| Namita Kiran-Thuene |
Posted
on 17-Jul-01 04:32 PM
Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser
"Every Saturday Elisa Zamot gets up at 5:15 in the morning. It’s a sturggle, and her head feels groggy as she steps into the shower. Her little sisters, Cookie and
Sabrina, are fast asleep in their beds. By 5:30, Elia’s showered, done her hair, and put on her Mcdonald’s uniform.” She is sixteen!
Read on : “The restaurant opens for business at seven o’clock, and for the next hour or so, Elisa and the manager hold down the fort…..When she finally walks home, after seven hours of standing at a cash register, her feet hurt, she’s wiped out. She comes through the front door, flops onto the living room couch, and turns on the TV. “ She wakes up at 5:15 the next morning and her day has begun, to start all over again!
Guess what the chief lobbyist for “Committee for Employment Opportunities” says about this low-paying job? “They have got to crawl before they can walk.”
It is the same sentiment I heard when I mentioned to the tour agency owner. I was aghast to find out our porter does not get paid! They rely on the mercy of traveler like us, not their employer for their wage. The tip we might give them. The owner said “everybody is exploited this way and I am not different than other employer.”
The book also points out that there are 1 million migrant farm workers in the US and 3.5 million fast food workers. The fast food industry pays the minimum wage to a higher proportion of its workers than any other American industry. And guess who works there? (Yes Nepali students of course.)It employs the most disadvantaged members of American Dream: people like Elisa; vulnerable, young and marginalised segment of the population.
I highly recommend this book to our informed visitors of this site. The books is in some way expose about American icon but it goes far deeper than that. It makes you think what kind of society you are living in and where this society is heading. The greatest perpetrator for this change is company like McDonald.
Namita
(the book is New York Times bestseller)
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| sunakhari |
Posted
on 17-Jul-01 07:40 PM
There are pros and cons in every society. I can't say our society is better - grown up men acting like little mama's boys or irresponsible or for that matter, grown up girls acting like little babies and depending on their families/husbands for support. At least, by making kids work (16 year olds are hardly children!), they are learning the value of managing the financial aspect of their lives. I wish we had been given some education/insight into that when we were growing up. Every society tries to instill certain values into their children and work(time management/money management) seems to be what american parents want to instill. So be it. I, personally, would like my kids to be responsible young adults.
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