Mike Waite wants you to cut the shit.
Waite, who works at a McDonald’s in Edinburgh, Scotland, is frankly over your “judgmental criticism” of service industry workers.
“YES I work at Mcdonalds and do it nearly 50 hours a week,” Waite wrote in a now-viral Facebook post. “Why? Not because I have no aspiration, motivation or intelligence…but for the opposite…because in a few months time like a great number of people I work with I will be going back into higher education.”
Photo courtesy of Mike Waite on Facebook
From his Facebook profile, Mike Waite comes across as a pretty normal dude who likes Game of Thrones, has a family, and works at McDonald’s while studying Management Information Systems at Heriot-Watt University. His screed against those who may not take him seriously because he works at McDonald’s has taken off online, with over 54,000 reactions on Facebook as of this writing. Most of his other posts get less than 10 reactions.
“I work with some amazing people, and like many of them, McDonalds is not a ‘dead-end’ of my working life but rather part of the beginning,” wrote Waite.
While some may scoff at workers like Waite who bust their asses to prepare and serve you your Big Mac, there’s no denying that the service industry is a major factor in global economies. McDonald’s alone feeds about 68 million people per day, which comes out to roughly 1 percent of the world’s population.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
The misconception that workers like Waite are “unskilled” has larger implications than hurting someone’s feelings. It’s one of the most common arguments against raising minimum wages around the world: that fast food workers don’t deserve higher wages because their job is easy. This could not be farther from the truth.
“I work with people I would aspire to be like, who have strengths in areas I wish I had, who have overcome situations I never could and who have the determination to not fade away on handouts but rather step up and work for their living unlike a huge number of people in this country,” wrote Waite.
Waite finishes his post with one of the most epic sign-offs: “Now, what drink would you like with that order?”
Perhaps an extra-large fountain drink of Haterade.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com