Common American workers need more than a minimum wage increase insisted upon by congressional Democrats for the sake of displaying some glimmer of populist appeal. We need rights and actual representation. As we all know, our arcane legal system is by and for wealth and power. A worker's only right is a lunch break, which I've been denied in the past. In reality, our elected officials will remain comfortably tucked in the top brass' breast pockets, and nobody who matters will ever give a damn.
Perhaps risking a bullet in the face is part of a night cashier's job, just like the builders of the Empire State Building risked a plunge to death. Getting fired for accepting that risk and giving the boss your best effort is not what an honest worker should expect. The moral of the story? When dealing with human trash, one should expect to get burned. To a "cynic," getting screwed also means being vindicated.
The robbers will keep hitting convenience stores, corporations will always violate their workers, and I'll find another $7 job that induces liquor cravings. The service industry freak show carries on as the rest of civilization swaggers by for gasoline and lottery tickets. The bottom of the food chain is sustenance for the rich and insatiable. Robbers will blow your head off, but corporate will eat your children.
Unemployment benefits are a joke. Some Coors would sure hit the spot ... a blue mask would really flatter my eyes.
Article comments
1 - klondikekitty
Thanks, Joe, right on, man!! I love the polite words you use to say the boss sucks, and the lawyers suck up to the boss!!
It would be totally awesome to put a group of 10 lawyers into the menial, degrading $7-an-hour jobs that the rest of us poor slobs are forced to accept in lieu of welfare or homelessness, and see how long they last before they realize what a joke the service industry is to blue-collar America!
It's easy to be legally proper and politically correct when you're living on a six-figure income, so I can understand why they would be reluctant to bite the hand that makes the payments on their Mercedes!!
Truly you are a voice in the wilderness, crying out for the majority of Americans who are wondering what has become of the middle class!! Rock on, brother, rock on!!
2 - Dave Nalle
Good article. I sure wish it was over in the Politics section where it belongs.
BTW, if you can write an article like this, I bet you could easily find a job paying way more than $7 an hour. And I'm not talking about th $10 they're paying at WalMart. Get a data entry or telemarketing job for $12-$15 an hour. You seem more than qualified and they even have late-shift work if that's what you like.
Time to escape the hellish cycle of abuse that is the convenience store.
Dave
3 - bliffle
The goal of management is to push the profits upward on the ladder and push the risks downward. That makes life hazardous for the lowest workers.
As for Wrongful Termination suits, The Law regards employment as an "at will" relationship that may be arbitrarily terminated by either party at any time, without notice, without termination pay, etc., just what you're owed for actual hours served.
As for judges, they are "reluctant to interfere in the rights of employers", i.e., when in doubt they decide in favor of employers. And there's always doubt.
4 - Ray Ellis
I agree with Dave, Joe. But I'd add you might actually have a future in politics. Considering our governor advocates all "law abiding" citizens should be allowed to carry pistols into bars, shurches, schools and hospitals, but nobody should be allowed to smoke in public--anywhere-- I have to think we've gone down Alice's rabbit hole. Also considering that one of the mayoral candidate's solution to crime is to tear down rundown apartments until; the problem is solved, and also considering that the yokels in Farmer's Branch passed that ordinance holding landlords responsible for illegal immigrants, and considering your own misfortune, I'd say it's time you become an activist.
Oh, hell-- just run for office.
5 - Joe Harris
Thanks for the kind words, ladies and gentlemen. Although the voices of reason fall on deaf ears, I won't be shutting the Hell up anytime soon. Voting is a lost cause, so let's storm the Bastille and use the governor's face as an ashtray.