Research Hypertext Proposal

For my research hypertext, I wanted to go into detail about the hardships that McDonald employees have to go through every day. McDonald workers are low wage workers and end up working for much more than what they’re paid. I want to get an inside perspective from these McDonald workers and explore how hard it is for them to make a living of off McDonalds, as well as how strenuous low wage working at McDonalds really is. I want to get inside these worker’s lives and tell their stories. What got me interested in this topic was the fact that I used to get annoyed and complain harshly to McDonald workers, yet now I think differently. I used to get complain to employees and badmouth them with my friends if they messed up my order or were taking too long. Now, after learning about poverty and low wage worker struggles, I feel guilty and give them my sympathy. The main idea driving me is the fact that most customers look down upon or don’t even notice or care about the workers who work extremely hard for such low pay just to give you a cheap meal. Many low wage workers are forgotten, their existence and struggles unknown to society.

Low wage workers like McDonald employees who live off these wages have to constantly work each and every day just to buy enough food for the next day. If you miss one day of work, you might not have enough money to eat that day (Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenriech, pg.119). That also ties into the fact that low wage workers don’t have the money for emergency situations, creating much stress (The Working Poor, Shipler, pg.45). Schlosser talks about how McDonalds doesn’t care about their workers at all and can easily replace old workers, making it very stressful for people who depend on their job at McDonalds (Fast Food Nation, Schlosser, pg.77). Shipler brings out the point I was making, that we as the normal class look past the lower class that does all the hard work for us (The Working Poor, Shipler, pg.3). There’s still more hardship though, as the legal minimum wage is far below what is actually needed to have a decent life (The Working Poor, Shipler, pg.9). McDonald workers earn near the minimum wage, meaning that they cannot live a decently comfortable life unless they work two jobs or more. But then they’d have to spend all their time working (Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenriech, pg.28). It also seems like people without money seem to accumulate problems and trouble just keeps coming their way. That doesn’t help their situation one bit (The Working Poor, Shipler, pg.76). These are the major ideas I want to touch on. I want to research how these specific standpoints on poverty connect to the low wage workers of McDonalds. Once I accomplish that, I will have much knowledge on the topic of McDonald employees and will be able to create my splash page and add an original contribution.