Actually, EMT's tend to get paid jack shit. The $15 deal is totally legit, plus their schooling is pretty intense, and they have long hours and their schedules are hectic
*source* My friend, the EMT, and also Oilfield EMT's
I'm about to start EMT school, actually. It's a 6 week accelerated course. I don't know where they're getting this "year and countless hour" stuff.
But yeah, there's no way you could convince me to drive an ambulance. I'm staying in the er, which should tell you something.
If you want to become a paramedic you need to do a minimum number of hours (like 3-6 years, no exaggeration) of volunteer work and at the start you get paid next to nothing. When you finally get the paid job, you pay depends on how long you've been working and what your level is.
*source* Uncle in service and friend in training.
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deleted
· 9 years ago
Very well said. Some human beings are extremely greedy and don't appreciate what they have.
But then, a job like McDonalds isn't meant to support a family. It's minimum wage. People need to have more ambition. The way I see it, minimum wage jobs can go to college kids, and then they move on
Some people can't find a job after college. It's not always that easy to find a good job.
There are more adults and there are less jobs due to outsourcing for cheaper labor.
McDonald's was SUPPOSED to be for teenagers but compared to mimum wage vs the cost to live today and 20 years ago, it was A LOT cheaper and easier back then because there weren't as many adults looking for work.
theres more minimum wages jobs than the people we think belong in them, and fewer proper paying jobs than people we think belong in them. all work deserves proper compensation, ie, something that you can live off after 40 hours. low min wage is just the companies getting around overtime laws... instead of working one employee for 60 hours at 40 hours regular 20 hours overtime, they share two employees between two companies, each works each employee 30 hours. its a corporate scam.
I think the paramedic should make more than 15 an hour for what he does. but I also think people shouldn't have to work 60 to 80 hours a week to make enough money to pay rent and have some left over to buy food and gas. Not everyone gets to be bill gates.
Exactly. If I can walk in, watch you for about an hour, and then completely take over all the duties of your job why in the world do you deserve $15 an hour?
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A minimum wage is exactly that, a minimum. The minimum for one person to support themselves. Not for you to raise a family off of, and not for you to be able to by a new T.V. and/or iPhone each year. Frankly if you are still the bus boy at your local fast food place at age thirty with four kids than you messed up. And it is not society's responsibility to pull you out of the hole you dug for yourself.
When u live in areas that are very expensive most of these people are in debt and can just afford enough. Not only that but it may come as news to you that not everyone is given equal oppurtunity and some get lucky if they can even find a job at mcdonalds. Lastly, these fast food restaurants are billion dollar companies. They can afford to pay their employees a decent wage,
Minimum wage is supposed to be a minimum to live off of. But now there's way more adults than the jobs we have for them, which is why a lot of college graduates have a rough time finding a job afterwards. Some people have no choice but to flip burgers. There are lots of varying circumstances that could have prevented them from getting a further education. I really think it would be a lot better because it would help not just the people who need to support a family, but also teens who need to run away, people trying to get through college, homeless people with hardly any working experience, and the list goes on.
Also, @felixo77, I can tell you've never had to try and support yourself while making minimum wage, because unless you work insanely long shifts and get a ton of overtime (which many of these corporations don't allow) it's not possible. A person working 40 hours a week for minimum wage grosses 1160 a month, take off 200 right off the bat for taxes, that leaves 960 to spend on rent, food, clothing, utilities, a vehicle, insurance, fuel, a phone, toiletries, and anything else they might need to live in and contribute to our society. I dare you to try and do that without needing help. Nobody should have to work more than 40 hours a week in order to live. And as far as high school and college students that still live at home or live on campus, they deserve to make more so they don't have to be paying for their education for the rest of their lives. I personally don't think a student should have to work at all during their studies, especially college, but they definitely shouldn't have to
To be honest with you this wasn't that big of a promblem 20-30 years ago beacuse the jobs you see like at mcdonalds or buger king they were for high school and collage students not for a grown man with 4 kids thats to lazy to get a job.
