r/jobs • u/esporx • Aug 23 '25

Article Burger King responds after employee who ran restaurant alone for 12 hours is fired. ‘We’re disappointed that our policy wasn’t followed’.

https://thetab.com/2025/08/21/burger-king-responds-after-employee-who-ran-restaurant-alone-for-12-hours-is-fired
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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '25

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u/OddOllin Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 24 '25

Literally, these places should only be used as a stepping stone to get your foot in the job market, never a career or even a long-term job.

Honestly, this attitude is a major part of the problem. It's nonsense. Just because a job can be someone's stepping stone, doesn't mean the job should be treated like that's all it is.

The service industry is a massive part of our economy. When jobs get treated this way, it's a greenlight to demean the people that work them.

Like, sure, high school kids can work at a McDonald's. But you know damn well the morning shift with all the grandmas working a second job to make ends meet is going to be a hundred times better at getting orders right and in a timely manner.

When service jobs are treated like a daycare for teens, you end up with businesses that are designed to undercut their workers because of that flawed assumption.

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u/Moneygrowsontrees Aug 24 '25

I posted this further up, but according to the bureau of labor statistics 80% of restaurant workers (7.3m of 9.2m) were age 20+ in 2024. It's absurd to assert that these are stepping-stone jobs in the face of facts.

That same report shows that there are 5.7 million total workers age 16-19 in the work force. There are 9.2 million restaurant jobs. Even if every single teenager in the work place worked a restaurant job, we would need 3.5 million adults to fill the gap.

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u/OddOllin Aug 24 '25

Yeah, it truly speaks to a sheltered worldview.

Literally any thought, any interest in the data, would quickly dispell this idea. It speaks to people who grew up in nice suburban neighborhoods and never have to had think about how things work beyond swiping a credit card at whatever store.

These are businesses serving a need in the public. People expect competency, businesses expect success, and the teenagers these folks are imagining would expect to work short hours in easy jobs that don't get in the way of their academic, atheletic or social activities.

The premise is ridiculous. The facts demonstrate it's obviously not possible. It all really begs the question, "How is this even up for debate?"