Opinion
SHOHAM GEVA
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AND REGAN DETWILER
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, April 15, 2016
Our year ahead
DAVID SCHAFER AND MICAH GRIGGS | OP-ED
T
he viral video of Jake Croman launching
an onslaught of verbal assaults on a
local Uber driver reminded me of my
experiences working at McDonald’s. I recall
my first day, when a younger, more enthusiastic
version of myself was incredibly excited to start
his first real job. I was completely oblivious
to the experiences that lied ahead, most of
which were not the positive experiences I had
optimistically anticipated.
I quickly learned how to use the register, and
that’s where I spent most of my 15 hours each
week. Though I was balancing my schoolwork
with working at McDonald’s, 15 hours per week
was very manageable, and actually a blessing.
Though the paychecks were small, I was
enjoying the relationships I was building with
my coworkers, which helped me to forget the
regular belittlement from customers regarding
tasks that were out of my control.
Customer
complaints
usually
reached
me first, as I was the first person visible
to frustrated customers. The complaints
generally involved food being too cold or a
sandwich having toppings that the customer
specifically requested be removed, and were
usually followed by a sentence like this: “This
is why your wages are so low!” or “You can’t
even perform the most basic tasks!” or “This
is absurd, can anyone here do their job right?”
As the new worker and per McDonald’s policy,
my mindset was always to apologize without
hesitation and ask how I could help fix the
problem. The customer is always right.
The
realization
that
I
completely
overestimated the extent to which I would
enjoy working at McDonald’s came over the
course of the summer, but I believe the process
of said realization can be summed up in three
events that made me feel inadequate, worthless
and subhuman.
First, corporate employees occasionally
come through as customers to make sure we
are meeting their standards. By the time this
happened to me, I was working the drive-
through window where customers pay for
their order. I read off the corporate employee’s
two item order, “six-piece and a large Coke?”
and she handed me her card. As I slid the
card, I asked “Would you like your receipt?”
She nodded and I returned her card with a
receipt. Instead of driving off, she told me I
was doing everything wrong. I looked at her
puzzled. She informed me that I didn’t need
to read the whole order to confirm the order
was hers (which makes some sense for long
orders, but her order was two items!) and
told me to always give the customers their
receipts. Internally frustrated, I remained
calm and thanked her for the advice. So, I
returned receipts to every customer. And,
unsurprisingly, I had a lot of them crumpled
up and thrown back at me as customers told
me that nobody ever wants a receipt. Initially,
that wasn’t a big deal to me, but the repetition
of getting paper crumpled and thrown at
you combined with condescending remarks
becomes quite frustrating.
Second, only a few days later, a woman
attempted to use a coupon for a beverage that
wasn’t covered by the coupon, and when I
explained to her that she couldn’t use it, she
proceeded to tell me that she was in “the legal
business,” and that what I was doing was
“illegal.” I again explained why she couldn’t
use the coupon, and she responded with a
brief rant: “You need to go back to school and
get educated, because you clearly don’t know
much. That’s probably why you’re working this
job. Go back to school and educate yourself
a bit.” In this scenario, though I was furious,
I was required to keep my cool and allow the
woman to disparage me because “the customer
is always right.”
The most dehumanizing experience of
working at McDonald’s was by far the worst
experience of my life. Someone urinated and
defecated on the floor of the men’s bathroom,
and I was the lucky individual who cleaned it
up. Several of my coworkers had to deal with
the same problem both before and after I did, as
that was not an isolated incident.
While the extreme nature of Jake Croman’s
comments may have been an isolated case, low-
wage workers experience similar belittlement
quite regularly, and often for no reason. For
fast-food workers specifically (I can’t speak
on behalf of other minimum-wage jobs, but I’d
be willing to bet the experiences are similar),
the nature of the work itself in addition to
the poor treatment from customers can be
dehumanizing.
Working a minimum-wage job forces you to
swallow your pride and essentially accept that
you are going to be viewed by a large majority
as inferior and insignificant. Coming to terms
with this can be difficult. Personally, I think
this is what prompts fast-food and low-wage
workers around the country to push for higher
pay. The work itself is not particularly difficult,
but the persistent dehumanization that low-
wage workers are forced to endure (sometimes
slightly warranted, but generally unwarranted)
combined with the low wages encourages
workers to put forth the least effort possible.
Frankly, my work ethic dropped immensely
as my time at McDonald’s progressed. I think
one way to alter work ethic of workers is to raise
the wages. Costco pays its workers much more
than fast-food companies, and the results are
clear in customer satisfaction ratings, where
Costco ranks among the best in the country.
Many people believe that minimum-wage
workers are paid low because the quality of
their work is minimum. For the most part, this
is a serious misconception, as the quality of the
work is absolutely better than the wages we are
paid.
