Low pay, long hours, tiring conditions, you name it. I've known people who work for restaurants; both fast food and fine-dining and absolutely hate it. Most of the times chefs are grumpy, waiters get jittery and managers seem frustrated and under-appreciated for their work.
Just wondering if anyone works for hospitality and actually enjoys it?
Or what's your worst experience working in hospitality?
Decent money because of casual work. If anyone is full time, they're not taking home big $$s unless they're top of their trade or own the business.
I did it till my mid-20s, but realised that income capped out at like $50k, so got into sales. A manager I used to work for started her own cafe, and it definitely appears to still be stressful. I'm sure it's rewarding being your own boss but it comes at a cost.
Restaurants = late hours, cafes = early mornings.
I think the worst bit (although sure you get paid extra for it) is working the public holidays while other people relax. I'm a huge believer in extra pay loading on public holidays to compensate for not having the day off. I work long hours now but I still get my Sundays off and don't work over Christmas, many hospitality staff aren't that lucky.
As to worst experience, I dunno if I could narrow it down to just 1, though I just thought of something memorable:
My first job, 14yo, working at Hungry Jacks. Doing the bitch job during opening up, doing the cleaning etc. A Duty Manager (not the store Manager) had me clean out and scrape out a dumpster bin! Unfortunately I kid you not!
I stood on an upturned pickle bucket to get in, and had a milk crate inside the dumpster bin (high walls for a 14yo). Was wearing my work shoes and work pants, would've only changed my shirt to work in the kitchen.
I was armed with a shovel and had to scrape the sides.
I did the job (naive 14yo!), then quit! Duty Manager said I could go on break and I said something like 'nah stuff that I quit'.
Store Manager called me later that day, offered my job back but I declined. Apparently the Duty Manager was getting a transfer after that lol
My first job was McDonald i lasted about 3 and half years i did work with mates from school their was 6 of us at the same store so we ran a muck!
But i do feel your pain.
Yeah didn't work with anyone I knew so was pretty shit :/
Ended up getting a job at Jesters pies, they were a really good company to work for :)
@Spackbace: my old pay slips read $4 an hour lol ripping of young workers for cheap labor!
I was on $10 an hour as an apprentice lol
Lol in 2003 I worked full time at Chicken Treat, as a 17yo I got $7.67/hr :P when I turned 18 I got like $8.50!
hahah you haven't worked… till you've worked in fast food. I think of it this way, once you've worked in literally the crappiest job in the country. It's only up from there.
My most disgusting FF experience was as a 14yr old trying to push an overloaded maccas trash bag (big black plastic one that comes out of the bins in drive thru) into the dumpster only to have it split at the bottom above my head and shower me in "bin juice". Hahah definitely rock bottom…
yeah, HJ is much worse than maccas. My sone was at HJ for 6months, no extra pay on sunday/public hols- he worked boxing and easter hols at night (till 1030pm), nothing different to a normal weekday pay.
they used to be able to have a cup of coke per shift then owner said it was too expensive so water only (staff then took bottles of water, positive that cost more).
Owner also tried fixing broken equip himself - no coffee machine for weeks while he looked at, some days no beef items (flame grill broken) until he could get in at night to look.
Damn thats pretty nasty, I had some nasty jobs at my 1st job as a butcher shop tray washer but nothin that bad. I hope they gave you protective gear at least, as gettin in a bin has gotta be unsafe to your health.
Lol someone is wasting their neg votes on me! If only they realised I don't give a crap about votes on my comments :) lol
The hardest thing about working your own business is that when you take a day off, you do not get paid !
Aren't you able to pay yourself on your leave? Although, that money is coming out from your company but still that is not impossible unless you are freelancer… right?
dunno why this got negged so much.
I don't know either lol I just saw that!
Apparently those who work 9-5 don't like public holiday loading lol
@Spackbace: I don't see whats the big thing about working a public holiday. It just a perception that people feel they're 'missing out' if anything I rather have a day off when its not PH because you won't have massive lines every where.
