Submitted 10 months ago by Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9b097768-87ca-43d0-86b6-1a4076fb8d2b.jpeg
“Guy who works in food service admits that he went to work sick and likely spread it to hundreds of people because it’s the only way he could make ends meet, and now he can afford a house but not because of his hard work, but because it went viral on the internet.”
What a heart warming story.
It kind of mirrors the story of Typhoid Mary in a way, where it’s thought that one of the reasons why she kept going back to work as a cook, spreading Typhoid fever, was because she was homeless and on the verge of poverty.
Presumably, if she had been offered an out that wasn’t being institutionalised, and locked up on an island for indefinite quarantine, or risky surgery, she might have taken it, and the story would have never panned out.
I don’t know if I like this interpretation, I mean it’s true and i don’t like it, but it puts blame on him for the fucked up system… With the shitty pay and hours of fast food we don’t know if missing even one day of work means he couldn’t pay bills.
Even in an ideal fully automated luxury gay space communist society, nothing is ever truly completely automated, you’ll need some people you can count on to be there to push the buttons every day. This is one of those people, our society just wastes him.
I’m not trying to put the blame on him. I’m more trying to say that maybe he should be paid enough to afford housing and his job should provide sick days and maybe even Healthcare. This guy was grinding himself to death while putting others at risk just so he could get by. That’s not his fault. He was doing what he needed to do to get by. It’s messed up that he had to do that.
Another reason why everyone should stay clear of places that exploit workers, it could be you who orders food when someone had to come work sick.
You to can work all your life and almost buy a house.
Worst part is he’s probably better off than most people working at Burger King since his restaurant is unionized.
You read the article as well. I was shocked the insurance is that good. I find articles like this a mixed bag. Good for him. Sounds like a hard working man. Sad that he had to have donations to buy a home.
If you behave like a mule, you will be treated as one. 27 years of work is way over the line of “he didnt have any chance to move on or get promoted”.
“He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago," his daughter Seryna wrote in a message on the fundraising page. “Then as our family grew and he remarried, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionized. This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage.”
“My dad continues to work there, because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement," she added.
Absolutely shameful behavior to call someone supporting their children a mule.
Sometimes I think a requisite period of severe poverty and/or homelessness should be requisite for every American. Like Hunger Games: Marginalization Edition.
Work 27 years without a day off, following every advice to “stop being lazy and work” Still not being able to afford housing without generous donations
That Burger King should be ashamed of himself. He such a benevolent king.
Man we as a society should all pool our resources together so that things like this can be done on a much larger scale wouldn’t that be cool
Instead of “gofundme” we should call it “taxes”
Ah, but what about the economy rich peoples yaught money
Bbbbbbbut but but but taxes could go to people other than me and gasp even other races!
No that’s stupid. If we used the natural wealth of the planet to ensure a comfortable life for everyone, how would a small proportion of people live extravagantly without actually contributing anything? Don’t you understand economics?
I like that idea. We build a community social system of shared resources - maybe even owned by the people working the jobs. Why has no one ever thought of it? I’m sure everyone in the world would get on board.
I never missed a healthy day of work in the past 22 years, i have called in sick a handful of times to prevent others from getting sick.
I worked 84h weeks, but mainly 40/45h weeks.
If i hadn’t had my savings taken away at 17 i could have bought a house at 18, nowadays my labour isn’t valuable enough to afford me a house.
So if anyone has a spare 500k laying around so i can buy a small house…i’d gladly receive it.
We could wait the extra 5 years but i’m afraid a small home will cost closer to a million then.
Gotta love this economy and all these fancy modern things we get to enjoy…if we can afford them.
Despite having health insurance I’ve lost my life savings three times now to medically necessary surgery that my insurance only covered a portion of. Insurance that cost a quarter of my income.
When I was in my twenties, I got a hernia. 16k out of pocket.
A bit later, a chair at work collapsed and I broke my wrist, workers comp paid for everything treatment wise including physical therapy, my wrist is still messed up, but workers comp showed me that actual medical care IS possible.
In my thirties, I broke both my ankles when I was knocked down some stairs on the way to catch a bus to work. I went to work, worked 6 hours on broken ankles and then took a bus to the hospital that decided my insurance would only cover one, and the other one was going to be mostly out of pocket. 12k out of pocket.
and then had a polyp on my vocal cord. Health insurance covered about 2000 of that leaving me with an 8k bill. My supplemental Aflac insurance covered the cost of a taxi (up to 40 dollars one way!) to the doctor for follow up appointments.
Now I can’t walk right, can’t lift shit, and can barely afford insurance, I need a follow up surgery for my hernia and I’m better off losing my job and going on medicaid than trying to keep a job and pay for it myself.
I’ll be renting forever
What would have happened if you didn’t have the cash for the treatment?
“In our magnanimity, we let this worker drone pretend to belong to the real people who get to own stuff. Isn’t it cute? Look at its widdle smile.”
I wouldn’t say the orphan crushing machine was stopped so much as one person was pulled off the conveyor.
Pushed back a few yards on the conveyor, you mean?
If he bought it outright, he might be ok. Once you own, you get to ride the wave of housing inflation instead of watch it carry the ability to own farther and farther away.
Though if it only gave him a down payment, then he’s still just as much a wage slave dependent on not having a manager that dislikes him, though if he is able to make the payments, the above will still apply. I hope the housing crisis isn’t going to be as bad on the inflation side, but if it continues previous trends, even with a mortgage, he’ll be gaining equity faster than his payments.
