6 ms·

Five Black Fridays at the mall food court

75 points by luu 8y ago

Killes 8y ago
"Gloria Jean’s was the best job I ever had, because it was the only time I felt like there was community to be found in an unnatural environment built solely for the purpose of buying things. I care more about the women who worked there than I do, no offense, about anyone I met in school or from Twitter" Makes me think of the movie Clerks, and other depictions of this spirit of community in a unnatural commercial environment. Somehow the environment greatly strengthens these human connection. I do have nostalgia for these days. Corporations, instead of perfecting this kind of warmth and making the working environment tolerable, perfected exploitation. Always short sighted short term profit.
- klenwell 8y ago
  Brings to mind one of my favorite Onion articles: "Partygoers Mocked By Catering Staff" https://www.theonion.com/partygoers-mocked-by-catering-staff-1819566273 https://www.theonion.com/partygoers-mocked-by-catering-staff... Experts say mockery of the well-to-do by the serving class is a millennia-old tradition.
  - will_pseudonym 8y ago
    That reminds me of one of my favorite comedy series, Party Down. It was canceled largely because two of the actors (Adam Scott and Jane Lynch) were pulled into two major network shows (Parks & Recreation and Glee, respectively). You can watch the first episode free here: https://www.starz.com/series/partydown/episodes/5131/details https://www.starz.com/series/partydown/episodes/5131/details
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Shared struggle builds emotional bonds between people. Think military bootcamp.
nathanaldensr 8y ago
Is it just me, or is HN becoming a dumping ground for worthless stories from internet "media" rags like Vox, The Atlantic, etc.? Are these outlets spamming their stories to HN, or are people simply karma-whoring?
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  The interests of HN participants is wide ranging. I suggest the liberal use of the "hide" link for stories you're not interested in.
  - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
    >The interests of HN participants is wide ranging. Sure, but I guess then I lament the lack of “approvable opinions”, or diversity of opinion. See the guy above downvoted into oblivion for wanting more tech articles on hackernews. I don’t love it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between here and Reddit including the bubble and brigading. Edit: well, way to prove my point about lack of “acceptable opinions” :D
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      I'm not against more tech articles on hacker news. The more articles, the better! But that is a separate issue from disliking certain articles that are submitted. To your point about the bubble, that is why I want more articles that are not tech focused. I don't care about your javascript framework, I don't care about why this datastore is better over that datastore, and I most definitely don't care about why I should be using Python 3 over Python 2. I care about the intersection of technology and humanity, I care about biomedical developments (which you might consider outside of HN's wheelhouse), I care about how technology can be used to strengthen democracy, raise the poorest out of poverty, and to save lives. I care about people more than technology. Alongside these topics, I want intelligent discourse between subject matter experts and the intellectually curious. This is why I'm here. EDIT: With regards to "approvable opinions", don't let the fake internet points discourage you. I still voice opinions that I think are based on sound thesis in this forum, regardless of how the hive responds. As the saying goes, "My opinions are my own". We can both get what we want. Happy holidays to you!
jiveturkey 8y ago
meh TLDR: his boss at a mall coffee shop was great and being a teen, he loved working for pocket cash on black fridays. i think the author has it all wrong and is mistaking his nostalgia and youth experience for the reality of modern day black friday. the fact he liked working is not a consequence of a particularly good boss. not really worth the 5 minute read.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  If you thought the author was a “he”, you obviously didn’t read it very closely.
  - xtracerx 8y ago
    yeah, this was very clear.. I mean there were even pictures.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
gist 8y ago
> Workers are given little or no choice about the shifts they get, which commonly cut into family celebrations So what? Many people work on holidays and some actually enjoy it over spending time with their families (independent of whether they can paid more or not). The fact that others don't have to work doesn't change the reality. It's a job and it's fairly well know for certain jobs that you will have to work on holidays when others aren't working. You are given a choice. You can choose to find another job that doesn't require that. [1] You can try to get a job in an office doing something which is certainly not going to have you come in on a holiday. The reason you choose a mall job (food court or otherwise) is because it was something that others were doing and/or you didn't put the effort into trying to get another job. And you probably like being around a constantly changing array of people (which you wouldn't have in an office). Bottom line stop complaining and whining it's not the worst thing out there or even close. Stop being so entitled and blaming others and the boss for your predicament in life (whatever it is and whatever the cause). [1] Can't find a job? Maybe that is why in high school you should have been working harder and not socializing and what not. Of course there are people that this doesn't apply to. But my guess is it does in an overwhelming number of cases. Besides mall jobs are as stepping stone. You will get to enjoy and play later in life.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't post nasty rants to HN, even if your underlying points are correct. It poisons the well here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
passthejoe 8y ago
Best article I've read in a long time.