I didn't neg you.
But it's easy to sit and say it's no big deal when you don't do it. I don't sit and say FIFO must be a piece of cake because they get a week off, or that night shift must be easy because they're still working the same hours. I don't say that because I don't currently work those hours.
I've worked Christmas Day for a job, I've worked Easter Sunday. It's not fun to be working when everyone has that day off.
Sure you might like to work the occasional public holiday, but I doubt you'd like to work every Sunday and every public holiday.
Theres a reason they're called' holidays'. Yet the government gets it in their heads that people still want to buy things on that day, so they allow businesses to open.
Like really, we need Maccas to be open on Christmas Day? Yet they were last year. Teenagers working because someone wants their damn cheeseburger.
Oh, and Easter Sunday isn't even a recognised public holiday. For that day you get paid at standard Sunday rates. Because they consider it that no one should be working on a Sunday anyway. Yeah well some poor bugger does while I enjoy watching my kids eat Easter eggs.
Yet they don't deserve to get paid more?
God I hope for the day where we go back to everyone working Monday - Friday 9-5, just to prove a point. Good luck getting your cheeseburger then.
@GameChanger: Shops often need to remain open during public holidays and yes, serve those larger crowds (it's a more stressful shift). No one wants to be working those days when they can be spending time with family or friends. My last retail job, we had people opening the store at 5:00-5:30 on new years day. Good luck getting out celebrating that night. But I guarantee if they weren't being paid 2.5x rate, not one person would have showed.
@Spackbace: Fair enough about Easter and Christmas but really the other public holidays you get compensated through higher wages. I remember at my store when it was public holiday we pretty much had everyone wanting to work the day because of double the money.
As to Sunday I can understand it been not great to work but if you get a day off in the week, it really offsets the loss.
it really offsets the loss.
Depends on your life situation really, while it might be nice to have a weekday off, if you were a young person, all your friends would be at uni or working, so you probably wouldn't do much ;)
100% you get compensated by higher wages, I'm just saying I have no problem with that, I don't believe the staff should get paid at their standard rate on those days.
So you complain about people being at the top of their trade or owning their own business and/or working long days or having to get up early earning more than others?
You will never get anywhere in life being content with just doing enough to keep your job, taking as much time off and sleeping in as long as you possibly can. You have to get up early, you have to work hard, you have to do more than the other person - then the appreciation (and pay) from your boss will come with it.
Have you ever worked in hospitality or shift work? Because I can't imagine people less likely to 'sleep in.' This 'pull up your bootstraps' line you're parroting is a childish fantasy.
So you complain
I'm sorry, where did I complain? I simply stated that those who own their own business or are top of their trade get paid more. Just a fact, not a complaint, unless you're making up things between the lines that I didn't imply.
It may not have been a complaint but just the fact you need to bring it up seems to imply you somehow don't think its "fair".
Wow this seems to have really affected you somehow!
I could have progressed to management, and earnt (then) roughly $50-55k salary. Had to come in if someone called in sick, had the extra responsibility etc. Had not much more of a career path from there. I decided to change industries instead.
seems to imply
There is no implication here, you're seriously just putting your own spin on the reading of it because of whatever mindset you're in right now.
I changed careers and in my first year earnt more than I would have as a Manager, with extra incentives on top. That was the career path I took.
Step away from the keyboard, and maybe read my comments later. Instead of your perceived thoughts on my comments, read them for what they are without your misguided spin. Maybe then you might actually comprehend what I've said.
Wait, you dont work in construction do you?
And there's proof you haven't even read my comments. (I even answered that in the comment you replied to!) Until you do, don't reply. I don't want you to suddenly just start guessing at back-stories
I hope tourism
Nope, still not reading. It's funny to think you can make that sort of money without an ounce of comprehension skills.
