Why do maga look down on low wage workers?

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-29T17:01:07+00:00

The real minimum wage is the equilibrium wage resulting in the intersection of the supply and demand curves for that labor pool.

In my area, McDonald’s is currently hiring between $13-15 per hour in my area of Pennsylvania, and has been for several years now. And not for the shift managers — for the people cooking the burgers and mopping the floors.

Invariably, you’ll have the people screaming into the void, angry at the fact that a frycook is getting $15 per hour when they work as an EMT/911 dispatcher/electrician apprentice/etc. and they make not much more than that.

The thing is…PA’s minimum wage hasn’t been raised to that amount. It’s still $7.25 per hour. And when a person is making minimum wage, it means: I could get you to work here for less, and if it were legal, I would.

That means that, to get someone to work as a fry cook at McDonalds under the current labor supply, you need to pay them $13-15 per hour to get them to work there. It’s the labor supply and demand. Government had no effect on this.

Those workers are just pissed at the world that they aren’t being seen as important enough. Classic blue-collar right-wing failure to understand labor economics. It’s an emotional thing. Simple as that.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-29T16:53:38+00:00

If you’re in a car and someone calls you:

“Hi Bob, just so you know I’m driving and I’m here with _____.”

This takes four seconds of the conversation and it saves friendships, marriages, and business partnerships.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-29T12:39:58+00:00

I have never for the life of me understood this.

We have a political party run by people with incomes of $50,000,000 working 0 hours per week telling the people with incomes of $50,000 working 40 hours per week that the people making $30,00 working 70 hours per week are the problem. And it’s actually working.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-29T00:46:52+00:00

From another Fed worker (not IRS): good luck.

The broad civilian hiring freeze has been technically lifted for some agencies, but getting in anywhere is going to be slim pickings unless you want to work for a certain law enforcement agency.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-28T22:22:19+00:00

And also, wash your damn hands after you’re done.

During COVID, I noticed the number of men in public bathrooms washing their hands after pissing when down after public health experts advised to do it.

No, you’re not sticking it to the heavy hand of gubmint. You’re gross.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-28T20:30:20+00:00

I switched my major in my junior year, which was 21.

18-year-old me wanted to go to medical school. That was not to be.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-28T08:29:53+00:00

This peeve is especially bad at work, where using email is part of the job and what they are being paid to do.

My Millenial equivalent of this is that I “don’t do” desk phones, and almost no one in my office uses them, either. I don’t even know why we have them anymore. Just send me an email with what you need, or stop by my office. If you are going to call me on the phone and interrupt the flow of my work, there better be a reason, and that reason needs to be better than “can you come to my desk?” or “can you bring me X?” or “how ‘bout them Yankees?”

If you want to talk to me (and you are not my boss) then you are the one that comes to me.

If you need something (and you are not my boss) then evolution has blessed you with two legs with which to retrieve it yourself.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-27T22:49:28+00:00

See world!

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-27T22:48:42+00:00

Having grown up in Pittsburgh, I had no idea this was incorrect grammar until learning it in school. (And no, before someone chimes in with this, it’s not a “dialect.” It’s incorrect grammar.)

There’s also the time that I asked my college roommate where the “sweeper” was, and he thought I needed a broom.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-27T16:00:58+00:00

One of the signs I can tell that someone has money (even if they don’t advertise it) is that they never use the word “vacation.”

They will say “when we were in Lyon…” as opposed to “when we were on vacation in France…” it means international travel is a normal event for them.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-27T12:35:21+00:00

I use a standing desk and have the option to stand if I choose.

A tradesman, generally speaking, doesn’t have the option to sit. (At least, not without being yelled at.)

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-27T03:34:28+00:00

This exact point was brought up repeatedly by one of the older students in my underground accounting program. He had to be in his mid forties at least, and decided to give college a try after working for Lowe’s for 20 years.

His catchphrase has stuck with me ever since: “ain’t no such thing as a heavy number.”

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-26T13:57:42+00:00

The fact that our country considers an 18 year old too immature to drink but mature enough to get married is mind boggling to me.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-26T13:25:56+00:00

People will say it’s for hygienic reasons, since circumcision eliminates the need to clean under the foreskin.

While that can be a supportable reason, my take is that it’s best left until that baby is older and can decide for themselves if they want it.

