Chit-Chat: The Feels

[peacheslatour]

[bluegirl147]

18 minutes ago, kittykat said:

I've been making that argument to my friends for YEARS.  Why punish the immigrants when there's no consequences for the employers who exploit the cheap labor and hold these people by the throat when the complain about working conditions.

You always hear it's undocumented workers keeping wages low.  No it's the companies that hire the undocumented workers.  And they will keep doing it.  If their current workers are deported they will look for new undocumented workers. It's not like they will suddenly decide to hire US citizens and pay them a living wage and provide benefits.  No matter what Trump and the Republicans say that is not happening.

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, bluegirl147 said:

It's not like they will suddenly decide to hire US citizens and pay them a living wage and provide benefits.  No matter what Trump and the Republicans say that is not happening.

I know we shouldn't believe that Trump and his merry band of incompetents rule by meme, but frankly, with him, I wouldn't be surprised.  Anyway all that to say I have seen a disturbing number of posts and memes that are suggesting, if not downright insisting, that anyone collecting benefits like unemployment insurance, should be expected to go pick fruit.  I think they are imagining some bizarre republican twist on what Roosevelt did during the depression to provide employment. 

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

You always hear it's undocumented workers keeping wages low.  No it's the companies that hire the undocumented workers.  And they will keep doing it.  If their current workers are deported they will look for new undocumented workers. It's not like they will suddenly decide to hire US citizens and pay them a living wage and provide benefits.  No matter what Trump and the Republicans say that is not happening.

 

Where are they going to find American workers willing to pick strawberries  six days a week, for however long daylight holds out at $5.00 per hour? And I've heard conservatives say  "well, I picked fruit on my uncles farm when I was a kid, those jobs are teenage summer jobs." Yeah, I picked fruit in the summer too but when we got too hot or too tired, we stopped and went to the beach and if we got sick we had our parents health insurance and if we were hungry, our parents gave us food. I know farm workers do not have any such options.

[Notabug]

20 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

 

Where are they going to find American workers willing to pick strawberries  six days a week, for however long daylight holds out at $5.00 per hour? And I've heard conservatives say  "well, I picked fruit on my uncles farm when I was a kid, those jobs are teenage summer jobs." Yeah, I picked fruit in the summer too but when we got too hot or too tired, we stopped and went to the beach and if we got sick we had our parents health insurance and if we were hungry, our parents gave us food. I know farm workers do not have any such options.

Times have also changed greatly.  Although the Republicans haven't noticed, teens no longer take menial jobs in the summer.  Take a look at your favorite fast food joint; they have trouble finding kids to work there and instead use retirees or young adults without vocational training or college.  It's even worse in rural areas where there are fewer kids overall.  Expecting that a kid living in the inner city is going to be willing or able to travel out to the sticks to pick fruit daily is pure nonsense.

I worked at Burger King when I was in high school back when dinosaurs roamed.  Kids nowadays are not looking for that kind of work.  I'm not a parent, I don't know what they do for spending money, but they ain't picking tomatoes.

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, Notabug said:

Times have also changed greatly.  Although the Republicans haven't noticed, teens no longer take menial jobs in the summer.  Take a look at your favorite fast food joint; they have trouble finding kids to work there and instead use retirees or young adults without vocational training or college.  It's even worse in rural areas where there are fewer kids overall.  Expecting that a kid living in the inner city is going to be willing or able to travel out to the sticks to pick fruit daily is pure nonsense.

I worked at Burger King when I was in high school back when dinosaurs roamed.  Kids nowadays are not looking for that kind of work.  I'm not a parent, I don't know what they do for spending money, but they ain't picking tomatoes.

When my kids were older teens they worked in coffee shops and stores within easy reach of our house. One thing I rarely see anymore are teens babysitting or mowing lawns which were standard teen jobs when I was growing up. As you say the world has changed.

[PRgal]

22 minutes ago, Dimity said:

When my kids were older teens they worked in coffee shops and stores within easy reach of our house. One thing I rarely see anymore are teens babysitting or mowing lawns which were standard teen jobs when I was growing up. As you say the world has changed.

Other than sitting jobs here and there, I wasn't allowed to work when I was in high school, not even in the summer.  In university, my parents didn't want me to work during the academic year, but were fine with me working when I was off.  They had to tutor high school kids when they were in school to help with tuition and didn't want me to deal with a "job" while studying.  

[Notabug]

28 minutes ago, Dimity said:

When my kids were older teens they worked in coffee shops and stores within easy reach of our house. One thing I rarely see anymore are teens babysitting or mowing lawns which were standard teen jobs when I was growing up. As you say the world has changed.

I was one of 5 sisters and, when I was in high school, we lived in a condo and 3 of us were babysitting age.  In addition to taking care of our younger sibs, we had a ton of first cousins.  My youngest sister was still an infant and the 3 of us were all comfortable with newborns on up.  We would put our names and numbers in the condo newsletter every month and we would be turning jobs down.  I could've babysat every day of the month if I'd wanted it.  I only went to Burger King because they paid $2 an hour and I was getting around half that for babysitting.

You're right, though, teens don't do those sorts of jobs anymore.

3 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Other than sitting jobs here and there, I wasn't allowed to work when I was in high school, not even in the summer.  In university, my parents didn't want me to work during the academic year, but were fine with me working when I was off.  They had to tutor high school kids when they were in school to help with tuition and didn't want me to deal with a "job" while studying.  