@immortalbjr: It's a shame that you don't seem to understand that not everyone is as fortunate as you. You're not the only person working hard out there, or starting on low pay and trying to work your way up.
You are lucky. It's not just hard work that got you where you are, it's good fortune as well. People in other industries - hospitality in particular - can work hard and be ambitious and still not be successful. That's the point of this thread. Such a shame that people who have found success so often lose perspective as you have.
@immortalbjr: Jesus, listen to yourself. I've worked hard and made major sacrifices too, and am doing very well. I'm still lucky though, and so are you. The difference is you aren't smart enough to understand that luck - fortunate circumstances - underpins everything. That was the entire point of my post above. You clearly have no idea about people other than yourself and believe that just because you succeeded, anyone can.
Maybe one day bad luck will befall you, and you might reconsider your ignorant opinion.
@immortalbjr: Hard work is mandatory, but if you're saying there's no element of luck to how you turned out, you're a blowhard. Millions of people 'work hard' and most of them don't make it. You got lucky when you were born right on the finish line. You were lucky that you somehow avoided exploitative bosses. You were lucky that you got into an industry when it wasn't tanking, etc, etc.
@immortalbjr: What you made $3800 with that mindset of working half days and letting other people do "hard" stuff?
@mightyfes: I love how he chases 'work harder, whingers!' with 'I now make my co-workers do all the hard work while I kick back.' He's a self-congratulating hypocrite.
Hospitality is great to work. Good pay, flexible hours
good joke buddy…
Really? I know a grown man that works 5 days a week, inc sat/sun, manages two other "stores" when the manager/owner is away, for the past 13yrs and gets $37k a year, pretax.
He wasn't allowed to take his 2 week holiday on the time he wanted for his honeymoon.
It really sounds like you don't know what you're talking about.
Someone is lying as for a full time worker that's not really possible. E
yes of course!
Being chefs they do extremely long hours some 60-70 hours a weeks for a wage which is usually standard money nothing to spectacular maybe 50k a year a head chef will earn more depending on experience. but then has to run the kitchen!
Most people in general working in hospitality earn minimum wage what is that now day $19 an hour? for a fairly physical job!
Working at a bar will earn you more money but do you really want to have to deal with being harassed at work?
Dealing with drunk people all day?
Then not to mention a lot of people that work in the industry earn cash being tourist they earn cash maybe $15 an hour working at cafe being rushed all day!
Do you blame them?
Casual work, minimum wage (21+) in Retail or Hospitality is about $21/hour I think.
I started at Maccas at 15 (a few decades ago) and was getting $2.96/hour, and they give all the most crap jobs to the young ones (like other people have mentioned).
I appreciate staff that have worked at maccas and its a badge of honour when I see it in a resume. Its a right of passage. Better than seeing 25 year olds graduates that havent worked a day
If they give you the occasional minimal (e.g. 3 hr) shift while expecting availability + the time and cost commuting in and out, the effective rate is less.
Some days definatly not, just this week I was nice and served a guy 10 Min after shutting who said ok ill be back in 5 Min for the food and ended up sitting waiting for over an hour and he never came back, Was knocked off for 45 Min of this time.
Sometimes customers are lovely and the day feels worth it. I find the most apreciative are the people you would consider worst off also, some of the people who come in with carers id move the moon for.
Did he pay for it?
Yes. Pay up front lol.
so you can keep to food.
And did you get pay for the extra time you wait for him?
@LoveBargain15: it was not the kind of food you want after a hour hotboxing lol. And nah I knocked off because we had finished packup.
worked as a chef for nearly 18 years, am very happy to say now i've been working in IT for 6 years.
i think it was the best decision i ever made getting away from the hospitality industry
Traded one thankless job with long hours, for another with long hours. But the pay's better :)
You needed to be doing IT in the 80s, we were treated like Gods. It has just been downhill since then. The pay is good but management thinks everyone is a widget that can be replaced by outsourced workers with no domain knowledge. I'm on the edge of retirement and I can't work out whether to kick it in or wait around munching popcorn and watch the whole thing go pear shaped on them. They won't give me a package because "I am valuable"; I think they see people like me as the people who can "make it happen" and act as the emergency wall to stop the whole thing sliding into the sea if it comes to that.
