Entire Bull Moose store staff is fired.

"What's the one with swirling chocolate in the commercial?"

"They all have swirling chocolate in the commercial."

"NOT SKITTLES!"

dankind said:

Weston1283 said:

A $15 minimum, or “living” wage has sounded pretty reasonable to me for awhile.  As someone who is going to own a small business/practice, I can’t picture myself paying someone less than that with at least some basic benefits 

With that being said, I have found it confusing lately when I see signs for places hiring for much over the $15 living wage that many have demanded, and these places can’t find workers.  I’ve heard the argument that the unemployment benefits are not causing this, and that not having a $15 living wage is the reason, but I guess I’m not connecting those dots since these jobs that are offering $18-20 are remaining empty.

If you’re seeing those $18-$20/hour jobs in the Boston area, that’s not a living wage.

Some in Boston but also have had a lot of people send me pictures of those wages being advertised in Ohio 

Lets remember what minimum wage is supposed to be - the minimum amount of funds to sustain life ( IE: Rent / Food / Electricity ect…. )

Somehow we just now thing of it as "shitjobs" well our parents had shit jobs in 60's and if you adjusted their min wage to today they would be over 20 dollars an hour. Oh also they had pensions.

More or less our grandparents fought for fair wages for workers and then our parents took advantage of it , tore the system down , got rid of pensions and replaced them with 401K's ( not only insuring they are paid but any stock they own went up in price ) while tearing away at unions being worthless and the fed giving us a substandard minimum wage.

Sorry this stuff drives me nuts , sick of people saying " not were you should work " or " find a better job " that's not the problem. Sorry to say but it really is the boomer generation. That's not a blanked of every one that fits into that category but a large amount.

Matts3221 said:

Lets remember what minimum wage is supposed to be - the minimum amount of funds to sustain life ( IE: Rent / Food / Electricity ect…. )

Somehow we just now thing of it as "shitjobs" well our parents had shit jobs in 60's and if you adjusted their min wage to today they would be over 20 dollars an hour. Oh also they had pensions.

More or less our grandparents fought for fair wages for workers and then our parents took advantage of it , tore the system down , got rid of pensions and replaced them with 401K's ( not only insuring they are paid but any stock they own went up in price ) while tearing away at unions being worthless and the fed giving us a substandard minimum wage.

Sorry this stuff drives me nuts , sick of people saying " not were you should work " or " find a better job " that's not the problem. Sorry to say but it really is the boomer generation. That's not a blanked of every one that fits into that category but a large amount.

You know I keep forgetting this.  Min wage was a sustainable living for so long and we got away from that.

I change my stance on Living Wage.  Raise the minimum wage higher.

tempo_n_groove said:

Matts3221 said:

Lets remember what minimum wage is supposed to be - the minimum amount of funds to sustain life ( IE: Rent / Food / Electricity ect…. )

Somehow we just now thing of it as "shitjobs" well our parents had shit jobs in 60's and if you adjusted their min wage to today they would be over 20 dollars an hour. Oh also they had pensions.

More or less our grandparents fought for fair wages for workers and then our parents took advantage of it , tore the system down , got rid of pensions and replaced them with 401K's ( not only insuring they are paid but any stock they own went up in price ) while tearing away at unions being worthless and the fed giving us a substandard minimum wage.

Sorry this stuff drives me nuts , sick of people saying " not were you should work " or " find a better job " that's not the problem. Sorry to say but it really is the boomer generation. That's not a blanked of every one that fits into that category but a large amount.

You know I keep forgetting this.  Min wage was a sustainable living for so long and we got away from that.

I change my stance on Living Wage.  Raise the minimum wage higher.

I have to say having actual discussion without insults is so refreshing then a comment section on Facebook. Also sorry to go off topic

I think in the age of the internet companies cannot hide behind shitty things the way they used too. I’m sure much more is going to come out about this. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

inflation has far surpassed the increase in the minimum wage. 

Yeah in like the 1980's

Matts3221 said:

Weston1283 said:

A $15 minimum, or “living” wage has sounded pretty reasonable to me for awhile.  As someone who is going to own a small business/practice, I can’t picture myself paying someone less than that with at least some basic benefits 

With that being said, I have found it confusing lately when I see signs for places hiring for much over the $15 living wage that many have demanded, and these places can’t find workers.  I’ve heard the argument that the unemployment benefits are not causing this, and that not having a $15 living wage is the reason, but I guess I’m not connecting those dots since these jobs that are offering $18-20 are remaining empty.

I think a large part is no one wants to work with the public. I worked retail starting at 16 and thru college. It sucks , you get yelled at non stop , you can follow the rules but if the customer is upset then why did you not break said rule ? Had I done it without the customer getting angry i would have gotten in trouble for breaking a rule. It’s lose lose. 

Then factor in the past year and a half having to argue with customers without mask ect .. the verbal abuse I have witness is insane while waiting to check out at the grocery store, I was speaking up for them since they can’t really say anything. However I stopped because people are crazy , someone pulled a gun on a cashier in my town because they did not have toliet paper. 

Also a lot of those jobs are part time or just short enough that they don’t have to give benefits. 

I honestly think some are just feed up with the system or are getting work else where . We have a 2.6% unemployment level in our state and everyplace I drive by has a “ now hiring “

Don’t you know there’s much money to be made by “influencers” (what an odd concept), those who sell themselves/their bodies on OnlyFans, etc. 

brianlux said:

Matts3221 said:

Weston1283 said:

A $15 minimum, or “living” wage has sounded pretty reasonable to me for awhile.  As someone who is going to own a small business/practice, I can’t picture myself paying someone less than that with at least some basic benefits 

With that being said, I have found it confusing lately when I see signs for places hiring for much over the $15 living wage that many have demanded, and these places can’t find workers.  I’ve heard the argument that the unemployment benefits are not causing this, and that not having a $15 living wage is the reason, but I guess I’m not connecting those dots since these jobs that are offering $18-20 are remaining empty.

