Not everyone hates low wage fast-food jobs.
Actor James Franco has penned an essay that fondly recalls his days manning a McDonald's drive through.
The column, entitled "McDonald's was there for me when no one else was," appeared in Thursday's Washington Post. Franco writes of a three-month stint he had at a location in the San Fernando Valley in 1996. At the time he was 18 and trying to get his acting career started.
I was treated fairly well at McDonald's," he wrote. "If anything, they cut me slack. And, just like their food, the job was more available there than anywhere else. When I was hungry for work, they fed the need."
He doesn't mention his wages, but they probably weren't much different from today's pay when adjusted for inflation. The 1996 minimum wage of $4.75 equates to $7.11 today, just pennies below the current minimum.
Franco wasn't living well on that kind of money. He slept on the couch of a rental apartment he shared with two other struggling actors, and ate cheeseburgers that were about to be thrown out to feed himself.
But advocates fighting for better wages and working conditions at McDonald's argue that most fast-food wrokers are not in fact teenagers and struggling actors.
Related: McDonald's gives workers a raise, but is criticized for not going far enough
"If he thinks McDonald's provides opportunities for people who need to find a job quickly, I can't argue with that," said David Cooper, economic analyst with the Economic Policy Institute. "But you have a lot more people taking jobs at McDonald's who aren't struggling actors or students. It's people trying to support a family."
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/news/companies/james-franco-mcdonalds/
Actor James Franco has penned an essay that fondly recalls his days manning a McDonald's drive through.
The column, entitled "McDonald's was there for me when no one else was," appeared in Thursday's Washington Post. Franco writes of a three-month stint he had at a location in the San Fernando Valley in 1996. At the time he was 18 and trying to get his acting career started.
I was treated fairly well at McDonald's," he wrote. "If anything, they cut me slack. And, just like their food, the job was more available there than anywhere else. When I was hungry for work, they fed the need."
He doesn't mention his wages, but they probably weren't much different from today's pay when adjusted for inflation. The 1996 minimum wage of $4.75 equates to $7.11 today, just pennies below the current minimum.
Franco wasn't living well on that kind of money. He slept on the couch of a rental apartment he shared with two other struggling actors, and ate cheeseburgers that were about to be thrown out to feed himself.
But advocates fighting for better wages and working conditions at McDonald's argue that most fast-food wrokers are not in fact teenagers and struggling actors.
Related: McDonald's gives workers a raise, but is criticized for not going far enough
"If he thinks McDonald's provides opportunities for people who need to find a job quickly, I can't argue with that," said David Cooper, economic analyst with the Economic Policy Institute. "But you have a lot more people taking jobs at McDonald's who aren't struggling actors or students. It's people trying to support a family."
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/news/companies/james-franco-mcdonalds/
good point, guess something positive came out of it after all