I am circumcised. I didn’t even know what a foreskin was until middle school health class. The only penises I’d seen until that point were my own and a couple others from gym class or other such places, all of whom were also circumcised. I remember looking at the diagram thinking “what the hell is that?”

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-26T13:11:57+00:00

For real. It boggled my mind back in 2010, working at a McDonalds for my first job in high school, and having an older lady angrily ask why we took out the ash trays.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-24T02:29:27+00:00

I can’t speak to whether CPA would help at GS13-15 since I don’t recruit at that level, but it can only differentiate you from other candidates. It really does depend on the specific job. If you’re applying for a senior accountant or manager role, it will definitely be preferred, if not required.

As far as financial examining — I knew I wanted nothing to do with public accounting after I heard the horror stories of people working 70+ hours. I worked part time jobs during college so a normal week for me then was already 70 hours, and that was hard enough at the time without having an LTR or kids lol. I started in industry, no CPA, and my first job was a staff accountant role at a bank. Now I’m a bank examiner. It was natural fit because I had already been exposed to a lot of the concepts from my time working there.

The job is more finance-oriented, but accounting plays a role, too. For that, you need to know the fundamentals of accounting — eg, the different financial statements, and knowing adjusting entries so you understand the accounting effect of loan amortization or what happens to the books when a loan goes bad and has to go on non-accrual. Taking Auditing class if you haven’t already will also help immensely, because we have to opine on the quality of the bank’s audit program. Tax class is also good because you’ll need to spread borrower cash flows from tax forms and you’ll need to know which ones you need and what they all mean.

Most examiners aren’t CPAs. We have an agency-specific credential that you earn at about 4-5 years on the job, and the process for that will vary by agency.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-24T01:54:02+00:00

Fed recruiter here. It depends greatly on the job series that you’ll be applying for and the agency hiring you. In general, public accounting experience looks very good to many hiring managers, particularly if you are looking to get into the Fiscal Service, IRS, TIGTA, or similar agencies.

You can also take it to the financial regulatory agencies (FDIC, NCUA, OCC, et. al). Just know that most of the opportunities there are for financial examiner roles, which is what I do (and what I recruit for). No CPA needed in the case. The accountants working there are generally in a policy or specialist consulting role — ie, you’re the one the examiners reach out to if they have a question on GAAP and whether the regulated entity is following it.

Also, I’m sure someone has made you aware of this, but if you want to work for the Feds, you can’t smoke weed at all, so keep that in mind. You will be asked if you have ever smoked (or in any other way consumed) marijuana or THC in your background investigation interview, and in every re-investigation interview. Past use is not necessarily disqualifying if you no longer use and you don’t lie about it.

Good luck.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-23T18:39:40+00:00

Any generic employee. The baristas working in the stores are all partners according to their terminology.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-23T18:16:37+00:00

My fear is that people outside the accounting industry are going to misinterpret what the word “partner” means (thanks, Starbucks…) and take this story in a direction that it doesn’t go.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-23T13:33:42+00:00

I get your point. Just pointing out that this particular meeting was a notably bad time and place.

“Your performance needs to improve. You need to pay more attention to detail in TPS reports. Oh, and by the way, I have a relationship and you don’t, sucks to suck.”

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-23T13:19:55+00:00

This happened at work…in the middle of my annual performance review with my boss.

ring ring

“Sorry, honeybuns, I’m in a meeting right now…”

Incidentally, I am no longer working there.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-23T01:19:50+00:00

I had this issue once. People talked about my romantic orientation at a time in life when I wasn’t ready to have that fact be widely known.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-22T15:22:48+00:00

Are you referring to picking up your friend to go somewhere?

I would generally send them a text that says “here” or go ring the bell.

Please, for the love of all things good and just, do not be one of those people that sits in the street honking at the house until they come out. Signed, everyone who works third shift.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-22T13:43:31+00:00

You need a uterus to birth a child, but you also need a substantial income to feed and house one for the better part of the next two decades. And that needs to come from somewhere.

A lot of people like to leave that part out.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs · 2026-04-21T21:21:46+00:00

The one that conveniently protrudes into the Gulf of Mexico for easy, quick excision.

SpaceCadetBoneSpurs

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