Minimum Wage

Waitresses deserve to make minimum wage.

@ dru is beautiful.
Waitresses deserve to make more than minimum wage, I reckon. The stuff that they have to put up with compared to say, retail jobs is so different (at least, in my experience). I think it's bull with what their pay seems to be.

@ swell
At the very least I think they deserve minimum wage (since they also get tips on top of that so technically they would be somewhat making over minimum wage with tips). All jobs that deal with the public get to deal with various things that are just absolute bull coming from people. My mom used to work at the airport and she got cussed out so many times. There was also one time someone just full on reached behind the ticket counter, grabbed the soda there and threw it in her face.

I don't understand the argument that "If we raise minimum wage, people at minimum wage jobs won't have any reason to do anything better with their lives."

You know what's REALLY not incentive to work hard? Working 50 to 60 hours a week and still not quite making ends meet. That's the kind of thing that makes me think "Why should I bother working hard?" Not actually getting paid enough to pay my bills. And plus when you're doing that, you're not ABLE to take the steps to do something better with your life, because you don't have the time or the means to develop the skill sets that would qualify you for those more skilled jobs/careers.

If people are making a living wage--a LIVING WAGE, meaning enough to get by and pay their bills but not enough to go out and buy fancy things and take vacations--then yes, maybe some people will be content with that. But most people will want luxuries. Most people will want to have the means to take the trips they've always wanted, to have the big wedding they've always dreamed of, whatever it may be. And I think people who make that argument are also entirely discounting the reason a lot of people go to college for careers--less to make money and more because there is something specific they want to do with their lives. If I was making $15 an hour or whatever at my current job, I would still be in college, because I want my degree in Literature and I want a job working for literary magazines or publishers. Job satisfaction is a huge motivator for people. The difference would be that I wouldn't have to work 30 hours a week in order to pay my rent, so I would actually be able to dedicate the time I need to my coursework.

/rant

In my area, I think a livable wage based on a full-time job would be about $10 an hour. That's not too ridiculous. That would be enough for my husband and I to be able to make bills without a roommate. It's more than either of us is currently making, though.

And I know, I know: McDonald's shouldn't be a career, it should be a stepping stone, it should be temporary while you work on bigger things! But the things I mentioned in that first ranty paragraph? Those are the kinds of things that MAKE McDonald's a career for people who would give anything to be able to do more.

@ AmorarEsDeVivir
You pretty much just said everything I've been trying to tell people for ages, but in a much more concise and understandable manner. Can I just take you around places and point to you whenever I need a rational and articulate argument for common sense?

I make just above minimum wage, but it was a recent pay raise because of a promotion that I only got because they needed to promote someone for the area I work in. That being said, I might as well make minimum wage since, even though I usually work 50 hour work weeks, I don't get paid overtime because of some loophole in the law.
My state's minimum wage is $8.00 an hour, and I get paid $8.25, which isn't much considering all my added responsibility. Now here's the kicker, I work at an amusement park right now, and have to deal with customers and safety concerns and even training new employees.

In the end, if they raise minimum wage wouldn't living expenses also be raised to meet the new low? My belief is yes, because that's exactly what happens when a minimum is raised. In the end evaluations need to be seen to compare what a family can live off to what they make. People can't make ends meet and that's the ridiculous part.

Edit

The thing is, a lot of people do live on minimum wage. Or if they are trying to make money for college/university they also have to live off what they make. It's not that they can get a better job without a degree because nowadays just graduating high school or getting your GED isn't enough, even if you went to a trade school. So yes, I agree it should be made so people can live off it, because a lot of people are living on the poverty line since that's what it used to be for.
My father is now working a minimum wage job because he was laid off and can't get another job since he doesn't have a college degree, though he does have so much experience. It's just not enough to get him a proper job.

@ January Rose
If someone is not making a living wage, how do you expect them to be able to save for college? Saving for something as expensive as college requires money. If someone is not making a living wage then that means they don't have any money to save. All of their money is going to bills and necessities of life such as food. And they're not even making enough to afford the necessities of life. So how is one supposed to save when they have no money to save? It's not possible. Minimum wage should be a living wage and it is meant to be a living wage. Living is not a privilege, it's a human right. Everyone deserves the necessities of life and these necessities should not be reserved for people working above minimum wage.

I live near San Francisco and San Francisco's minimum wage is $10.25 as well. I do believe this is still the highest in the country, although I do remember another city debating a higher minimum wage then what we've got. Now where you live might be different but where I live, people are not just simply "whining" when we say that $10.25 is not enough to live off of. We're telling the truth that it's not enough to live off of. The cost of living in San Francisco would require someone to earn at least $15 an hour. This is just to afford the necessities such as rent, utilities, and food. It doesn't give people enough to save for anything and that includes college; $15 an hour would simply give enough to live as every human being should be able to. Perhaps the cost of living is lower where you are but it really is quite unfair to say that people who complain about a $10.25 wage are just "whining". In my suburb (I live just outside of San Francisco's city limits), our minimum wage is $8 an hour. This is vastly unfair. That is not enough to live off of. By far, it is not enough. No one can live off of $8 an hour in this area and I really don't think we should just deal with it. We should fight for a minimum wage job that is at least a living wage because everyone has a right to live.

The work force and wages are not as simple as your post makes them seem. You have to take into account things such as the cost of living when speaking of minimum wage. The cost is not the same everywhere and in certain areas, a wage that might be high for your area is not high for that area. $10.25 is not high for San Francisco; it's not even a living wage and people have every right to fight for a living wage.

"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt (1933, Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act)

This is not a new idea. Corporate bigwigs wants to make millions while forcing workers onto public assistance. And we end up paying for it.

January Rose:

Where I live it is $10.25 an hour which is great. People who comlain that it is not enough to live on need to stop whinning about it. Minimum wage isn't something your supposed to be able to live on, it's money to help you get into college/university to help you get a much better job like doctor, teacher, business owner, etc.

Thing is, $10.25 might actually BE a livable wage in some areas. You know where it is where I am? $8.00 an hour. That's it. And that's a new law. Before that it was $7.25. That is NOT something you can live on.

And I disagree with you--"something you can live on" is EXACTLY what minimum wage should be. Because in order to have money to help you get the specific skills you need, you need to able to...well, live. No, it shouldn't be something you can live luxuriously on. But let me tell you, if my husband had been making $10.25 for the last year and half he's been at his current job rather than $7.30, our lives would be a lot different and we would both be a lot closer to the kinds of goals you're assuming minimum wage can help a person reach as is.