Work for such a small amount of money just because they don't have a degree, especially when it costs so much to earn one. The economy has evolved to make living easier and more comfortable for the wealthy while the poor struggle more and more. Yes, some people are lazy, and take advantage of an easy to obtain job, but in my experience, they don't last long anyway. Anyone that struggles to afford pay their bills and and feed themselves just because they weren't born rich should be paid enough so they don't have to, not solely for their benefit, but for the benefit of the entire country. Wage/inflation imbalance moves the middle class into the high class and the low and working class into poverty, homelessness, desperation, and prison. There are literally homeless people that commit crimes just so they can go to prison, where they get food and shelter at no cost to them, rather than trying to get back on their feet with the job market available to them. If that doesn't show you that we
Need change, I don't know what will. The United States of America used to be the greatest country in the world. We've fallen so far because of the greed and and corruption of the people we choose to lead us and the deceitful way they manipulate us into fighting each other. They make us all into scapegoats to take the blame and attention away from them so they can keep getting richer and more powerful. Something has to change. The USA should be the greatest, most free country in the world, as it once was, but until everyone is rid of the ignorance that blinds them from the corruption of our "leaders," that's never going to happen.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c
And @coolpie178, this wasn't a problem 20-30 years ago, because minimum wage was a liveable wage back then and hadn't been devalued so much by inflation. And if an adult is working at mcdonalds or walmart, it's usually because it's the only job they can get. There aren't enough jobs available in this country. Unemployment is so high that people with college degrees are working jobs that they are over qualified for because there's no job market in their field anymore. College is not worth the debt anymore. And once again, you've obviously never worked in any kind of customer service before because it is very hard to deal with rich pompous assholes all day that think that you're lazy and don't deserve to make enough money to live because you work at a place that makes greasy food. Lazy people don't work at mcdonald's. Lazy people just plain don't work. I have never had a job that wasn't customer service, but that doesn't make me lazy. I'm 20 years old and have had 6 jobs in 4 years so I
Just think this should be added, you can also get turned away from a job for being over qualified. You could be fresh out of law school and have no luck finding a job at a firm and so you seek employment from Starbucks as a barista and they won't hire you because you're too qualified. Not to say they won't all the time, this is just an example.
But many people aren't given opportunities for better jobs, if if they're working and looking for them. Minimum wage needs to be increased because every person that works deserves to be paid enough to live. It's that simple. Even if a person is just working at mcdonalds because they think it'll be easier deserve to be paid enough to live because they are still contributing to society, plus, they'll find that its not as easy as they thought.
We also need to stop having people with the ability to get a degree in a completely worthless program that is not helpful to society. The number of art or weird, medieval literature degree available is ridiculous. I know art is important to society, but don't go to a school that will put you $70K+ in debt for it. There is absolutely no need for that. I love art. I love writing, acting, and drawing, and you know what? I am damn good at those things (seriously, check out my fanfiction yo: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/803283/Sealeena ), but I know that to pursue it as a degree is not smart, therefore, I'm getting a degree where I can get a job in it! The push for STEM fields and the like need to be above all else. Highly specialized and technical degrees need to become attainable. And trade schools (2-3 year programs) need to be more widely known. This could help a future generation at the very least.
Higher education needs to stop being so damn expensive though!!! Involve or un-involve the government, but make it actually not pure insanity!! I have to go online for a majority of my schooling because I am 26 with a full time job, and even taking out not the full amount of loans, I'm graduating about $30K in the hole if I play my cards right and that's at a local university. My husband had nearly $40K in student loan debt b/c part of his schooling was at a private college. We have enough for a down payment on a damn nice house, and that is horrible! We already have a mortgage and car payment in addition to those loans. We'll be paying close to $1000/month in student loans. That should not be a thing! We have wonderful jobs, we're contributing members of society, and yet we're both freaking out if I can't get my position/wage raise at my job, b/c that means we are F&$*ED SO HARD otherwise. We shouldn't have to worry like that. No one should.
Jesus F*cking Christ if your an EMT and you make 15 an hour, you earn sh*t pay, but you don't know it because you think it's "good" pay because its more than the guy flipping burgers. Seriously I think our reception makes more than that and she just answers phones.
