Opinion: Let’s stop pretending fast food jobs are easy, abundant and beneath us.
———-
It seems like you can’t go anywhere without hearing about how no one wants to work anymore. I’ve noticed that, particularly among older and richer people, there persists an idea that jobs are abundant and the younger generations are just too lazy to want to fill them. I was recently browsing the New York Times and found an article about how teens should expect a “strong summer job market.” It covered the perspective of economists who say this summer should provide plenty of job opportunities for young people, particularly in hospitality and food service. In the comments, people complained about low employment rates and poor work ethic among teenagers. In contrast, almost everyone my age who I’ve casually talked to in the past month about summer jobs has been struggling to find work.
And now the personal angle I’m sure you’re all looking for: I was rejected from an entry-level job with no experience required at a burger place near my apartment. The job listing said they were open to hiring anyone and hoping for someone eager to work, so I figured I had a decent shot. I filled out the application and got an email informing me that they would reach out further to all “qualified applicants.” Can you guess who never heard from them again?
I could go on about how employers should have to respond to your application even if it’s a rejection letter, but that’s a whole separate issue. However, my initial issue was being slapped in the face with the idea that I could be unqualified for a fast food job. In retrospect, this might reflect an overinflated opinion of myself (surprise!), but I can also understand it as a product of colloquialisms my generation was exposed to. After all, when I was growing up, it was common to hear people say, “Don’t do [such and such] or you’ll end up flipping burgers.” Another common variation was, “You have to go to college or you’ll end up flipping burgers.”
As it turns out, going to college didn’t help me land the job. Forget being “too good” for it, I’m not even qualified. I’m lucky that my parents didn’t use this phrase, but unfortunately it was (and possibly still is) commonplace enough that most of my peers have heard it at least a few times. I take issue with the phrase for a variety of reasons, primarily because it implies that food service work is easy and, as a result, valueless. While I’ve never worked in the industry, it doesn’t take a lot of deep thought to realize that this kind of job teaches multitasking and time management skills. And as someone currently in a public-facing job, there’s never a dull moment on that front. The general public tends to be astounding.
Moreover, I’ve noticed that the people who say “flipping burgers” in a derogatory way turn around and spend their money on fast food. How can you continue to support an establishment while criticizing the importance of its workers? Burgers don’t flip themselves. Benefitting from the work of people whose livelihood you’re insulting is incredibly hypocritical.
Another major issue with the phrase is that it’s often used to argue against a universal raise in the minimum wage. People are insulted by the idea that anyone “flipping burgers” could make as much money as them. Not only does this deride food workers, but it creates an imaginary job hierarchy wherein fast food work is at the absolute bottom and everything else is somehow more important. Society is built on this so-called menial labor and it’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise. We can’t all be CEOs relaxing on yachts, and this kind of rhetoric only further divides people who should be united to fight for fair treatment across the board. Nothing makes you any better than someone who cooks for McDonald’s all day.
The next time you’re tempted to characterize someone as less-than for their food service job, consider this: Would you want to do the same work? As you sit in your ivory tower looking down on all the peasants around you, I encourage you to actually think for once about what you’re saying. Food service can be some of the most demanding work out there. It’s not easy, it’s not endlessly abundant and it’s certainly not beneath you.