75 points by luu 8y ago

"Gloria Jean’s was the best job I ever had, because it was the only time I felt like there was community to be found in an unnatural environment built solely for the purpose of buying things. I care more about the women who worked there than I do, no offense, about anyone I met in school or from Twitter" Makes me think of the movie Clerks, and other depictions of this spirit of community in a unnatural commercial environment. Somehow the environment greatly strengthens these human connection. I do have nostalgia for these days. Corporations, instead of perfecting this kind of warmth and making the working environment tolerable, perfected exploitation. Always short sighted short term profit.

klenwell 8y ago
Brings to mind one of my favorite Onion articles: "Partygoers Mocked By Catering Staff" https://www.theonion.com/partygoers-mocked-by-catering-staff-1819566273 https://www.theonion.com/partygoers-mocked-by-catering-staff... Experts say mockery of the well-to-do by the serving class is a millennia-old tradition.
- will_pseudonym 8y ago
  That reminds me of one of my favorite comedy series, Party Down. It was canceled largely because two of the actors (Adam Scott and Jane Lynch) were pulled into two major network shows (Parks & Recreation and Glee, respectively). You can watch the first episode free here: https://www.starz.com/series/partydown/episodes/5131/details https://www.starz.com/series/partydown/episodes/5131/details
toomuchtodo 8y ago
Shared struggle builds emotional bonds between people. Think military bootcamp.

nathanaldensr 8y ago

Is it just me, or is HN becoming a dumping ground for worthless stories from internet "media" rags like Vox, The Atlantic, etc.? Are these outlets spamming their stories to HN, or are people simply karma-whoring?

toomuchtodo 8y ago
The interests of HN participants is wide ranging. I suggest the liberal use of the "hide" link for stories you're not interested in.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  >The interests of HN participants is wide ranging. Sure, but I guess then I lament the lack of “approvable opinions”, or diversity of opinion. See the guy above downvoted into oblivion for wanting more tech articles on hackernews. I don’t love it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between here and Reddit including the bubble and brigading. Edit: well, way to prove my point about lack of “acceptable opinions” :D
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    I'm not against more tech articles on hacker news. The more articles, the better! But that is a separate issue from disliking certain articles that are submitted. To your point about the bubble, that is why I want more articles that are not tech focused. I don't care about your javascript framework, I don't care about why this datastore is better over that datastore, and I most definitely don't care about why I should be using Python 3 over Python 2. I care about the intersection of technology and humanity, I care about biomedical developments (which you might consider outside of HN's wheelhouse), I care about how technology can be used to strengthen democracy, raise the poorest out of poverty, and to save lives. I care about people more than technology. Alongside these topics, I want intelligent discourse between subject matter experts and the intellectually curious. This is why I'm here. EDIT: With regards to "approvable opinions", don't let the fake internet points discourage you. I still voice opinions that I think are based on sound thesis in this forum, regardless of how the hive responds. As the saying goes, "My opinions are my own". We can both get what we want. Happy holidays to you!

jiveturkey 8y ago

meh TLDR: his boss at a mall coffee shop was great and being a teen, he loved working for pocket cash on black fridays. i think the author has it all wrong and is mistaking his nostalgia and youth experience for the reality of modern day black friday. the fact he liked working is not a consequence of a particularly good boss. not really worth the 5 minute read.

gnicholas 8y ago
If you thought the author was a “he”, you obviously didn’t read it very closely.
- xtracerx 8y ago
  yeah, this was very clear.. I mean there were even pictures.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

gist 8y ago

> Workers are given little or no choice about the shifts they get, which commonly cut into family celebrations So what? Many people work on holidays and some actually enjoy it over spending time with their families (independent of whether they can paid more or not). The fact that others don't have to work doesn't change the reality. It's a job and it's fairly well know for certain jobs that you will have to work on holidays when others aren't working. You are given a choice. You can choose to find another job that doesn't require that. [1] You can try to get a job in an office doing something which is certainly not going to have you come in on a holiday. The reason you choose a mall job (food court or otherwise) is because it was something that others were doing and/or you didn't put the effort into trying to get another job. And you probably like being around a constantly changing array of people (which you wouldn't have in an office). Bottom line stop complaining and whining it's not the worst thing out there or even close. Stop being so entitled and blaming others and the boss for your predicament in life (whatever it is and whatever the cause). [1] Can't find a job? Maybe that is why in high school you should have been working harder and not socializing and what not. Of course there are people that this doesn't apply to. But my guess is it does in an overwhelming number of cases. Besides mall jobs are as stepping stone. You will get to enjoy and play later in life.

dang 8y ago
Please don't post nasty rants to HN, even if your underlying points are correct. It poisons the well here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

passthejoe 8y ago

Best article I've read in a long time.