The problem in Chapter 3 is the amount of violence coming from the young and the poor, working in the fast food industry in Eric Schlossers book “Fast Food Nation.” Many of the robberies and theft that go on in fast food restaurants are from current or former employees. These young employees are angered by the minimum wage they receive and how they are treated unfairly, without respect or value. The effects of this are employee outbursts and commitment of armed robbery early in the mornings or late at night. They can steal money from the restaurant because they are so angry with there jobs. This effects and endangers both employees and customers. For example, on page 84, Eric Schlosser explains a situation at a McDonald’s in Moorpark, California where the restaurant was being robbed. The day shift manager recognized the night shift manager under his mask. An example of a political issue that has risen caused by violence in the workplace is that of The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This act could help promote safety guidelines during the night shift at fast food restaurants and because of the high levels of workplace fatalities in women. The National Restaurant Association and one hundred congressmen opposed the act because they were bribed with money. In January 1999, The National Council of Chain Restaurants lobbied against OSHA and formed an organization called the “Alliance for Workplace Safety.”
“No other American industry is robbed so frequently by its own employees”, Joseph A. Kinney notes, the president of the National Safe Workplace Institute. He also adds that we shouldn’t be wasting time installing cameras and such but we should improve the job experience for workers. This relates to violence in fast food restaurants because its showing how an employer himself is telling restaurants that they need to do a better job in satisfying there employees. Americas fast food industry workers are looked at as no more than slaves who worked in the fields. It is the same principle except in modern times. That is what the fast food industry in America is all about. Paying workers as little as possible and making the most profit possible.
My personal experience goes back about three years ago. It isn’t as violent as an armed robbery, but I can relate to the subject. I worked in a coffee shop and closed around eleven o clock. It was about ten and I was cleaning up the espresso machines when an old African American man with an unshaved face and a limp walked in. His clothes made it noticeable that he wasn’t the richest man in the world. I noticed my tip jar a few minutes before and saw a dollar crammed inside with a red, circular stamp plastered on it. The man walked up to the register and asked for a cup of coffee, so I turned around and went in the same step by step process to fill up the little cup. I turned around and asked for a dollar and fifty cents. The man handed me the same dollar that was in my tip jar, and I noticed my almost now empty jar. I told him that I knew he had taken the money from the cup and he started mumbling and cursing as he walked out of the store. I had called the police and when they came we watched the video of him taking the money while I had my back turned to make his coffee. I felt angry and upset to know the money I had worked hard for had been taken.
Solutions that have been tried and failed were everything from security cameras, burglar alarms, panic buttons, drop-safes and additional lighting on the premises. Even the most thoroughly guarded fast food restaurants are still vulnerable. For example, in April 2000 a Burger King located on the grounds of the Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska was robbed by two men in ski masks and armed with shotguns. The equipment did not the effect the robbery one bit and they got away with over $7,000. My personal experience is from my account that I have mentioned before. In my case, the solution worked and didn’t worked. I still got my money taken but the cameras helped to identify the thief.
If I was given unlimited resources and connections, I would hire a security guard to protect the place when it closed and another when it opened in the morning and I would work with the police force. These fast food franchises have so much money that they can use to hire security guards and it will save the workers lives, and prevent any money from being stolen from the restaurants. This would lower the violence rate in the fast food industry and workers would feel much safer and probably appreciate their bosses more. I would also pose a solution towards the managers or franchisee holders. I would tell them to take the money out of the registers and safes and keep them somewhere out of the fast food restaurants several times a day to prevent robberies in which they take more money.
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