Additionally, I firmly believe that the
stigma for working a low-wage job combined
with the wages themselves are responsible for
the “low-quality” work. Raise people’s wages
and start showing respect to the minimum-
wage workers and I guarantee that there
will be an improvement in workers’ efforts
and attitudes. Continue to treat minimum-
wage workers as inferior while paying them
poverty wages and I guarantee workers will
progressively care less about the quality of
their work.
— Ryan Roose is an LSA freshman
The price of minimum-wage work
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Gracie Dunn, Caitlin Heenan,
Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Kit
Maher, Madeline Nowicki,
Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland,
Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Kevin Sweitzer, Rebecca
Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Hunter Zhao
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
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E-mail yazmon at Eyazmon@umich.Edu
YAZMON ECTOR
RYAN ROOSE | OP-ED
T
he official results were
released a couple weeks
ago, and we are humbled
and honored to have been elected
to serve as the University of
Michigan’s
Central
Student
Government president and vice
president. We could not be more
grateful for everyone’s support
and we look forward to continuing
to advocate for the voices of the
student body and serving all of
you in the upcoming year.
We acknowledge the, at times,
difficult relationship CSG has had
with the student body. We ran on a
platform designed to improve this
connection and to make student
government
more
inclusive,
representative and productive.
With the election now over, many
students will be closely watching
to see whether, and how much, we
actualize our policy and platform
ideas into a reality.
From
calls
for
greater
transparency
from
CSG,
an
increased
focus
on
diversity
and inclusion, efforts to raise
awareness of sexual assault and
the expansion of mental health
resources, we, and the other
CSG
candidates,
made
many
promises during last month’s
election. Thousands of students
engaged in these conversations,
and they ultimately exercised
their right to vote and made
their voices heard. Too often,
however, this groundswell of
support and interest in CSG
significantly subsides following
the election. We know that CSG
must work and connect with the
incredible student organizations
at Michigan not just during the
campaign, but throughout the
year.
In the year ahead, we expect to
face our fair share of challenges.
There will be setbacks and false
starts, but we are optimistic for
a successful year. This requires
us to not overlook or remain
ignorant of the many areas in
need of improvement at the
University. When a student does
not have equal access to mental
health resources, that matters
to all of us, even if it’s not us or
someone we know. In the same
spirit, when a student is targeted
or made to feel unsafe because of
their identity, that matters to all
of us, even if it’s not us or someone
we know who is excluded.
This
ideal
has
become
increasingly relevant. Over the
last two weeks, horrific messages,
including
“#StopIslam,”
have
been chalked and then re-chalked
on the Diag. This demands action
and opposition from all students.
We must not use free speech as
an excuse to stand idly by when
fellow members of our Michigan
community are harmed. Nor can
we properly call ourselves allies
if our activism starts and ends
with the sharing of a Facebook
post. Only when we begin to look
at our Michigan experience as
inextricably bound to those of
every other student here can we
truly step up and fully serve all of
the University.
With this in mind, especially
over the next year as we begin
the year-long celebration of the
University’s 200th birthday, we
challenge and call on you to be
involved on campus. Embrace the
role of student leader and work
to advance the opportunities
and enhance the experiences
of your fellow Wolverines. We
hope you will never hesitate to
challenge us or call us out when
necessary. Please stop us on the
Diag or reach out to us via e-mail
or social media about any concern
or suggestions you might have.
This election was about you, and
so is the year ahead. You were
our voice during the election, and
thus we promise to always listen
to yours in the year ahead. Thank
you, and forever go blue!
—David Schafer is an LSA junior
and CSG president. Micah Griggs is
an LSA Junior and CSG vice president
“In the year ahead,
we expect to face
our fair share of
challenges... but we
are optimistic for a
successful year.”
Dear members of the University
Michigan community,
We stand with our friends,
students, colleagues and with the
Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs and Central
Student Government, and the Senate
Assembly in condemning the recent
anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and
anti-activist chalkings on the Diag.
Whatever the political motivations
of those engaged in such acts,
their expressions of disrespect for
members of our community can
have nothing but a chilling effect
on the social and intellectual life of
this campus.
We want to underscore that
Muslim students and colleagues
are integral members of this
campus community and make
important contributions to the
life of the institution. We thus
endorse
SACUA’s
December
resolution
“to
unequivocally
oppose
and
condemn
all
attempts to discriminate against,
marginalize,
or
denigrate
students, faculty or staff on the
basis of religious faith, national
origin or ethnic belonging.” And
we call on all members of the
community — students, faculty,
staff and administrators — to join
in support of the right of everyone,
as CSG put it, “to be free from
discrimination, persecution, and
to be treated with dignity and
respect by the University and the
campus community.”