Retirement is another story, though.
I’ve opened the link thinking I would read an onion article.
How is the Onion supposed to survive when reality give us things like that ?
He got $440,000 from the GoFundMe.
And approximately $407,000 from working at Burger King for 27 years, if he worked at an average of the current minimum wage.
I cannot wait for the sweet release of death to overtake me
Sensationalist bullshit. Nobody works 27 years in Burger King unless there is something fucked up in his life. If it was really that bad, there would be a link to the actual article.
Lmao bro it isn’t hard to Google dumbass. You could type all this out, get angry, yet couldn’t Google people.com/burger-king-employee-who-never-missed-…
Shh he’s a made in abyss fan. They aren’t known for their intelligence.
I dont care about the link. My issue is with sensationalist non-linked pictures being normal and unmoderated.
dumbass
Oh wow someone had their blood boiling. Have fun with the mods. I hope you have fun with them because I have had a good track record of not using offensive language towards other up until now.
It doesn’t matter what kind of “fucked up” it is. The pay is too low.
Let’s suppose what you are saying is true. Burger King job is only for those people with fucked up lives, and provides no option for them to unfuck their lives. Even if they work there for 27 years, their lives will still be fucked.
Supposing all that is true, then why do we allow them to do business at all? If a company exists only through the exploitation of desperate, “fucked up” workers, without any expectation of them “un-fucking” their lives, why do we allow them to remain in business, competing with responsible companies that actively improve society and the economy?
If Burger King actually operates the way you imply, they should be ejected from the market, so that non-exploitative businesses are not forced to compete with them.
Some people do have something fucked up in there lives. Especially people that get stuck there. Still should be able to afford a place to live
TF kind of comment is this?
Can’t be “stressed enough” that this is a union shop?
Just come on out and post a couple links to anti-union propaganda while you’re at it.
Typical because one union isn’t great they all suck comment or something? How is the title misleading if this is actually what happened: “guy misses no work and gets a house thanks to donations”
What is misleading about that?
From the OP article
“Then as our family grew and he remarried, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionized. This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage.”
Yeah and because it was unionized he has access to fantastic health insurance for him and his family. What’s your point
I’ll bite, so say he does have learning disabilities, would that make him undeserving of fair pay?
Don’t seen any of the white breads who control the company giving him a goddamn raise either, do you
Bro, get a different job
OK I choose rich playboy billionaire as my next job since it’s so easy to just get a new job
I mean duhhhh, it’s super easy to go to school while taking care of a family on a budget that’s too low as it is for the hope that maybe you’ll get hired as a junior developer in the completely, insanely, oversaturated market. All you need to do is skip unessential things like food and sleep, leave your kids outside while you work so no daycare costs (freezing builds character) and go to school at night! Then it’s just a breeze of sending 100s of applications and maybe hearing back from one of them in a years time.
Simple!
Bro, Did you stop to think that maybe this is all he knows how to do? Did you stop to think that maybe he tried other things before being stuck at burger king?
So how many of those days did he prepare food sick? This orphan crushing machine isn’t even hygenic.
Nothing new in “Land of the Free”
EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Remember. Lots of people in this country look at this and say he doesn’t deserve a house because his job isn’t good enough.
Luci@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
But they are happy to eat at Burger King. The food is good enough for them, but the people making the food aren’t.
jonne@infosec.pub 10 months ago
And raising his wage wouldn’t raise the price of burgers.
flooppoolf@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I mean, I don’t think it’s too much of the people’s fault that greedy corporate burger chains exist and obliterate local competition.
$6.50 for a shitty “meal”
Or
$18.99 for a “handmade” burger and some fries with a small coke.
At this point we all agree that McDonald’s doesn’t have some secret ingredient that makes people love it. It’s the only thing to enjoy and you’ll like it.
Lexam@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
No one is happy to eat Burger King.
Rolder@reddthat.com 10 months ago
Ew, who would want to eat at Burger King 🤢
CanadaPlus@futurology.today 10 months ago
The trick, you see, is to not think about it, and avoid anything that makes you think about it. For most people that achieves all personal objectives.
Kalkaline@leminal.space 10 months ago
His job isn’t good enough, his employer, Burger King, treated him like shit for 27 years paying bottom of the barrel wages to the point where he couldn’t afford a down payment or mortgage on a house.
It doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a house, anyone who works full time should be able to afford a house. It doesn’t have to be a big luxurious house, but they should be able to own a place big enough for themselves and their dependents a reasonable distance from work.
DavidGarcia@feddit.nl 10 months ago
I wonder what is most to blame, 1) real wage deflation, 2) real wealth deflation or 3) rising cost of living
Patches@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
The rich pieces of shit who own Burger King? And all of the stockholders?
explodicle@local106.com 10 months ago
IMHO it’s #2. Even if you’ve got a high wage to CoL ratio, they’ll keep robbing you while calling you financially illiterate.
gmtom@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If he really wanted a house he would have just hustled more, like getting 3 extra full time jobs, or selling some organs. Stop rewarding lazy uncommitted people that are scared of the grind.
beebarfbadger@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s his own fault for not being born into emerald mine money. If Elon can do it, so could he, if he weren’t too lazy.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 10 months ago
Also, Burger King decided long ago he doesn’t deserve a house, regardless of how hard he works or how few days he calls in for. That’s Corporate Greed, and it’s insatiable.
RagingRobot@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I bet all the people working in their corporate office can buy houses though. They probably get health insurance too