DOYLE: On the benefits of working in fast food

Currently, many University students are looking for a summer internship or job. Most of us are striving for a position in an industry we might want to work in after graduation, fighting for a few top spots among select companies. These internships and jobs are invaluable for the experience and insight they give students into an industry. But while high level internships and summer jobs are important, I think there is also great value in a having a minimum wage fast food job. Everyone would benefit from having a base in this area before continuing on to their career paths.

Fast food jobs teach, more than many others, how to work hard. As a full-time minimum wage employee you are expected to be constantly on your feet and productive for your full eight-hour shift. As one researcher writing about working in fast food put it, “Idleness is so disdained by management that the official work policy dictates that employees must involve themselves with some restaurant related activity at all times.” The motto at many stores is that “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean.” While this may make for a very stressful and strenuous work environment, it also ingrains in people the desire to find something else to do when a task is done, instead of just being idle.

Working a fast food job also gives people a valuable dose of humility. Too many people look down on fast food workers — two years ago a judge asked a man who worked at McDonald’s, “Why can’t you get a real job?” There are approximately 3.6 million workers at or below the minimum wage, yet our culture see this career as a failure. As I said before, fast food workers have to work hard and often do so with less benefits and under unpleasant conditions. Working a fast food job can give valuable perspective and appreciation for the work done by millions of other Americans, replacing disrespect with understanding.

A fast food job also provides a good perspective on work we do as students and interns. Working at minimum wage for long hours under tough conditions is no fun. Many people who work these jobs want to find a new career but working more than 40 hours a week makes it difficult to develop new skills and search for other jobs. However, as students of the University, we are lucky enough to have more opportunities than many others do. It is easy to take many of these opportunities for granted, to assume that most of us will get a job out of college. This is becoming less and less true as the economy becomes more competitive. A fast food job makes the alternate to a high paying job a real possibility in students’ minds and can act as a strong motivation to actively pursue career opportunities instead of cruising to graduation.

There’s also a great benefit for working a job that is demanding and at times unenjoyable. As I have said throughout this article, fast food jobs can be stressful, exhausting, demoralizing and dangerous work for very little money. However, there are multiple studies that extol the many benefits of adversity. Individuals learn to work in stressful environment, to negotiate workplace conflict, to multitask and to take a leadership role. People may not leave their fast food job with fond memories, but the work does give them valuable attitudes and habits that they carry on to various other careers.

I’m not arguing in this article that fast food should be everyone’s career. Some people do choose to keep working in fast food, but I think it is safe to assume most University students are not striving for this. Many students would benefit from working at least a part-time fast food job this summer, if only to make some money while working an unpaid internship. So while searching for a positions this summer, do not rule out a fast food job. You will be better for the experience.

Bobby Doyle is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at b.doyle@cavalierdaily.com.

DOYLE: On the benefits of working in fast food