I think a large part is no one wants to work with the public. I worked retail starting at 16 and thru college. It sucks , you get yelled at non stop , you can follow the rules but if the customer is upset then why did you not break said rule ? Had I done it without the customer getting angry i would have gotten in trouble for breaking a rule. It’s lose lose. 

Then factor in the past year and a half having to argue with customers without mask ect .. the verbal abuse I have witness is insane while waiting to check out at the grocery store, I was speaking up for them since they can’t really say anything. However I stopped because people are crazy , someone pulled a gun on a cashier in my town because they did not have toliet paper. 

Also a lot of those jobs are part time or just short enough that they don’t have to give benefits. 

I honestly think some are just feed up with the system or are getting work else where . We have a 2.6% unemployment level in our state and everyplace I drive by has a “ now hiring “

"I think a large part is no one wants to work with the public."

Oh is that the truth!  Even in a business as relatively low key as a bookstore working with the public can be a real drag at times.  I can't imagine working in a large store anymore (did that many years ago).  I don't miss working in the bookstore (I just stock records after hours nowadays).

Part of the problem (at least here in America) is that for too long people have been willing or even desiring to buy cheap crap at low prices. 

Scenario one:  You can go into a big box store and buy a piece of shit that will last one year.  Then when it breaks, you go back and buy the same piece of shit and, assuming you are not concerned about environmental issues, don't care because it was cheap.

The solution to that is to have stores that are more specialized (instead of Walmart, you have a hardware store, a fabric store, a furniture store, a record store, etc, etc.).  In these more specialized stores, you have better quality merchandise and excellent customer service rendered by well paid, qualified staff.  BUT WAIT! you say, YOU'D HAVE TO PAY MORE.  NO ONE WANTS TO PAY MORE!  Therein lies the crux of the problem (we like CHEAP), but there is  more to it than that:

Scenario two: You go into a more specialized store that has great customer service and quality products that are more durable and you buy a better version of the product you bought in scenario one.  The cost is twice what it was in scenario one BUT the difference is that the more durable, quality product is going to last four years instead of one.  So essence, what you've gained is a more pleasant and rewarding shopping experience, the satisfaction of supporting a store that pays it's employees well, and a product that, in the end, actually costs half as much when factoring cost per year.  OH, and you help the environment!

I've been suggesting these ideas since well back in the 1980's when I read some of Wendell Berry's fine books of essays that much more eloquently put forth these same general principles. I find it extremely discouraging that all these years later, we have gone in the exact opposite direction.  Using simple logic, it is easy to surmise that continuing in this direction, this will not end well.

The problem with scenario one isn’t just people don’t want to pay more for better goods, but you pay more for the same thing at those smaller stores too. I agree it’s a problem, and I hate big stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot because people never know what you’re talking about. I have a 3-person rule, it’s always the third person I ask that can tell me where something is. But when I got to a local hardware store I find myself paying 50% more for the exact same item. A spark plug for my lawn mower might be $6 at Home Depot, it’s going to be $9 at Ace for the exact same item. As much as I want to support smaller stores, I’m not a charity and I’m not up for donating to a small business, which I feel like I’m doing when I shop there.
I understand the overheard us going to be more on a smaller local store, but I need to keep money in my wallet too. If the cost difference was 10% I would probably shop there, but I find it’s usually much higher.
Thats true with almost everything, not just hardware. My record store might sell a new album for $30 that I can get for $22 on Amazon. I’m not up for donation $8, a buck or 2 maybe, but not 8.

The buy and replace is a problem, but I don’t think it’s caused by big stores. It’s cheaper technology and cheap production. Doesn’t have anything to do with who sells it. It’s put repair stores out of business. You can buy a new tv for the price of just the labor to repair the old one, forget the cost of the parts. I had a hard time finding to someone to repair my record player. So few repair places exist that the few that do are slammed and were pretty picky about brands and what they wanted to work on. 

dankind said:

brianlux said:

dankind said:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I've worked in/managed independent book/record shops such as Bull Moose, and I've worked in corporate book/record shops such as Tower Records. The latter always managed to look after their employees better. There are protocols in place. Independent shops, you're basically left with navigating your way around the business owners' moods along with your actual job.

Hopefully, the pandemic exposed (and continues to expose) just how shitty employees for small business owners have it and just how selfish and deplorable their bosses are.

That's very unfortunate.  It's too bad more small business owners aren't like my wife and her business partner.  They often put their employees before themselves.  In tough times, they both took pay cuts so their employees could continue to work.  They've cooked and taken food to employees when they've been sick and have been very flexible and generous when they've been in need.  In 38 years they've never had one disgruntled employee.

There was one owner who was an absolute gem. But I was his only employee.

Every other small business I've worked at basically begat a workplace support group for dealing with the owners.

And one store had a huge issue with the cash register folks stealing money from the owners, and it took forever for someone to report it because as absolutely morally wrong as it was, employees were not so sure to jump to that conclusion based on how they were treated by said ripped-off owners. 

I make this point all the time, so I'm glad you said it too.  People rail against corporations, but the fact remains that large companies pay MORE and offer better benefits, job security and formalized HR policies than small businesses, for the comparable work.  This 1950s nostalgia for yeoman business is antiquated.  I'm not saying that every corp is better than every small business, but by and large it is true.