've reached a point technologically that humans are free from this kind of labor.

kevinskii 9y ago
Of all of the lousy jobs I’ve had, fast food wasn’t nearly the worst. And If I were forced go back and work any of them tomorrow, I’d still be a happy and healthy person.
astura 9y ago
Don't you think you're being a little hyperbolic here? Less than nothing? Really? I worked fast food for 2 years, one full time. I did not mind it one bit, in fact, as far as jobs go, I liked it for the most part - the only really shitty part of it was the terrible pay and smelling like grease after your shift. My sister worked with me and she enjoyed it to. It's also not particularly physically demanding. Retail, on the other hand, was very soul sucking to me. My hypothesis is I'm sensitive to the bright lights they use in retail stores.
- wolco 9y ago
  Love retail and selling things. When you work in a fast food retail store like radio shack in the 80/90s customers tell you what they want its great.
grandmczeb 9y ago
> Fast food is the absolute worst job a person can possibly have in the United States Having also worked in fast food, I disagree. Manual labor was a whole lot worse on my body and paid basically the same.
tyingq 9y ago
I worked at Wendy's during the 1980's (high school) and it wasn't bad. Minimum wage and all, but any problems you encountered started and ended on the same day, so stress wasn't really an issue. What seems different these days is that most of the workers aren't high school kids. That was the case in the 80's. Something about the job market where people are trying to use entry level fast food jobs to support an adult life.
- aphextron 9y ago
  >I worked at Wendy's during the 1980's (high school) and it wasn't bad. Minimum wage and all, but any problems you encountered started and ended on the same day, so stress wasn't really an issue. That's the whole point of this article though. The workers in a busy McDonalds restaurant today are being expected to make 10x the output you did as a teenager in the 80's for wages that are less than what you made, inflation adjusted. A line cook in 1985 made about $4.50/hr, which is $10.50 in 2018 dollars [0]. In 2018, federal minimum wage is $7.25, and the are plenty of McDonalds employees making that much across the country. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1986/09/rpt1full.pdf https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1986/09/rpt1full.pdf [0]
  - tyingq 9y ago
    I made $3.35 and worked my ass off in 1985. I was genuinely tired, though not stressed at shift end. That 10x thing is pure bullshit. The extra stress is solely because their paycheck is needed to survive, versus for some extra money. I didn't have much idle time. Wendy's had a salad bar then and other things (manual cash registers, less automation, no credit cards, less prefab food, etc) that were arguably more work than today's world. Other stuff, like degreasing the floor at shift end can't be any better or worse now. Didn't need health insurance or other benefits though, and my paycheck went to clothes, booze, and computer/electronic crap. Stuff my Mom wouldn't buy. I wasn't stressing about how much my paycheck was.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    A line cook in 1985 made about $4.50/hr Not in fast food. Starting wage was usually minimum wage unless market conditions dictated otherwise.
walshemj 9y ago
High possibility of injury??? as opposed to a Miner Fisherman, Construction Worker Realy?
junk_f00d 9y ago
>It destroys your body, kills your spirit, and pays less than nothing when you consider the lack of health benefits and high possibility of injury. I worked out in the woods of the northwest as a logger and would like to disagree. There are certainly jobs that are worse in all the metrics you've listed. Personally, I couldn't wait to get a fast food job after I quit.
wglb 9y ago
Well, I would put a job cleaning out a chicken coop right up there.

kevinskii 9y ago

Of all of the lousy jobs I’ve had, fast food wasn’t nearly the worst. And If I were forced go back and work any of them tomorrow, I’d still be a happy and healthy person.

astura 9y ago

Don't you think you're being a little hyperbolic here? Less than nothing? Really? I worked fast food for 2 years, one full time. I did not mind it one bit, in fact, as far as jobs go, I liked it for the most part - the only really shitty part of it was the terrible pay and smelling like grease after your shift. My sister worked with me and she enjoyed it to. It's also not particularly physically demanding. Retail, on the other hand, was very soul sucking to me. My hypothesis is I'm sensitive to the bright lights they use in retail stores.

wolco 9y ago
Love retail and selling things. When you work in a fast food retail store like radio shack in the 80/90s customers tell you what they want its great.

grandmczeb 9y ago

> Fast food is the absolute worst job a person can possibly have in the United States Having also worked in fast food, I disagree. Manual labor was a whole lot worse on my body and paid basically the same.

tyingq 9y ago

I worked at Wendy's during the 1980's (high school) and it wasn't bad. Minimum wage and all, but any problems you encountered started and ended on the same day, so stress wasn't really an issue. What seems different these days is that most of the workers aren't high school kids. That was the case in the 80's. Something about the job market where people are trying to use entry level fast food jobs to support an adult life.

aphextron 9y ago
>I worked at Wendy's during the 1980's (high school) and it wasn't bad. Minimum wage and all, but any problems you encountered started and ended on the same day, so stress wasn't really an issue. That's the whole point of this article though. The workers in a busy McDonalds restaurant today are being expected to make 10x the output you did as a teenager in the 80's for wages that are less than what you made, inflation adjusted. A line cook in 1985 made about $4.50/hr, which is $10.50 in 2018 dollars [0]. In 2018, federal minimum wage is $7.25, and the are plenty of McDonalds employees making that much across the country. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1986/09/rpt1full.pdf https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1986/09/rpt1full.pdf [0]
- tyingq 9y ago
  I made $3.35 and worked my ass off in 1985. I was genuinely tired, though not stressed at shift end. That 10x thing is pure bullshit. The extra stress is solely because their paycheck is needed to survive, versus for some extra money. I didn't have much idle time. Wendy's had a salad bar then and other things (manual cash registers, less automation, no credit cards, less prefab food, etc) that were arguably more work than today's world. Other stuff, like degreasing the floor at shift end can't be any better or worse now. Didn't need health insurance or other benefits though, and my paycheck went to clothes, booze, and computer/electronic crap. Stuff my Mom wouldn't buy. I wasn't stressing about how much my paycheck was.
- DrScump 9y ago
  A line cook in 1985 made about $4.50/hr Not in fast food. Starting wage was usually minimum wage unless market conditions dictated otherwise.

walshemj 9y ago

High possibility of injury??? as opposed to a Miner Fisherman, Construction Worker Realy?

junk_f00d 9y ago

>It destroys your body, kills your spirit, and pays less than nothing when you consider the lack of health benefits and high possibility of injury. I worked out in the woods of the northwest as a logger and would like to disagree. There are certainly jobs that are worse in all the metrics you've listed. Personally, I couldn't wait to get a fast food job after I quit.

wglb 9y ago

Well, I would put a job cleaning out a chicken coop right up there.