Back then people used Lotus 123, I remember playing with it on my dad's old computer back when I was in kindergarten / year 1. I was also taught a bit of BASIC back then by my dad who used to be an aircraft engineer. Used to be the 3rd most advanced piece of hardware in the house after our super Nintendo and brick game boy.
Then it just escalated exponentially from that to the present with VR on the verge of becoming mainstream.
It's insane looking back at this, only been around 20-25 years and we're carrying computers everywhere. Probably been downhill since the 80s because everyone has caught up, 80s+ kids were born with computers around them.
The first time I interacted with a computer at all was in 6th form. Playing text adventures with a mainframe at Deakin University. My youth was pre-internet, pre mobile phones, pre sony walkmans, pre home computers. It reminds me of the Monty Python sketch with "You try to tell that to the Young people of today and they won't believe you, they won't".
The downhill problem is not that "everyone knows" it is that management thinks "everyone knows". There is a difference between playing on your computer and undertaking changes on a major network, at 3:00 in the morning, when the whole thing goes pear shaped and you have to put it all back together to get it back online by 6:00. Fixing the problem not only takes knowledge it takes stepping up and owning the issue and working through the solution.
Manufacturing works well outsourced because you engineer the shit out of it before it reaches the assembly line. Every product looks as much as possible like the prototype using the same technique each time. What doesn't work well is expecting an outsourcing company to step outside those parameters; particularly if they have rotating personnel. However, I may be just cynical and we shall see.
My 2c:
Mainstream IT pays poorly and doesn't have the respect it once had. It's the "Maccas of the IT world".
Sigh.. Working with computers was once considered an "arcane" art well deserving of astronomical paycheques and respect.
That said, if you're a specialist in IT, you'd make some tidy money, have a fun job (and the much deserved respect). There is plenty of room for the hardcore propeller heads with expertise (reskilling is sometimes not that hard), and for faffy business IT types, there's heaps for them (although not as much respect, understandably).
@gearhead: I work in both mainstream IT and specialised IT and I'd say mainstream is more fun.
I work with corporations and large telecomm companies either directly or through contracting and the biggest issue is that their IT is usually outsourced to other countries. Issues like the language barrier make it far less fun and more stressful.
I remember at my first job back in 2000 they bought a USB printer and had no computer with USB ports. I cracked open the tower and installed a PCI usb card that I had gone and bought from the local tech shop. Everyone looked at me agog like I was some kind of wizard.
The threshold for being a techy type person has definitely increased. Back in the eighties if you used a computer at all you were a techy type person by default.
Not in they circles I travelled in. You were techy if you could write in assembler, or even better machine code. You were techy if you built your own computer not just used one.
mate, those that know assembler or machine code now are still gods imo. I know a few guys that reverse engineer malware. The good ones are the ones that know assembly!
If they can't follow assembly opcodes and control flow subconsciously, they can't do malware RE. :)
Think debugging binaries using assembly is hard? Imagine having to go through assembly equivalent of finding a two headed needle in a haystack…made of needles. :P
I meant to say the good programmers know assembly, they're also the more creative. Not like the many rote learnt programmers pumped out of uni. Your right about finding the needle. It's finding that method call in a pile of garble and then linking the right garble
You're right though, good reverse engineers need to know x86 and/or ARM. You can't just rely on a decompiler like IDA. Depends what platform though
I wish I stayed pursuing a career in the software realm. Maybe need to transition away from law, man listening to me talk right now it seems obvious. Hell I wrote programs that could find the judgements in my cases so I didn't have to read them myself haha.
