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Not everyone gets to be an astronaut, and not everyone wants to be. But, no matter the job, everyone wants to feel valued and be respected.
Jobs in the fast food industry are often a young person’s first taste of working life – from slinging burgers after school to delivering pizzas on the weekend.
The hours are flexible, and while the pay is usually minimal, the social side of it can be fun.
But full- or part-time, young workers spoken to for The Wireless agree – theirs is a tough job.
Physically and mentally, there’s a lot to deal with: overwhelming heat in kitchens; demanding, sometimes abusive customers; standing all day, and the monotony of doing the same thing, shift after shift.
It’s all go, and while the industry prides itself on creating career opportunities, moving through the ranks isn’t for everyone.
Of people spoken to both on and off the record about their experiences in fast food work, responses were almost equally divided between enjoying the work, and despising it.
None were particularly interested in careers within the fast food industry.
McDonald’s employs over 9000 people in New Zealand, the majority aged under 25.
The Only Option
Taarira Kiro-Paewhenua, 23, worked in the Whangerei Burger King for two-and-a-half years, spending the whole time in the kitchen making the burgers; in the end she found the job “sickening”.
The job was her only option at the time and she didn’t want to go on a benefit, she says.
Supporting herself in her own flat, she lived on the minimum wage of $13.50 an hour, usually working 40 hours to cover her rent, bills and food, leaving only $20 a week to spend on socialising. Continue reading.
Source: The Wireless
Image: Fanpop
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