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That is an exceedingly cynical way of looking at it. People usually volunteer to do this kind of thing and have no small amount of personal pride that they are
by jandrewrogers 7y ago
That is an exceedingly cynical way of looking at it. People usually volunteer to do this kind of thing and have no small amount of personal pride that they are able to help their neighbors in a disaster. It is a very positive experience for the people that do it, and they are often some of the first people on the ground. This is a manifestation of the self-reliance bias of American culture, they want to fix things themselves when disasters happen.
Disaster response in the US is completely driven by these kinds of community-oriented actions by private individuals and companies, and it has a long history of being highly effective.
- ethbro 7y agoI've been in the hurricane center at a large retailer (last week, in fact). Aside from freezing prices at before-storm levels, no one who volunteers for the 24/7 emergency staffing is thinking about the dollars. Sales take care of themselves. They're doing it because it feels good to help people. And because rerouting truckloads of supplies effectively at 2 AM means someone in the affected area will be able get to their nearest store and get the things they need. I'm not sure why the comments here are so !%^&ing jaded, but sometimes you do the right thing... simply because it's right.
- zigzaggy 7y agoI totally agree. I think a lot of people think this way and just don’t express their opinions because they have nothing to prove. But there are also lots of selfish people that don’t and they’ll probably never get this.
- CoolGuySteve 7y agoHow many volunteers are doing it because they need the hours? Does WH pay employees who can't show so they can still cover their bills? Is it ethical to pay someone $7/hour (the average wage of a WH employee) and then ask them if they would volunteer to travel to work in a hurricane?
- wcunning 7y agoCitation on the average wage? Federal minimum is $7.25/hr, and at least in my midwestern town, McDonald's is paying $11.25/hr, starting, so that seems shockingly low as an average. Or is that the average of the tipped staff, before tips?
- CoolGuySteve 7y agohttps://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Waffle_House%2C_Inc./Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Waffle_House%2... https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Waffle-House/salaries https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Waffle-House/salaries But really, if the employee was making $11.25/hour, would that somehow make it more ethical? $22k/year is still borderline impoverished for a 3 person household: https://www.thebalance.com/federal-poverty-level-definition-guidelines-chart-3305843 https://www.thebalance.com/federal-poverty-level-definition-...
- diminoten 7y agoWouldn't it be $44k/year?
- pessimizer 7y agoThe usual estimate is 2000 hours/year.
- diminoten 7y agoYes, per person, and two people who can work in the household.
- Scoundreller 7y agoDoes it? Here’s the kind of house that $35k BUYS you in Cleveland: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2840-E-122nd-St-Cleveland-OH-44120/33417727_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2840-E-122nd-St-Cleveland... I can only assume the neighbourhood and/or it’s schools are atrocious, but damn.
- megaremote 7y agoI am sorry, you are being delusional. Volunteers have the choice, and if they are in a difficult situations themselves they can opt out. Requiring someone to come in to work, when there lives might be on the line themselves, is incredibly dangerous. I can't believe your attitude, it is insane and so dangerous.
- AmericanChopper 7y agoFor every good thing a company does, there’ll always be a HN commenter ready to explain why it’s exploitation.
- Angostura 7y agoI don’t think it’s extremely cynical. Depending on the culture of the company it would be quite possibly that there was pressure - subtle, or less so - put on employees.