I remember seeing my mates working on reactOS back in the day as well as doing their own game cracks. They got headhunted and didn't even need to go to uni. Now there's so many corporations that outsource their programming and it's evident in the work they produce.
:D I think you struck gold with Law though. After a certain point, staying in these domains is extremely trying due to the constant need to keep up with the bleeding edge techniques (and technologies). I'm on the other side of the fence, not in Malware (not smart enough). Wish I could go back in time and do Law. :)
Re:ARM, god I hate ARM ASM. Thumb(2) mode to see what the actual instruction is, to make sure offsets are correct. Someone sure was smoking some skunkweed while coming up with the instruction set. :P
we always want what we don't have hahahahh. I've always been fond of computers even since I was messing with basic and breaking my dads XT. I guess I didn't want my interest to become my job.
I worked at various bars for around 10 years: cocktail bars, wine bars, nightclubs etc, in Perth and Sydney. Loved it. Was initially just to get through uni but once I graduated and got a full time job (I'm a lawyer now) I kept bartending on Friday & Saturday nights for a few more years because I liked it so much.
Before then, during high school and early uni I'd worked in retail and at Domino's Pizza. Not as fun but still pretty good. Can't complian; it was paid work and I didn't get (horribly) abused by employers (not like the 7-11 scandal that's come out recently).
The industry's not for everyone, but myself and a lot of people I know had a good time. The pressure and sometimes volatile nature of the work makes for some good stories and shared experiences over the years. Made some lifelong friends. Met a few strung out jerks as well. Still fun though.
I find being a lawyer is tougher than being in hospitality TBH. Even though the pay is far better, the hours are long, work can be mind numbing. Had a few friends burn out and leave the profession due to being overworked (70 hour weeks), the rat race and sometimes having to help extremely unpleasant people.
Choosing to do Law was one of the biggest regrets of my life. Juice wasn't worth the squeeze.
My primary school friend quit being a lawyer when he had to deal with scumbags because he had to. Went to teaching and he is infinitely happier with the stories he told about kids achieving things and not because someone got away with something due to a technicality.
My niece, and her other half, have opened up their own Cafe; which they seem to be enjoying. It is great having chefs in the family you should've seen the spread we got for Christmas lunch. I live in Fitzroy and the place if full of interesting Cafes doing their own thing; which I think would be better than working for one of the big boys, whether it is a fast food place or a big restaurant.
I can think of other professions I would dislike more, e.g. Garbage Collector, anything to do with Sewerage, Hospital employee in ER, etc, but working in a Fast Food place would certainly be up there.
If your definition of hospitality extends to hotels then yep, worked in a hotel for 3.5 years and BEST JOB I'VE EVER HAD.
As with anything YMMV. I started as receptionist, and before my time was up I did every single role there was including reservationist, porter, housekeeper, duty manager, waiter, night auditor.
The people there was GREAT, some of the nicest, most down to earth, genuine, fun loving people I have ever met in my life, office bureaucracy was non-existent and everyone was on the same level, the manager was absolutely fantastic, she can be firm but is always fair, would not ask you to stick your neck out if she's not willing to do it herself, and supported you every step of the way.
Rotating shifts can be tough, but I did enjoy my 11pm-7am shift finishing off in the morning and seeing miserable people heading into work in the CBD.
The best part besides all the staff was the people every day, I've got more stories than Stephen King to share, everything from police busting down door to catch a credit card thief, to smashing a guest's car window for $100, to finding a stash of drug money in the dishwasher, to finding a rather rubbery ummm shaft hidden in a regular guest's room, and much much more.
Pay was rubbish, $40k IIRC. But I hardly ever thought about that whilst I was there.
Have worked as a waiter here and there for quite a while too, talk to the customers, try to have some fun, it is what you make it after all.
thanks for this Minty. It has made it a bit easier in my mind as my son is starting in a big hotel, only one day a week while finishing school. He has no idea still what career he wants but seems to love the hotel.