I would just like to say, as someone who is working two minimum wage jobs and still barely making ends meet, that the struggle IS real. I'm at my wit's end. I'm about to be homeless, because even with two jobs I can't afford rent, the light bill, the water bill, and food. Wanting a higher wage doesn't make them greedy. Of, course I also belive the EMT over there should also be paid much more than he surely does.
In today's society, a phone is a necessity. The world is all way to connected for a person to not be and still expect to be an equal member of society. It's also pretty important to have in order to keep a job. And phone companies don't really give the option for non smartphones anymore so it's not as simple as "downgrade your phone so you have more money." Besides, it's not necessarily very expensive to have a smartphone anymore. Not all smartphones and data plans are as good and expensive as iphones and 4G. You can get smartphone for 35 dollars and only pay that much per month for your bill, it just depends on what you get
Since landlines for telephones are nearly considered obsolete nowadays, yes a smartphone is totally a thing nowadays and completely necessary. That's the only way I can be reached most of the day. We have a pretty low data plan since we're on Wi-Fi all day. And maybe they don't have a computer and saved money by having only the phone. In order to survive, you need to ability to have SOME entertainment, or you might go postal.
All you're saying is that pay isn't fair or right for any job. Fast food workers getting paid more doesn't take away from an EMT getting paid, even though that EMT should be getting at least 20 an hour.
Im not saying i disagree with what the picture says but the minimum wage is getting too low compared to inflation... it does need to be raised but not to 15 maybe 10 at max... if you are flipping burgers/working at a fast food place not as a manage just an employee and if you are a high school/college student the most you should make is 1-2 dollars over minimum
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· 9 years ago
I think the point is that $15 should be the MINIMUM, and that on the salary scale the pay of the guy on the left should then go up also since he works a job not considered a minimum wage job.
The aim is to catch up with inflation. Prices of everything have gone up steadily, as they do, but a few decades ago incomes began to sputter and not keep up anymore. Raising everybody's income will not change where everyone is on the ladder, no, but that isn't the point or the goal. What it will do is make sure all rungs of the ladder stay above the flood waters. So yes EVERYONE'S pay should be higher. Will that make everything more expensive? Maybe. But businesses used to do fine back when income and inflation matched and profits didn't have to be retardedly huge to be a measure of success...with luck, businesses that are profit machines will flounder when they jack up prices and consumers stop buying, and a new business that can hack it will take its place. The sheer number of people who would stop shopping at Walmart after a bit if the minimum went up to $15 would probably be a godsend for many small businesses whose locals could then afford to spend locally.
They should just fire all those Mcdonald workers. Mcdonald should switch to computers to order food. That way they never get order wrong and if it does it'll be the customers fault not the worker because it's a computer.
I kind of agree, since customer service people don't deserve the treatment they get half the time. At least with machines, asshats would be pointlessly raging at something they're not causing stress to. Then those jobs would transfer over to being machine maintenance, cash stocking, and ingredient logistics jobs, which could all happen without having to deal with the aggressive public and might pay more than minimum wage. Ah, dreams...
The paramedic should make more than 15 dollars am hour and the burger flippers should make 15 an hour. It doesn't matter what kind of work it is, everyone that contributes to society deserves to be paid enough to be able pay for food, shelter and warmth. Every job, even flipping burgers is necessary. I've worked in the food industry for 5 years and I've never been in a position in which I didn't work my ass off and come home with sore feet. Everyone that works should be able to afford to live. Period.
Yes, I do know what inflation is and am insulted by your condescending question. I also know that inflation has been increasing at a rate higher than that of the federal minimum wage since 1968. Minimum wage hasn't been a liveable wage for a long time.
Also I wouldn't mind paying an extra 1.50 for something if I knew everyone had an equal opportunity to have food, shelter, and warmth. The fact that people don't want minimum wage to increase just because we might have to pay a little extra is ridiculous and then you wonder why some people need welfare. Okay cool.
so cause they flip your burgers, means they are somehow worth less,,get off your high horses everybody working deserves a LIVING WAGE NOT POVERTY INDUCING WAGES
Or you probably couldn't afford the thousands of dollars it takes to get a higher education, or life got in the way, or your just working there until you can get a better job, or you just got laid off from a good paying job and still need to somehow support your family. Get off your high horse.
