MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Off Topic => Topic started by: melastmohican on March 04, 2010, 13:00
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First, I am not native English speaker so I do not understand all nuances of this language. Why flipping burgers seems to be the worst insult here. "You are lousy photographer you should be flipping burgers instead". My mom always said to me that it's not shame to do any work.
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"Flipping Burgers" means you will be working the cook line at a fast food restaurant. It's really a statement that someone is working an unskilled job that takes no training and has little responsibility.
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First, I am not native English speaker so I do not understand all nuances of this language. Why flipping burgers seems to be the worst insult here. "You are lousy photographer you should be flipping burgers instead". My mom always said to me that it's not shame to do any work.
In addition to what Sean said, "flipping burgers" and other fast food jobs usually pay minimum wage ($7.25/hour in the US). So when people talk about being better off "flipping burgers" they mean that if they factor in all the time and money spent producing stock imagery they are making less than the minimum wage.
Of course some are making more than the minimum wage, but the above is the context I have seen the "flipping burgers" remark used in.
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'flipping burgers' means having a 'McJob'.
From urbandictionary.com:
Any menial, low-paying, unskilled, dead-end job, including (but not limited to) those in the fast food industry, which requires zero creative or intellectual involvement, and whose sole motivation is a paycheck (i.e., no one works a McJob because they like it or care about the work). The employee may also be required to wear a silly and degrading uniform. Examples outside of the food service industry include Wal-Mart greeter and movie ticket clerk.
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Turnover is high, but because practically anyone has the skills necessary to perform a McJob, the company can just hire more interchangeable McEmployees off the streets.
The term's allusion to mass-produced fast food implies both the mechanical, unfulfilling nature of the work, and the disposable, interchangeable manner in which the company treats its employees.
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First, I am not native English speaker so I do not understand all nuances of this language. Why flipping burgers seems to be the worst insult here. "You are lousy photographer you should be flipping burgers instead". My mom always said to me that it's not shame to do any work.
In addition to what Sean said, "flipping burgers" and other fast food jobs usually pay minimum wage ($7.25/hour in the US). So when people talk about being better off "flipping burgers" they mean that if they factor in all the time and money spent producing stock imagery they are making less than the minimum wage.
Of course some are making more than the minimum wage, but the above is the context I have seen the "flipping burgers" remark used in.
I have always heard and read that in the US there isn't a minimum wage, or there is?
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I have always heard and read that in the US there isn't a minimum wage, or there is?
Yes, there is. When I started working in 1983 it was $3.25. Thank goodness it's gone up :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States)
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My first job was flipping burgers at McDonald's for $2.35 an hour in 1976.
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In the UK there wasn't a 'minimum wage' until about 12 years ago. Ironically lots of people ending up losing money as most volume employers of low-skilled workers, if they were already being paid above what the minimum wage was set at, simply froze pay rises until the MW caught up through inflation. For the vast majority of low-skilled workers the 'minimum wage' has simply become the wage.
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I wasn't a burger flipper--I was a taco maker in 1984 for $3.35 an hour.
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I wasn't a burger flipper--I was a taco maker in 1984 for $3.35 an hour.
Maybe it was $3.35 for me to. I was making subs at a All American Hero in the mall food court. I used to go home smelling like cheese and salami every night. On the bright side, at least it wasn't fish... ;D
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I worked at Wendy's in 1986 for $3-something. No flipping burger for me! I had to work the sandwich line.
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I guess I'm luckier than all you McJob people. I went right into typesetting and graphics in high school and missed all the burger-flipping jobs. BUT, what goes around, comes around. Today, graphic design seems to be a McJob paying minimum wage, while flipping burgers may pay more! :) That's sort of a joke. Maybe not.
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Not to date myself too much - first job was in a car wash at $1.65 an hour.
A couple months later got a job bagging groceries at $1.85.
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Not to date myself too much - first job was in a car wash at $1.35 an hour.
Were they Model As or Model Ts ? ;)
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Not to date myself too much - first job was in a car wash at $1.35 an hour.
Were they Model As or Model Ts ? ;)
Definitely A's (the real $$ was in tips. .25 a car was considered good
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Worked for a state University for $1.35 and hour, late 60s, which was under minimum wage but because they were "the state" it was OK. Managing a student, classroom photo lab / darkroom in the basement of a building. Cool part was I had seven enlargers, big processing table/sink, free chemicals and all I had to do was buy my own film and paper.
Old days it was "you'll wind up working in a gas station." which pre-dates flipping burgers. But just in case someone is starting out, here's some home practice.