I was thinking it wouldnt be much but as he likes it and others (you) say it was good it has eased my mind a bit.
In retrospect I was extremely lucky to have worked in place where everything was just so perfect, depending on how your son is and whether he's happy to be in a single role for a long time or if he's like me where I learned and did everything and that created plenty of variety, the latter I'm sure is more difficult the larger the establishment gets.
Working with great people in the hospitality industry is essential, there's always self centered idiots and knobs in general, being able to laugh it all off together can make or break your day.
All the very best to your son should he choose to venture down that career path, lots of fun to be had.
Thanks.
Nephew works 3 days a week at concierge at a 5 star city hotel. He likes the extra pay although some days it can be boring standing around with little to do. No matter what they are told they must look busy at all times even when it's quiet. So he waits outside front steps to open car doors for customers.
"Night auditor" sounds like an interesting name for a role. What did it involve?
It was a 5 star hotel with am (7am-3pm), pm (3pm-11pm), and night (11pm-7am) shifts. The night auditor ensures all the am & pm system financial transactions related to check-in/check-out/restaurant/mini-bar/miscellaneous (tours/newspaper/dry cleaning/etc) are all correct and corresponds to the amount of money you've physically received for the day.
That's the most important task of your shift, the am & pm staff are required to balance their shift before they go so if they've done their job properly yours should be relatively easy, used to take me approx 45mins once I was familiar with it. However if anything goes wrong you have no one there to help you or answer your questions to decipher why you're +/- $3000 and that could take a long time to backtrack looking through every transaction to narrow it all down.
Once that's done I double check to see that no rooms are double booked in error, if so I upgrade or shift per necessary, and make note for am shift to contact customer to advise. I set morning calls. Deliver morning paper once they come in the morning. On a perfect night I do approx 1.5hr of work and get paid for 8.
Can get bit boring all by yourself though but it was like second home to me so I can always find something to do. You're unlikely to straight away be able to get a night auditor role as they do want you to work other shifts so you know how to troubleshoot when and if things go wrong because you have no backup whatsoever.
About 7 yrs ago, KFC was paying under 18s $5 per hour. Not sure if they have increased that junior rate. However these days, it's hard to get a waiter's job in the cafe industry even for a low paying wage because of competition with 457 visa workers.
It is way time that the 457 visa rort was cleaned up. I don't have an issue if it really is an industry with shortages but a lot of it is just a way to drive wages down.
Govt likes it because increases GDP and keeps demand up for housing. Real shame
It is OK if you are still a junior because they will employ you to pay you low rates. But god help you if you are coming into hospitality 18yrs and above without previous experience. With all your certificates and license checks etc in place, you are now pitted against a visa worker whom they pay less. I've told my kids to look elsewhere (retail and others) as they are not going anywhere in hospitality. Very demoralizing and yet again, the supermarkets and department stores are also doing the same and employing the visa workers. Many of my friends have adult age kids who want to work parttime and there are limited employers who will pay an Australian citizen's rate.
So are you saying those employers are paying cash? Because Australia has a thing called 'minimum wage' right? I honestly don't understand what you are complaining about. What's the difference between an AU citizen and a visa worker? 20 hours a week (part-time) at "legal" wages are more than enough for students IMO, if not maybe they should join Ozbargain!
I work in hospitality as well and I don't hate it because it's not a career. People often forget that. Casuals and part-time positions are OK, but if you are considering hospitality as a full-time career, you already chose wrong lol. Exceptions are people that absolutely love what they're doing or you're Gordon Ramsey or something.
Tiring conditions? Yes, part of the job. Low pay? Idk about that, how much is low? Pressure? Yes, a lot, also part of the job. Long hours? I would think part-time people love this right? More hours more money. Odd hours then? I'll give you that. But I'm in my early 20s and find no problem with that. I don't intend to do this for the next 40 years!