My family was struggling economically when I was in high school and college and there really wasn't an option to stay home and not work.  As it was, my sisters and I often tossed our babysitting money into the pot to help pay for groceries.  We had a bunch of young siblings, we felt it was our responsibility to help where we could.

ETA:  Under the category of strange things I never thought I'd need to know; my employer, a large hospital system, sent out a systemwide memo this morning with information on what to do if/when ICE appears at our workplace.  What to say, who to call, etc.  It seems that healthcare facilities are going to be targeted next.

Edited 1 hour ago by Notabug

[Bookworm 1979]

1 hour ago, Notabug said:

Times have also changed greatly.  Although the Republicans haven't noticed, teens no longer take menial jobs in the summer.  Take a look at your favorite fast food joint; they have trouble finding kids to work there and instead use retirees or young adults without vocational training or college.  It's even worse in rural areas where there are fewer kids overall. 

My nephew looked for a summer job last year, and he could not find one. A lot of the places here hire foreign workers for the entry-level jobs. The rest of places would only hire 18 and over. Doesn't help that Alberta has the lowest minimum wage in Canada, and our useless provincial government made it legal for companies pay minors even less.

I did babysit back when I was a kid, and I HATED it (it's a big reason why I'm childfree). Once my aunts started having kids and I didn't have to babysit for the neighbours anymore, it got a little better.

I do remember one of the students who worked at Wal-Mart (back in the 90's when I worked there) getting a bottle of shampoo thrown at her head when the customer didn't like the price. I don't blame kids for not wanting to work.

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

My nephew looked for a summer job last year, and he could not find one. A lot of the places here hire foreign workers for the entry-level jobs. The rest of places would only hire 18 and over. Doesn't help that Alberta has the lowest minimum wage in Canada, and our useless provincial government made it legal for companies pay minors even less.

I did babysit back when I was a kid, and I HATED it (it's a big reason why I'm childfree). Once my aunts started having kids and I didn't have to babysit for the neighbours anymore, it got a little better.

I do remember one of the students who worked at Wal-Mart (back in the 90's when I worked there) getting a bottle of shampoo thrown at her head when the customer didn't like the price. I don't blame kids for not wanting to work.

Working with the public can be a nightmare no matter how old you are. I once eighty sixed a guy from my flower shop because he put his hands on me. I found out later that the girls at the deli next door weren't allowed to hand him his change. They had to place it on the counter or he would grab their hands.

[Bookworm 1979]

8 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Working with the public can be a nightmare no matter how old you are.

My mom finally retired from Wal-Mart last year, and she told me stories of people threatening the greeters during Covid when businesses were asking people to wear masks. The public sucks in general, but the public at Wal-Mart is a whole new level of nightmare. I'm glad you were able to kick out that guy from your flower shop.

[bluegirl147]

17 minutes ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

My mom finally retired from Wal-Mart last year, and she told me stories of people threatening the greeters during Covid when businesses were asking people to wear masks. The public sucks in general, but the public at Wal-Mart is a whole new level of nightmare. I'm glad you were able to kick out that guy from your flower shop.

When covid happened I didn't step foot in a Walmart for over a year till I was vaccinated.  Walmart on a good day is bad enough but during a pandemic?  No thank you. 

Kids today want to make money being influencers.

Edited 33 minutes ago by bluegirl147

[peacheslatour]

21 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

When covid happened I didn't step foot in a Walmart for over a year till I was vaccinated.  Walmart on a good day is bad enough but during a pandemic?  No thank you. 

Kids today want to make money being influencers.

My husband manages a model railroad shop. During the pandemic, he had a box of masks, ready for anyone who didn't have one of their own. You either wore one or you didn't come in. Most people had their own and the ones who didn't were pretty chill about taking one from him. Those red hats that didn't were asked to leave and if they put up some kind of argument, he reminded them that the train store was on private property and they had nothing to say about it. They left but I used to worry every day he would piss off some ammo sexual and not come home ever again.

Edited 13 minutes ago by peacheslatour

[Ohiopirate02]

8 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Kids today want to make money being influencers.

That and making money by playing video games as streamers. That being said, I do know of teens who have difficulty finding work because management does not want to hire teens. Store managers want adults who do not have as many restrictions on their hours and who will not up and quit on you in pursuit of their education. The job is never going to be the #1 priority for a teen, and that is a big turn off for management.

[Lugal]

13 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

While that might be true, I wonder what any of us would do if we were in Netanyahu's position?

Netanyahu's position is one of genocide.  Not only did he compare Gaza to Amalek, citing an explicitly genocidal passage from the Bible, but he has sabotaged previous ceasefire deals (and I have to give credit to Trump for leaning on him to get this deal passed).  Then Trump promises to "clean out" Gaza (his words with the connotation of ethnic cleansing) possibly putting US troops on the ground to do so.  This has earned him praise from Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, hardly individuals that any decent human being should want to be associated with.

2 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

You always hear it's undocumented workers keeping wages low.  No it's the companies that hire the undocumented workers.  And they will keep doing it.  If their current workers are deported they will look for new undocumented workers. It's not like they will suddenly decide to hire US citizens and pay them a living wage and provide benefits.  No matter what Trump and the Republicans say that is not happening.

Like I've often said, you can hate immigrants all you want, but until you stop loving the cheap labor they provide, nothing will change.

57 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Working with the public can be a nightmare no matter how old you are. I once eighty sixed a guy from my flower shop because he put his hands on me. I found out later that the girls at the deli next door weren't allowed to hand him his change. They had to place it on the counter or he would grab their hands.

Retail work is its own circle of hell.