this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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[–] Jimbabwe@lemmy.world 127 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The phrasing for the 2008 frame isn’t right. Should be “Are you too good to flip burgers?” Or “Is flipping burgers not good enough for you?”

[–] towerful@programming.dev 116 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or "you went to college? You're overqualified for flipping burgers"

[–] Aneb@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've heard that enough times. I only have some community college under my belt and have been deferred from jobs.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just apply again and leave that part out

[–] grissino@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Then they won't be educated enough for that same job

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

2021 seems off too since it's in the middle of COVID. I can't think of a better quote though.

[–] Taldan@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I think it's accurate for late-2021

People used the pandemic to up-skill, or otherwise find a better job, so when things started re-opening in 2021, most retail and service industry places had a very hard time filling roles


Story time

In 2019, just before the pandemic, a friend of mine worked at a gas station for years as the assistant manager. He loved it. Some responsibility without having all the responsibility. Lots of overtime, enough money to live off in a LCOL area. He was making something like $14.75 an hour. The store manager bumped him up to $15.75/hour, since he was doing the work of two people, showed up on time and sober, and was generally a much better employee than a gas station has any right to have

After he had already gotten his raise, corporate went back to his manager and said no (a decision by the current head of the company). Corporate rolled back the pay increase. According to them, he was already the highest paid assistant manager in the chain (~20 stores in the midwest). They wouldn't approve the pay increase, even though employee pay is generally at the discretion of the store manager

He started looking for a new job the next day. COVID happened shortly after that and upended the job market. He got a job as the equivalent to an assistant manager at a warehouse making $27.00/hour, with much better hours (generally 8:30-5:00), and better benefits. The gas station had to hire 2 assistant managers to replace him. They also started at $16.00, even more than the raise that corporate had rolled back

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a problem that trickled out of some other vocations. The general consensus in my line of work for the better part of 15 years has been if you want a raise find a new job. It’s been really weird that places don’t want to keep institutional knowledge or are apparently willing to pay more for fresh faces.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's just another form of pinching pennies so hard the dollars slip through

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Penny wise and pound foolish describes most of late stage capitalism

[–] HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I'm feeling the well-deserved smug on behalf of that guy. I once quit a job that refused to pay me overtime after a year of working for them as the sole employee/manager of the shop. It took two employees and both owners being there full-time to replace me and they still went out of business. I didn't even do anything special when I worked there, just had genuine interactions with the customers so they came back, and made them feel confident in and happy with their purchases. Guess they couldn't do that.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

a job that refused to pay me overtime after a year of working for them as the sole employee/manager of the shop.

Wow, like they would force you to work just under the limit to qualify for overtime, or wouldn't pay overtime owed? Because that's straight up wage theft!

I notice businesses that try to be "savvy" by taking shortcuts and skirting labor laws tend to collapse themselves once they run out of employees that are way too good for them and won't put up with it anymore.

Glad you escaped.

[–] HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

The original agreement was that I'd get at least 40 hrs/wk instead of 20 (bc they'd hire another employee to avoid paying overtime) and then after a year I could get overtime. I genuinely loved that job and all the customers thought I was the owner. They just refused to come back after I quit so the shop failed. I got my regular wage for anything over 40 hrs, just no overtime, so it was still better than salary ig.

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Taldan@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Right? It's one of my favorite anecdotes to bring out whenever talking about out-of-touch boomers

It works on a few topics too. Valuing your employees, the cost of turnover, and how "unskilled" labor is mostly a myth. I didn't really mention it in the original comment, but the reason they had to hire 2 people to replace him was because there was so much to learn

The gas station had an attached car wash. My friend was able to run and fix any issues in either the store or the car wash. Being able to fix a fountain machine, ice machine, register issues, etc. are relatively easy on their own, but stack them up and it becomes quite a bit of training for a new assistant manager to learn on top of normal management duties like operating the safe, reviewing cameras, doing the books, etc.

The car wash was at least as much work since it constantly broke down. Have to basically become a mechanic to keep it running. You also have to learn a lot of risk management. Plenty of dumb people ignore the signs saying to turn your car in neutral, or they accidentally put it in reverse and back into the very expensive door that closed behind them

Hence they had to hire two different people

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 105 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I heard my dad parrot every single one of those. Each one a perfect hit to enrage him and make him angry, each one contradicting the past, and all together show how it was always about wanting cheap labor.

