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Aug. 16, 2021 - Minion Death Cult

01:33:34

The Minion Wage

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	The liberals are destroying California, and conservative humor gone awry... Conservative humor gone awry is going to fascistphonia today, so stay tuned.
	We're going to take a few pictures of the desert and how their policies are actually messing it up.
	It's not beautiful when you go across that border.
	Stay tuned, guys.
	We'll show you exactly what it looks like when people go to school and get yourself.
	All their environment, folks.
	Stay tuned.
	All right.
	I'm Alexander Edward.
	And I'm Tony Boswell.
	And we are Minion Death Cult.
	The world is ending.
	Mediocre minimum wage people are responsible.
	We're documenting it.
	We should change the name of the show to Minimum Death Cult.
	Yeah, Minimum Wage Death Cult.
	The minimum wage should be rebranded to be the Minion Wage.
	Those are Minion wages.
	It's Minion's wage.
	At least the minimum is the Minion.
	The Minion wage is the minimum, for sure.
	Minion's law, Minion's wage, we're spreading, we're taking over society.
	Just every part of our influence is overtaking society.
	It is, and it's terrible.
	What's up, everybody?
	Thanks for tuning in, as always.
	How are you doing this week, Tony?
	What are you up to?
	I'm doing pretty good, you know?
	I took a little me time.
	I went out and purified myself in the waters of the Kern River.
	I did this thing where you can put your foot on a rock and kind of put your chest against the current and just kind of body surf.
	And I just did that shit for like an hour and a half on mushrooms.
	And it was like, you know, I came out the other end a better person, I think.
	So you took mushrooms, you went out into nature, but you did not become a treasure-finding slave of a 13th century magician?
	No, unfortunately, I did not get to take that route.
	I did not get to take that avenue.
	It seems like an interesting gig.
	It's something I learned a lot about from a field in England.
	I'm just guessing about the century, you know?
	It's a century where they wear funny clothes, so I mean, who knows?
	Who knows when that was?
	Good movie, yes.
	Somebody does take mushrooms and get tied up to a leash and become like a dowsing rod for a treasure chest.
	Which is, it was shot very well.
	It sounds silly, kind of was silly, but very well shot.
	Very compelling filmmaking.
	I watched that last week though, I wanted to talk about a movie.
	That we watched, was it last night, I think?
	Last night or the night before, which is They Live by John Carpenter.
	Of course.
	I had never actually seen it before.
	I'd only seen the GIFs, you know, and that's good.
	The GIFs are good, but you can only tell so much about a movie from the GIFs.
	There's more, you know, you TikTokers out there, you Instagramers and Snapchatters, you know, there's more to movies than just the GIFs.
	I mean, yeah, but we don't have that type of attention.
	We don't have that type of attention span.
	Right, and this film posits that is because of a mind-altering telecommunicated brain frequency that makes people bad.
	Makes people turn on each other for the almighty dollar.
	It's actually, it's a pretty radical movie.
	I've seen some, not criticisms of it, but reductions of it, reductive explanations to say, oh well, it's just a movie about rich people bad, or whatever.
	It's not like a communist movie, or a socialist movie, or a working class movie.
	I would argue it is some of those things.
	It's funny because, yeah, if you're not familiar with the movie, it's about like a drifter played by Rowdy Roddy Piper who just wants to work.
	He finds it pretty hard to find a job.
	He goes to work at a construction site.
	There is like some possible anti-immigrant sentiment in the beginning.
	But other than that, it's pretty working class.
	It's a pretty big indictment on America and the economy.
	He's staying at a homeless camp and these people are you know like feeding the the homeless or the transient and then the cops just come and like kick everybody out and the cops are depicted as the enemy as like a frightening violent totalitarian force and it's funny because all they're really doing is just like Lightly pushing people, you know?
	They're dispersing the camp, of course, with the threat of violence, but they're also just kind of like...
