Samuel H. Newnam: $15 for flipping burgers? That’s not fair

First, the minimum wage is a place to start paying for a job, usually for a young part-time or untrained employee. It was never meant to support a family.

Nationally, a non-union carpenter makes $19.35 per hour. This takes smarts and hard work in rain, snow, heat, etc. Are we to believe that a hamburger flipper “deserves” $15 an hour?

I won’t mention which fast food facility I went to, but there is a circle in the middle of the inside of the wrapper for the hamburger. I asked the manager why. He told me so the employee will be able to place the burger in the middle of the wrapper. This deserves $15 an hour?

How about getting an education and not dropping out of school. Stay off drugs. Learn a trade. Pull your pants up from around your knees, shed the tattoos, get a haircut, dress well and work hard. But especially, get some work ethic. You made your choices, not me. You think you deserve to get paid almost as much as a person trained in a trade? Give me a break!

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Samuel H. Newnam: $15 for flipping burgers? That’s not fair."