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Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Life as a minimum wage slave

I just got off of my 8 hour shift of pushing carts, bagging groceries, and sweeping floors.  Its not very fun.

I wouldn't recommend that many people to go into the retail industry if you want a starting job but everyone says that its the easiest jobs to take so im conflicted.  I mean i only have my perspective and ive only worked at this one job so far so i dont have a very diverse worldview.  that being said i still dont think the average teen should be slaving away for 20-30 hours a week at a supermarket that pays you minimum wage. 

i mean honestly i cant complain to much i got paid 370 ish bucks this last thursday and thats honestly not bad at all for what im doing, like i said all im doing is pushing carts and bagging and sweeping so what am i here to complain about?  its the mental.  i mean yea its super simple and straightforward but its positively soul crushing.  yea im receiving alot of money compared to my current survival needs but still it just hurts.  going into work and being there for 8 hours where all you do is stand and walk around and push carts is dreadful.  

Maybe im just a pussy and cant handle my work but its just painful.  I mean not physically ive been a cross country runner and swimmer all throughout high school so its not going to give me much soreness in the legs or anything but when im reaching the last 2ish hours of my shift my mind is turned into mush.  I got writen up by my manager because last saturday when i was working the closing shift i either forgot to clock in one of my sweeps or accidently clocked the same one twice just because of how out of it i was.  

Its just super mentally taxing and i cant get over it, i often forget to eat meals and shit so when i get into work with an empty stomach its like having the nausea effect in Minecraft.  I feel like i black out midway through my sweeps of the store and by the time i regain my consciousness ive already traveled all the way from isle 18 to the produce section (oposite sides of the store)  

maybe its my fault since i tend to zone out sometimes and have a eating problem but this take sit to a whole nother level.  I guess this is really my fault since im just not used to working like this but i used to be in a super high level swim club, like shit i would be doing double practices where my first practices i would be in the pool at 5 in the mornign out at 7 and then do the same shit in the PM and barely have time to squeeze in a workout afterwards before my gym closed and dont even get me started on my homework.  

But that was managable, that was order, that was a scedule that i lived with.  This is chaos.  I dont know my work schedule untill a week in advance and its not like i have a predictable one, i could be working completely different days and completely different hours and it makes it really difficult to have time to sceduling struff for friend and stuff so the only time i have for peace is inbetween classes at my community college and at night when i have some time to relax and play a videogame while watching youtube or netflix.  

I think i just either need to get used to this schedule or figure something new out because its not like its bad 24/7 with my job its just when its bad its really bad yk?  anyways i dont have the right to complain because i know there are way more people who have it way more worse than me and i respect all of those people but i cant help but complain, i guess im just whiny so sorry if your reading experience left you annoyed at someone who shouldnt have the right to complain but i also hope theres someone who reads this who feels understood in some aspect, give me a chance yk?


anyways untill next time,

-a whiny bird named Cardinal

9/20/24 10:30pm


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furbyz0ntheRADi0_

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minimum wage jobs like the one you're stuck in are so draining and sucky. the only way ceos of places like that get away with it is that they hire teens and people who are desperate for a job, who won't complain about the working conditions and poor pay. My first job was thankfully a bit over minimum wage, but we were still overheating in a very crowded kitchen trying to make 100 bagel sandwiches for grumpy people who haven't had their coffee yet.

I really recommend trying to find some random retail store that is kind of niche and unnecessary if you can. I work at a locally owned flower shop during break and it's so much fun. I used to work at a cafe and it really sucked, and i didn't realize how much it sucked until I got fired for being physically unable to go to one shift one time and got the flower shop job instead. The reason for the flower shop job being fun is that everyone is genuinely happy to be there- both employees and customers. Most customers aren't in a rush and won't get mad at employees (except over the prices sometimes). Something about plants just makes everyone chill, and plants aren't a necessity like groceries or morning coffee. I even get to put my own creativity into it by making flower arrangements or customizing things for customers. I'd work there for the rest of my life if I wasn't going to school to be an art teacher haha.


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lil6ix

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for me, it doesnt matter what you are doing. i have to be here for 8 hours of my day for little to no real money. especially in todays economy with $100USD being the new "adult dollar." I think that if someone is putting 30+ hours in at a job, they need to be paid a livable wage. here is a perspective; we have, on average, about 4,225 weeks of life. most of that you will be working. if that is the case, it seems the most humane thing is to work most of your life for a wage that is livable and isnt insulting to the life you are selling them. whatever the job is, it needs a livable wage period.


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Chaos Conspiracies

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tbh no job normally is fun but making money is better than doing it for no money


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