All of us come in daily contact with the “little guys,” a low-paid workers among a sea of low-paid workers. I’d like to honor those people today, on International Worker’s Day. Let me introduce you to one of these people. Let’s call him Sonny.
I wish they wouldn’t treat me like that. I know I’m just a kid. And my English ain’t too good. But I try. I don’t like how people look at me, like I ain’t worth much. I don’t wanna be here. Nobody else will hire a kid who don’t know much yet. I see my parents struggle. I can’t ask them to give me no money for fun or school or nothin’ and I see how sometimes they don’t eat unless I bring some burgers home that woulda gone into the garbage anyways. They say don’t take no handouts unless you at death’s door. We been there twice I remember. I’m gonna finish school. Go to college. Get a real job. Make it so they don’t have to worry no more. Then, when I go to Hamburger House, I’ll tip the guy and give him a high-five, ‘cuz I know why he’s there.
Next time you meet a “Sonny,” honor the work he does for you and the fellow human being that he is.
Reading this, I recently read what someone posted on FB, about workers wanting $15 per hour ‘slinging hamburgers’; stating that they didn’t warrant making $15 hour. There were quite a few comments regarding this posting; more comments than there were likes. For me this was the last straw, and I unfriended the person who’d posted similar articles ranting against the minimum wage increase.
Some people just look right through those who serve them every day, not seeing them because they’re always there. Imagine if we had to prepare and serve all of our own food and coffee, do all our own dishes, answer our own questions while shopping, even (gasp!) wash our own cars. Look at how long it took most of us to adjust to pumping our own gas. Also, imagine if we all had to go to work every day to earn and try to live in this valley on current minimum wage–or even the proposed $15/hour. Not a pretty sight.