1) Do you want fries with that? (http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9053/bigmac.gif)
2) Paper or Plastic? (http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/4784/baghead.gif)
3) Sub sale for a quarter? My photos are worth more than that!
(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3746/bartcrap.gif)
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I worked in a factory (real sweat shop) on an assembly line for my job for $1.45 hour making aluminum lawn furniture, working a huge brake press, then got promoted to the antenna department where I built huge 40 foot radar antenna from blue prints - still make $1.45 hour. Flipping burgers sounds great! Oh... I was only 17 years old.
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ha ha ha ha
any wanting to know the truth about working for them... send me an email....
you might be surprised.
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I take it to mean that times are not good when you are "flipping burgers". It is more than just working a starting job for minimum wages. Many of us have done these jobs but weren't "flipping burgers" per se. It can also be a derogatory statement against something. e.g. I'd rather flip burgers than be an iStock reviewer.
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In the UK there wasn't a 'minimum wage' until about 12 years ago.
There was when I got my first summer job in 1973: for 17 year olds it was £8.60 per week, which is what I got.
I think it may have gone after that for a while.
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I guess I'm luckier than all you McJob people. I went right into typesetting and graphics in high school and missed all the burger-flipping jobs. BUT, what goes around, comes around. Today, graphic design seems to be a McJob paying minimum wage, while flipping burgers may pay more! :) That's sort of a joke. Maybe not.
I replied to a "Typesetter" job for a commercial printer on craigslist recently and the person told me it was for around $10/hour which is about the same as it was 20 years ago. Pretty pathetic. The good freelance graphic designers around town charge $60-65/hour. I used to charge $45/hour as a production artist.
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Hey Mel, I would have to agree with your Mom on this one. To use "flipping burgers" as a derogatory statement to me seems pretty ignorant. I have line cooks and chefs on staff that "flip burgers" and work harder than anyone I have ever known. To work a line is intense and requires a high threshold for stress. It's a very hard way to make an "easy" living. Sound familiar?
Mat
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fyi: minimum wage in Washington is $8.55. Cooks typically make more than that.
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anyone else plant trees for a living in University?
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First, I am not native English speaker so I do not understand all nuances of this language. Why flipping burgers seems to be the worst insult here. "You are lousy photographer you should be flipping burgers instead". My mom always said to me that it's not shame to do any work.
Unlike what's been said above, my take on 'flipping burgers for a living' is that it's a hot, sticky, sweaty, stressful job with zero respect, which leaves your hair and clothes (under the naff uniform) stinky every day, yet pays peanuts.
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I have been trying to get a job flipping burgers but I am over qualified or have no restaurant experience :D
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I don't know how the situation is now, when we actually have unemployment, but when I went to college, the burger places payed very decently (more than 16$/hour) because it was so difficult to get anybody to work there. The entire restaurant industry in Oslo spoke Swedish. :)
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anyone else plant trees for a living in University?
When I was in school, during communism, children were taken to site next to copper works to plant trees. Of course there were no filters installed so every year we came and have to start over :-) When it was raining acidic rain was burning thru girls stockings so I guess no living organism could survive there :-(
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From June to August 1971 during school break, I was 16, my first job I worked in a Christmas wrapping paper factory. Basically I was simply stacking hundreds of boxes in a warehouse all day everyday. I can't remember too well... I was paid around a dollar an hour. Denis
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That is really good training ground for you. Working for Wendy's is a good start for a new training in the field of customer service. There are students who work and at the same time study at their own pace.
www.computerseo.com (http://www.computerseo.com)
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I worked at Wendy's in 1986 for $3-something. No flipping burger for me! I had to work the sandwich line.
Oh really, that is good for you, that could try to work at Wendy's that you could be able to be trained. The best training that you could be experiences. A lot of students now having a working student at the fast food restaurant like Wendy's and McDonald, just to support their studies. [url=http://www.computerseo.com]www.computerseo.com[/url] ([url]http://www.computerseo.com[/url])
Wow, personalized spam. What wil they think of next...
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First, I am not native English speaker so I do not understand all nuances of this language. Why flipping burgers seems to be the worst insult here. "You are lousy photographer you should be flipping burgers instead". My mom always said to me that it's not shame to do any work.
Unlike what's been said above, my take on 'flipping burgers for a living' is that it's a hot, sticky, sweaty, stressful job with zero respect, which leaves your hair and clothes (under the naff uniform) stinky every day, yet pays peanuts.
Yes, Sue's right. It is usually used to compare with something same that is not so fantastic too.
Like Racephoto , sub 25 cents per download? I prefer to flip burgers. But now in many places you don't flip burgers,
you busk in the street sing songs with your guitar and make more money than people in the office .