I love In-N-Out Burger. My apologies to anyone who doesn't live in the Southwest, but you are missing out. I eat there as often as I can, but not just because they have delicious burgers. I love their employees. Every time I'm there, the cashiers are smiling, the cooks are hustling, and anyone who has a spare second quickly goes to the dining area to sweep the floor, wipe a table, or assist a customer. The (mostly) young people who work there are awesome. The two locations nearest my house in Scottsdale are top-notch, and I would assume other stores throughout the West are similarly exceptional.
I was in there yesterday, ordering my standard 3x3, and I saw this flyer:
I was in there yesterday, ordering my standard 3x3, and I saw this flyer:
That's weird, I thought to myself. Fast food restaurants are supposed to be corporate sweatshops, stomping on the faces of poor people and keeping them in varying degrees of poverty with their low wages and exploitative capitalistic practices. Doesn't In-N-Out know they are supposed to be evil to employees? Don't they know the Arizona minimum wage is only $8.05? Aren't they throwing money away? What kind of moronic business is this?
Of course, anyone with a brain, which excludes most people who work in politics or news media these days, knows that hardly any company actually pays the minimum wage (it's usually only about 5% of employees that are paid that rate), and that companies choose to pay more in order to entice better workers to join. In-N-Out pays especially well because they seem to require some extra skills that other fast food joints perhaps do not. Nothing against those other restaurants (I eat at those just as regularly), but it's common to see employees at those stores standing around wasting time, unclean dining areas, cashiers who don't have a clear grasp of English, and miserable people who clearly don't enjoy their jobs. I've never once, in 12 years living in the Valley, seen any of these behaviors at In-N-Out. The company demands more, so it pays accordingly. And it didn't need arbitrary government legislation to force them to raise wages.
Since minimum wage is a common topic of discussion among high school and college students, let this be a reminder for those that think companies are big meanies and they deserve to paid more, regardless of their skills or experience. Better paying jobs are out there. But you will probably have to work a little harder for those few extra dollars. If you feel you aren't being paid enough, the market is probably giving you a pretty clear signal: you don't deserve more--yet. If you want more, you may have to smile, you may have to hustle, you may have to touch icky things. But that's where the money is, and I'm glad for those ambitious young people at In-N-Out who have learned that valuable life lesson. Keep up the good work, In-N-Out employees. I respect you just as much as your delicious burgers.
Of course, anyone with a brain, which excludes most people who work in politics or news media these days, knows that hardly any company actually pays the minimum wage (it's usually only about 5% of employees that are paid that rate), and that companies choose to pay more in order to entice better workers to join. In-N-Out pays especially well because they seem to require some extra skills that other fast food joints perhaps do not. Nothing against those other restaurants (I eat at those just as regularly), but it's common to see employees at those stores standing around wasting time, unclean dining areas, cashiers who don't have a clear grasp of English, and miserable people who clearly don't enjoy their jobs. I've never once, in 12 years living in the Valley, seen any of these behaviors at In-N-Out. The company demands more, so it pays accordingly. And it didn't need arbitrary government legislation to force them to raise wages.
Since minimum wage is a common topic of discussion among high school and college students, let this be a reminder for those that think companies are big meanies and they deserve to paid more, regardless of their skills or experience. Better paying jobs are out there. But you will probably have to work a little harder for those few extra dollars. If you feel you aren't being paid enough, the market is probably giving you a pretty clear signal: you don't deserve more--yet. If you want more, you may have to smile, you may have to hustle, you may have to touch icky things. But that's where the money is, and I'm glad for those ambitious young people at In-N-Out who have learned that valuable life lesson. Keep up the good work, In-N-Out employees. I respect you just as much as your delicious burgers.