How to Survive on the Paycheck of a Fastfood Worker Essay

The fast-food workers are expressed as a pond in a bigger game. They have to deal with their low pay in order to ensure low prices by these franchises. Jencunas concerns go on to represent the beginning of a bigger chain effect. Briefly, he states that, “The average fast food store would go from profitable to unprofitable overnight. Some would close immediately, leaving their workers worse off than they were when working for $7.50 an hour, while others would raise prices and try and remain in business, hurting consumers” (“Don't Deserve Any More, or Less”). Evaluating his reasoning we see that if fast-food workers ask for a higher minimum wage, they will in return influence the profit margin and actually increase unemployment rate in this industry. The researchers go on to inform us that if their minimum wage increases the industry won’t be able to afford the change in their profit margin and result in bankruptcy. However, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which supports the fast-food strike states a different claim:

In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” he focuses on the fast food industry and their role in the increasing health and obesity issues of our nation’s children, as well as these issues potentially becoming a serious problem that we will all have to deal with if we collectively don’t do something about it now. When it comes to the topic of fast food, most of us can agree that it is not the best source of nutrition. It is unhealthy and can be the cause of many serious health issues with our children such as obesity related Type 2 diabetes, stomach ulcers and even heart disease, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or even cancer. We can even agree that fast-food diets are a major contributing factor to

To explain the how the fast food industry affects the lives of it’s employees, I have prepared a set of questions to ask employees who have a fundamental experience of working in the fast food industry (appendix[i]). I also have a similar set of questions to ask people who have never worked in the fast food industry (appendix[ii]).

Judging from the title of David Freedman’s “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” published in The Atlantic, Freeman's audience, the upper middle class of America, conjures up an image of a crazy Freedman throwing away every piece of scientific data that shows junk food is hazardous to your health. However, this is not the case. Freedman brings to light a more compromising approach to solving America’s obesity problem. His opinion is that by manufacturing healthier fast food we can solve America’s obesity issue and that his method would be able to be established nation-wide in a cheaper, fast and more effortless way than some other methods proposed. Not all, but the majority of The Atlantic’s audience cares about

Are fast food chains always the best choice? Eric Schlosser presents us with some ways in which the fast food industry changes communities for the worse. He provides examples like the town of Greeley, Colorado, as well as other places, whose communities have been irrevocably changed by the fast food industry when slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants set up shop there. The fast food chains ' vast purchasing power and their demand for a uniform product have encouraged fundamental changes in how cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed into ground beef. These changes have made meatpacking -- once a highly skilled, highly paid occupation -- into the most dangerous job in the United States, performed by armies of poor, transient immigrants whose injuries often go unrecorded and uncompensated. And the same meat industry practices that endanger these workers have facilitated the introduction of deadly pathogens,

In today’s society a huge issue is that we constantly hear about the food industry in America. We often hear in the news that obesity rates have increased, or that Americans have many diseases that contribute to being obese. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko expresses that people are at fault for making such unhealthy food choices. Others argue that the food industry is to blame for being so unhealthy. According to David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” he blames the fast food industry as well as the consumer. Zinczenko asks “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast food restaurant’s?” (392). So, who is to blame for American’s eating so much unhealthy food? Should it be the consumers’ burden or the fast food companies? On one hand, as consumers we continue to purchase foods that we know are making us overweight. On the other hand, fast food companies continue to offer high in calories foods.

The modern fast food industry has undeniably transformed and helped define the American way of life, but not all in positive ways. The industry capitalizes on the exploitation of workers, consumers, and the environment, and Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation addresses these very issues of the fast food industry. Schlosser criticizes these fast food corporations, projecting his argument to all consumers of fast food. Eric Schlosser’s primary goal is to reveal the deplorable business practices utilized by the fast food industry, and he uses the three appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos all as tools to help persuade the reader and strengthen his argument.

Many feel that the fast food industry is providing a valuable service by catering to consumer needs; that it is inexpensive and easily accessible. For people who don't have time to prepare meals, for households in which both parents work, there's no question it provides a service. But what is the true cost of this convenience? In the book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser reveals that the cost is the lives of the people who work in the meat processing plants. Meat packing is now the most dangerous job in the United States.

Over the last decade, fast food restaurants have incremented at a much rapid pace compared to other restaurants in the industry. Fast food is now served in stadiums, airports, schools and even hospitals. The abruptly growth of the fast food industries have been propelled by fundamental changes in the American society such as women entering the workforce. Schlosser argues the unethical process the meat goes through to become a burger and mentions how this lead to harmful consequences to humans' health. At the same time, the author states that fast food industries are a major factor in causing obesity and poor health conditions of Americans.

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

Knowing what is in your fast food might make you think twice the next time you devour it. As the rise of the fast food nation in America has increased to an all-time high, so has the weight and waists of Americans all around the country. Not only has the United States grown to love the acquired taste of greasy golden fries and juicy burgers, it has also grown ignorant to the way their food is prepared. In the novel, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”(2002), by Eric Schlosser, he makes compelling points in his position against the fast food industry.

Many adults are dependent on fast food industry jobs to support their families. “More than one in four fast-food workers are raising children, according to a Center for Economic and Policy Research study” (Owens). The sad truth to the matter it that “eighty eight percent of low-wage workers are adults today, compared with seventy four percent thirty five years ago” (Owens). Large companies are able to pay their lowest, “frontline” workers a decent salary, but many don’t want to share their wealth. These large industries are more than capable of doing so and to watch as their employees have to scrape by every week, to be able to make ends meets, is very disturbing. “Boosting wages for America’s lowest-paid workers is a crucial step toward reducing economic inequality and rebuilding a strong economy” (Owens).

Fast food has become a comfort food during struggling economic hardship can provide comfort and reduce stress, increase satisfaction feeling and security. With promotions items or dollar value meals, some families which eat at fast food restaurant can find it cheaper to eat their rather than going to local grocery store and purchase food for the family. Another reason fast foods restaurants have been part of comfort foods is because they have been around for over 50 years, so for generations families have been eating there and can recall found memories of family time together. Consumers don’t like change and fast food restaurants can provide that consistence deliver of goods. Fast Food Chains are easily chosen during times that restrict personal finances, because during those times families still seek to have a way to "escape" the chains that are tightening them towards debt. Fast foods is there are no tipping policies, many often have deals where children under 12 eat free on certain days, many offer coupons through out the week to help save even further.

The fast food industry has helped to bring to light various economic situations and the industry can be dissected in terms of economic analysis. To begin with the fast food industry helps to bring to light the controversial topic of unionization of workers. Another controversial topic that the fast food industry helps to dissect and make more understandable is the idea of advertisement that targets certain age groups and the idea of globalization. Moreover, businesses within the fast food industry help to determine the type of competition under which the whole industry operates and how businesses within the industry make their profits. The fast food industry operates under a wide range of common economic situations and the fast food industry helps to generate discussion and analysis of the economy as a

The New York Times bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is one of the most riveting books to come out about fast food restaurants to date (Schlosser, 2004). Fast food consumption has become a way of life for many in the United States as well as many other countries in the world. The author Eric Schlosser an investigative reporter whose impeccable researching and bold interviewing captures the true essence of the immense impact that fast food restaurants are having in America (2004). Beginning with McDonald’s, the first fast food restaurant, which opened on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois to current trends of making fast food a global realization McDonald’s has paved the way for many fast food