Overall I don't hate my jobs but I don't enjoy them either. I come to work, do my job, and get paid. I can support myself while still doing uni. I'll sure quit when I finish my degree though.
@huydn: There are lots of places that just outright refuse to pay the minimum. It's very difficult to do anything about it. I used to think it couldn't happen but then I married a Chinese woman and now I see it all the time with her and her friends. Just recently she took on a job paying only $16 an hour at a factory because we need money. She will try to get the money she is owed when she leaves but right now she can't rock the boat or else they'll tell her not to turn up.
This is what high unemployment, low welfare and the ongoing demonising of welfare recipients does. It creates desperate people and desperate situations that can be exploited.
@Talonparty: I don't think long term welfare recipients are willing to work for that amount of money.
Issue with those jobs is they are not advertised, each city in Australia has a few Chinese message boards and all have job boards. There are 1000s of jobs out there that dole bludgers can do, issue is they are not on seek.
Example: Cleaning a bank for 2 hours a day at night, $30 a day. Even a dude on the pension because he dropped out of primary school can do that.
@Vampyr: the level of support from the government is pretty low. I had to go on newstart recently and even with rent assistance I barely got enough to pay my rent and not enough for bills and food. Thankfully I have a support network and found a casual job after a few weeks. But without that I would have had to go hungry or break my lease which would have created a lot more cost, trouble for future rentals and a massive disruption.
I guess in answer to your question I reply 'the cost of living'.
@GameChanger: no, long term recipients might not be, but they'd be adjusted to their situation. Finding yourself without work and without enough from the government to tide you over until your next proper opportunity then you might be willing to take whatever you can get.
Firstly I don't know your circumstances and don't wish hardship on anyone..
But…
I don't think we should expect the government to support everyone to the lifestyle they are accustomed. If you can afford to live somewhere with cheap rent and eat, then welfare is adequate. Any more and it becomes too much of a burden on society.
My humble opinion, only.
@Vampyr: That's a reasonable point of view, but you have to then make decisions on what is 'too luxurious a lifestyle' for the government to support. I accessed youth allowance while I studied from 2006 to 2010. Over that time in perth the two bedroom house I rented with my mate went from $165 a week to over $320. In that time the rent doubled yet youth allowance and rent assistance increased on the order of a few dollars per week every year or so. I moved into another house with a uni mate and lived there until they raised the price so high my mate and I had to move back in with our parents while we finished study.
I don't think it's fair to cover the cost of an inner city apartment which is well above average rent but I do think there should be enough so that I shouldn't have to move house just to get over a short term financial hurdle, if I live in a low end or average rental for the metro area. I think rent assistance should be a bit more tied to the median rental or some other measure. As it stands it didn't matter if I was paying 200 a week or 400 a week because the assistance was the same.
What's the solution? Either control the cost of living or move all unemployed people to areas which they can afford, which will eventually become ghettos and thoroughly entrench people in disadvantage. Or just pay enough so that the average person accessing the safety-net can get by for a few months while they get back on their feet. People will always take advantage but there can't be that many dole bludgers because it's a thoroughly shit existence and few people want to live that life, despite the media pushing the scary idea that some cheeky bugger out there is getting around $12000 a year and living a life that for some reason others would be jealous of.
Garbology?
Work at maccas - coming on 3 years as a now 17 year old.. stressful to say the least, and the pay is ridiculous..but work with the right people and it can be rewarding, but you don't pick your coworkers.
Stressful; wait till you get a 'proper' job.
Mcdonalds pay for the work done is actually good.
I don't think you've ever worked in fast food then..
I worked in fast food for 4 years…
Worked at a pizza place for 6 years and been management for 2. The bad experiences pass and make for a good story, and the good experiences keep you sane. Its like any job really.
I've never worked at any fast food chains, but have worked at Woolies where they follow the SDA (?) Does KFC, HJ, Maccas have an equivalent?
Every job has a Union.
In Australia you still get decent amount of money, shouldn't be any real complaining imo