Finally, we want to emphasize
the urgency of the situation.
We
call
on
the
University
administration to join with us
to find more effective means of
helping ensure that the objectives
of establishing an inclusive and
diverse campus are realized.
Sincerely,
University faculty
— To view the full list of
signees, visit michigandaily.com
An anti-intolerance statement
UNIVERSITY FACULTY | OP-ED
I
can’t tell you how many times
I’ve seen Kim Kardashian’s
naked body. That’s not to
say I’m both-
ered by it. To
me, I couldn’t
care less, you
do
you
girl.
Be naked. We
were all born
that way. Quite
recently,
Kim
posted a naked
selfie
with
a
caption
about
having nothing
to wear. Even
more recently than that, Kim
posted another selfie with Emily
Ratajkowski — again she was bar-
ing all, but this time the selfie was
her way of fighting back. With
both of their middle fingers in the
air, Kim and Emily were silent-
ly condemning the people who
called out Kim the first time.
The initial selfie prompted
much criticism. For example,
Piers Morgan went as far as to
tweet a comparison of Emme-
line Pankhurst and Kim to really
show her that she killed feminism.
He didn’t stop there because, of
course, she really doesn’t under-
stand that, according to him, her
nakedness is not helping femi-
nism progress at all. So he decided
to write an entire column explain-
ing to Kim why her body frequent-
ly being on display is becoming a
joke and obviously just a cry for
attention since her younger sis-
ters are now apparently getting
more attention than her.
But when Amy Schumer does
it she’s brave and considered an
inspiration. What’s the differ-
ence between Amy and Kim? Is it
because Amy isn’t overtly sexual-
ized on a daily basis? Or is it her
“plus size” physique that makes it
OK? There shouldn’t be standards
for when and how women display
their sexuality. Nudity does not
equal bravery if you’re not stick
thin, nor does it equate to slutti-
ness if you are
One of the responses to Kim’s
latest nude display was the fact
that she has children now and
should be embarrassed to be
naked everywhere, just in case
they might come across that in the
future. I hate to break the news
to people who have this reaction,
but one of the reasons Kim is a
household name is because of her
sex tape. If her kids aren’t going
to come across her naked selfies,
they’ll definitely find her tape,
which, if I remember correctly,
wasn’t even released with her per-
mission. These pictures are being
taken and shown to the public at
her own discretion. Is it not bet-
ter for Kim to have pictures of her
body she chose to put out in the
world for her kids to come across?
After all, she birthed them. Her
body probably isn’t something
they haven’t seen themselves
at one point in their lives. Oh,
and she’s also still allowed to be
sexual. Not that she needs our
permission; but obviously she
does,
because
motherhood
is
completely asexualized and used
as a weapon against women who
choose to show their sexuality in
any way after giving birth.
Others argue that her nudity
doesn’t set a good example for
young women. I intensely beg to
differ. Naked women are literally
everywhere in the media. Often
they are portrayed without much
agency and as objects. I’m not
saying we should all run out and
start taking nude selfies in soli-
darity with Kardashian; not all
of us have the luxury of working
in an industry where sending out
nude selfies helps us profession-
ally. Women deal with enough
garbage regarding body positivity
on a day-to-day basis — are we too
fat, too skinny? We’re trained to
not like our bodies regardless of
what they look like.
Kim Kardashian, who I would
consider a very beautiful woman
with a drop-dead gorgeous body,
is shamed for posing naked —
why? Is it because she hasn’t
stopped global warming or run
for Congress? Who is the ultimate
decision-maker when it comes
to deciding whether Kim Kar-
dashian’s nudity is empowering
or not? Is nudity only considered
“empowering” if the women pos-
ing nude for cameras don’t fit typ-
ical western beauty ideals? This is
the perfect opportunity to open a
dialogue about loving ourselves
but instead, we’ve used it as a
springboard to throw Kardashian
under the bus.
It’s not detrimental to feminism
if a woman loves her body and
wants to show it off. Feminism
fights for equality. A naked pair of
tits is not going to revoke our right
to vote. This is really just a mas-
sive case of slut shaming. Women
don’t need a reason to strip down
other than because that they want
to. Kim Kardashian’s nudity isn’t
the problem here. It’s society’s
frequent freak-outs over women
taking control of their sexuality
and refusing to be used as objects.
Love her or hate her, Kardashi-
an has made a valid statement. She
and Ye are still laughing their way
to the bank to transfer millions
into their joint account, regard-
less of whether or not you’re
offended by her nudity.
—Olivia Puente can be reached
at opuente@umich.edu.
Kardashian didn’t kill feminism
OLIVIA
PUENTE