If corporations are people, I submit to you they are cruel and rude people. Exhibit A is the McDonald’s McResources website. It is supposed to be an online portal that gives employees resources to help them get through the hard times and maximize their lives.?Instead of giving practical tips that can be used by people likely to be working two jobs and barely getting by, the site gives these less than helpful gems.
Pack your bags- At least two vacations a year can cut heart attack risk by 50%
Since McDonald’s would like their employees to destress using two weeks of vacation time each year surely they offer two weeks paid vacation to all their employees? I doubt that. It certainly wasn’t the case when I worked there briefly in the 1990s. It is rare in low wage hourly work to get one week paid vacation due to companies scheduling people just under full time to avoid giving benefits, much less two (no this didn’t start with Obamacare either).
Break it up- Breaking food into pieces often results in eating less and still feeling full
Telling employees that may only eat while they are at work to eat less is chilling in it’s lack of insight. A study in Chicago showed 61 percent of working poor families experienced food insecurity in 2007. Those are families that tend to depend on income from jobs at fast food retailers. ?More than half of low wage workers?rely on public assistance including SNAP, ?better known as Food Stamps to help feed their families. If workers call the McResources hotline they are encouraged to apply for federal aid programs.?It seems that whomever penned this “tip” may labor under the misconception that low income people are fat and over fed. Indeed studies show that while many low income people are overweight they are actually malnourished due to high calorie and low nutritional content in low cost food. What working poor people need to “feel full” is the ability to buy healthy food- but that requires a living wage.
Digging out of holiday debt- You may want to consider returning some your unopened purchases that may not seem as appealing as they did. Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay of Craigslist could bring in quick cash.
First this assumes that all their employees celebrate Christmas, many do not. That said many working poor families don’t even have Christmas until tax time. To suggest they just have unopened gifts lying around the house to sell is absurd. What does often happen to families is they have to sell or pawn gifts they wanted to pay the bills.
Quit complaining- Stress hormone levels rise by 15% after 10 minutes of complaining
Wouldn’t McDonald’s and other low wage payers just love it if all the serfs would shut it and stop complaining. Not so the employees would have better health but so they wouldn’t have to be picketed when they have meetings. When you’re the CEO of McDonald’s, you don’t ?want to have a single mom confront you about how she has worked at the company for 10 years, makes $8.25 an hour, and can’t feed her kids.
Sing away stress- Singing along to your favorite songs can lower your blood pressure
All that complaining sure is unhealthy maybe employees can sing a song instead-while they are the picket line.
Edited and published by CB
