Working At Mcdonalds Essay, Research Paper

In response to “Working at McDonald’s” by Amitai Etzioni

I think that Etzioni is way off on his evaluation of the lower skill, lower paying jobs in America. He makes it sound as if the employer must provide some sort of skill along with their jobs that will provide a learning experience. Why? Where in the Constitution does it state that employers must provide their employees with training while paying them to do work? It does not. And what of the people that choose jobs such as those provided by McDonalds simply because they wish to have less responsibility, as is shown in the recent movie American Pie . In this movie the main character quit his corporate, good paying job and applied for a regular burger flipping position at McDonalds because he was tired of the stress.

And what about higher pay and benefits? The way the American economic system is set up, there must be some low paying jobs because there is always menial tasks that must be done and unskilled workers to do them. Say for instance, that everyone was guaranteed at least ten dollars an hour, no matter what the job was. There would therefore be no reason for some people to get an education because they knew they would have a decent job paying at least ten dollars an hour. This would also upset the people who had gotten an education only to find out they made little or no more than uneducated people now. Employers, now that they had to pay drastically higher wages, would have to charge much higher prices. Now the people earning the higher wages are right back to where they started, because the extra money they earn now just goes back to the employer. It s just a vicious cycle, and higher wages or jobs that teach new skills to

those who don t need them are just not practical. As hard as you argue, the simple fact sticks is ugly head out, there are always low pay, low skill jobs for those who have no wish to better themselves in life.