[–] Aneb@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago

It was all about forcing someone else to do it, to the point of enslaving citizens in a for profit prison that doubles as a forced job center. Whether is micky D's or the plantation that sources the produce they all force prisoners into labor camps. America has really aced concentration camps and applying it to everyone who is poor (not the elite billionaires)

[–] other_cat@piefed.zip 9 points 1 day ago

Ditto, definitely had relatives literally saying the 2008 point for me after graduation.

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 82 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It was never about freedom or prosperity. It was always about rich people's pockets and it will be until the last one suffocates on CO2 while clutching their pennies.

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The rich won't suffocate in their climate-controlled mansions

[–] YouAreLiterallyAnNPC@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not with that attitude, they won't.

[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 13 hours ago

don't let your dreams be dreams!

[–] erictile@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I misread that as "clutching their penises". I was like, "Alright, don't make me like them right as they're dying."

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

don't die giving a billionaire a handy

edit: wait, one billionaire, clutching their (gender neutral) penises. i might like this billionaire too

[–] Iceman@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Vagrancy banned. Workhouse reinstituted.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 day ago

Buying some woodland in the Scottish highlands live alone under the trees? Also banned.

[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Let's see Your fucking AI flip burgers.

[–] Emi@ani.social 6 points 1 day ago

There already are robots for flipping burgers. If you prepare the burgers for them and place them on GBE grill and then assemble the burger.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago

2029-30 How many burger flipping robots do you want...

[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 15 points 4 hours ago

Hot take: The euphemsism "flipping burgers" is so dismissive of the physical and emotional labor of working at a fast-food place that anybody using it unironically needs a punch on the nose.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 13 points 19 hours ago

flipping burgers is often used an insult for college grads that cant find a job in thier field, due to gatekeeping in that field too.

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

My workplace had become super toxic and I'm desperate for another job, but the market is abysmal. I'm hoping for a miracle, because I want out of my current job asap

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 9 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I'm much the same.

I can't leave my geographic area for very good reasons, and I will in IT support. I'm experienced enough to be a "senior" support tech. But the average going rate in my area for my job is about 60k/yr. That sounds great until I tell you that I'm in Canada and that's Canadian dollars, which is about 43k/yr USD.

The state of the market here is embarrassing and I can't find jobs hiring for remote workers, or anything local enough that I could feasibly commute, that pays enough for it to be worth it to even apply.

If I do find a posting that's close it's a 1.5hr commute away and pays about the same as my current work from home gig.... Despite the toxicity, why would I take a job I need to spend an additional 3+ hours in a car to do the same work, with potentially the same toxicity, for the same pay?

I fucking hate everything.

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

In in the same boat as you, right down to the industry. Except I'm in the US and I'm only experienced enough to be a level 2 tech.

I have a friend tracking down a hybrid position lead at his company, but the commute for the in person days would be 1.5 hrs at least one way. He's going to be seeing what the pay is and how many days I'd need to be in the office so I know if it'd be worth it. I don't want to waste my time and the time of his coworkers if the pay and schedule wouldn't be right.

[–] rozlav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The last image is likely referring to this. Contracting prisoners out to private companies is a common practice all across the US, but particularly in Alabama and other former chattel slave economies. Southern slave plantations continued operating during reconstruction by using prison labor. The reason we have the largest per capita prison population in the world is because slavery never truly ended, it just adapted.

[–] salty_chief@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Guess they should have chose option 3 joined the Military. Serve 20 years get a pay check and medical for life.

[–] HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

Bonus, you join army, army breaks you, tries to sweep it away but eventually your children get survivor benefits.

and fun fact, Some veterans can get free mental asylum and cremation. (My mom tells us when she's over the hill, hand her to the va, they'll stick her in a ward till she dies and then cremate her so we don't have to worry) (My dads running plan is to work till he dies at his desk, then the army will bury him for free too)

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] salty_chief@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Military Retirement checks and VA are getting paid. I did miss checks while active though during 1st shut down

[–] Credibly_Human@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

They even want their boots to be free labour.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago

This meme hits like a laser guided munition.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 4 points 13 hours ago

All of these have been true at every point.

It depends on where you are in your life's journey, which one you hear.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 3 points 2 hours ago

Corpos: "We're pushing AI, which is going to put a bunch of people out of work."

Also corpos: "Why aren't people having kids? We need people to do jobs."