Or maybe they had a kid and didn't have the time to go to college because now they have to work enough to support their family which sometimes means two jobs, but also they have to take care of the kid as well because you can't leave a baby alone or bring it to work.
Maybe the fact that so many companies outsource their manufacturing to be cheaper we don't have enough jobs to go around because of the baby boomers
Some people's morals don't allow them to have an abortion ?
And sometimes birth control fails and condoms fail and you end up with a baby anyway ?
Are you literally telling people they should go against their morals and religions just to go to school ?
Like, I'm pro choice, which means you get to choose, and just because someone chose to have their baby doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to have a nice life
Fuck you
If minimum wage went up wouldn't that mean that all wages would go up? To equal out basically. Minimum wage is supposed to be enough to live off of and it's barely enough to put food on the table for one person. Yes emts, police, fire fighters, etc should get paid more but that would happen if minimum wage went up. Economists have also stated before that a raise in minimum wage would have no effect to inflation because prices have already inflated so much that minimum wage should technically be 26/hour. Everyone deserves a livable wage even "burger flippers."
Well kind of if say mininum wage went up, so mcdonalds decided to raise its prices by 1$ so it benifts the workers living off mininum wage, but not so much for the people that have a good paying job beacuse they aren't getting a raise and have to pay more
My sister who makes 15 and hour working at Verizon would get a 5 dollar raise if minimum wage went up because they have to keep it consistent, well maybe not a 5 dollar raise but she would get a pretry good pay raise. So I'm sure other wages would go up as well. Also, the only reason inflation would happen is because of greedy CEOS. The federal minimum wage hasn't gone up since 2006 and inflation in cost of living had continued to rise. It doesn't even out which if your making minimum wage you should be able to afford to live. Everyone deserves that.
thing is i make way more than minimum wage, i am federal, i am professional, i have been working there for 9 years. i make enough to pay rent and have a car (bought a cheap car, bought it used), and buy food. if my pay is late i get fucked. i struggle with long term bills. i have a hard time paying the medical bills my insurance doesn't cover, and i am talking about regular stuff like the fees for processing bloodwork from my annual check ups, not "oh i have cancer" or anything bananas. this is where minimum wage people should be. this is not where professional should be. this is why i support a higher min wage, until the minimum goes up, nothing else will either. if i barely get by, don't have cable. deliberately live near the bad part of town for low rent, buy clothing when clearance rack gets clearanced, and i just squeak by, then that sounds to me like what the minimum should be. people want to be like OMG THEY WANNA MAKE WHAT EMT MAKE. no. they want to survive, people who do
Since I've joined the Army these fucking failures complaining about not being able to have a house, family, car, dog, and picket fence flipping burgers really makes me want to go Drill Sergeant on their asses.
Meanwhile, I've got nothing but love for the men and women protecting my family on the homefront while me and mine are too far away to do it ourselves.
*source* My friend, the EMT, and also Oilfield EMT's
But yeah, there's no way you could convince me to drive an ambulance. I'm staying in the er, which should tell you something.
*source* Uncle in service and friend in training.
There are more adults and there are less jobs due to outsourcing for cheaper labor.
McDonald's was SUPPOSED to be for teenagers but compared to mimum wage vs the cost to live today and 20 years ago, it was A LOT cheaper and easier back then because there weren't as many adults looking for work.
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A minimum wage is exactly that, a minimum. The minimum for one person to support themselves. Not for you to raise a family off of, and not for you to be able to by a new T.V. and/or iPhone each year. Frankly if you are still the bus boy at your local fast food place at age thirty with four kids than you messed up. And it is not society's responsibility to pull you out of the hole you dug for yourself.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c
I call bullshit.
Maybe the fact that so many companies outsource their manufacturing to be cheaper we don't have enough jobs to go around because of the baby boomers
"But muh rape!"
They have abortions for a reason.
And sometimes birth control fails and condoms fail and you end up with a baby anyway ?
Are you literally telling people they should go against their morals and religions just to go to school ?
Like, I'm pro choice, which means you get to choose, and just because someone chose to have their baby doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to have a nice life
Fuck you
Thanks k you for correcting me
Meanwhile, I've got nothing but love for the men and women protecting my family on the homefront while me and mine are too far away to do it ourselves.