	Marching through the camp, like, which is funny, you know, to see this dystopian world where this is happening, when, like, we've seen so much worse happen, you know, in our own cities, where they're, like, you know, cracking skulls for people who are, like, deigned to stand on the sidewalk as the police are marching.
	The plot of the story is of course, yeah, those glasses that this like underground resistance has been manufacturing to counteract the brain signal that's being pumped into everybody to make them like a capitalist slave.
	And, uh, he puts them on and he can see, like, through their propaganda, right?
	And so it's like, you know, various, like, a sexy ad he puts on the glasses, and it's just this sexy ad turns into plain text that says, Mary, reproduce.
	Yeah, hell yeah.
	Yes.
	That's one of the many chunks I've seen.
	Because I've never seen the whole thing, but I've seen it in chunks.
	I've seen scenes.
	Yeah, it's anti MGTOW propaganda.
	Men would be going their own way if not for these weird like alien overlords, you know?
	Yeah.
	But then one of the things he sees is one of the billboards turns into when he puts the glasses on to see it for what it really is, see it for the actual, you know, message of the propaganda.
	It says eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for play.
	And that's like the union rallying slogan, you know, from back in like the 1930s and 40s.
	That's like the union rallying cry was like, we should only have to work for eight hours so that we can sleep for eight hours and have eight hours of free time or whatever.
	So this movie is like condemning that as too much work.
	I love that.
	I found it very... I was happily surprised to see that it's, at least in that respect, more radical than union ideology.
	I mean, that is a big ask.
	That's a straight... You're asking for... They were only demanding a third of their life, to give away a third of their life.
	And yeah, this movie's even like, no, that's too much.
	Calm down.
	And it's just cool because when he puts on the glasses, he can like, yeah, see the monsters posing as humans.
	He can also see they're like invisible drones that are watching everybody the whole time.
	And the first thing he does is like...
	kill some cops and take their guns so he's just like shooting uh he's just shooting drones out of the sky he's blasting rich people whenever they turn out to be uh you know one of the weird alien uh people and yeah the the iconic line yeah he just he he kills some cops and he's like oh so you died just like everybody else huh yeah you bastards died just like the rest of us really hard to imagine that in a modern movie
	Also, it's Rowdy Rowdy Piper doing all this, which makes it even better, because that dude was a fucking character.
	I don't know if you were a fan of WWF at the time, but he was...
	Piper's Corner, that whole thing, it was, what a wild, what a character.
	I never watched wrestling.
	He's so perfect for it.
	No, I don't know anything about him.
	Oh yeah, I knew this, I knew this.
	I knew that you don't like wrestling.
	I'm like a bigger fan of Keith David than I am of wrestling.
	And it's funny, what?
	Keith David?
	Yeah, he's the other dude in that movie.
	Oh, okay.
	He's his like construction buddy that he fights for 10 minutes because he won't wear the glasses.
	Men would rather get into a 10 minute long alleyway brawl than wear a goddamn pair of propaganda penetrating glasses.
	So yeah, I thought that movie was good.
	I think it's a pretty good movie, if you ask me.
	They Live, by John Carpenter.
	Yeah, I do need to sit and watch that one.
	It sounds like fun.
	You've yet to lead me astray.
	So, we had a pretty fun episode for patrons last week.
	Yeah, we did.
	All about that time that I made 1,300 landlords and maybe temporarily embarrassed landlords mad on Facebook.
	I made a meme that was like making fun of the unequal balance of what landlords get out of the landlord-renter relationship versus what renters get.
	And they didn't like that.
	It was also a very generous assessment still, like it wasn't even that harsh.
	It was like not even that, it was just very real.
	Yeah, so we had just a ton of wonderful landlord responses trying to justify their putrid existence to me on Facebook, and we did an episode about it on Patreon, and it was wonderful, and I just wanted to do a quick follow-up, you know.
	Like this, this guy was funny because I've been on like a, you know, a landlord.
	I've been thinking about like, you know, uh, for-profit housing a lot lately.
	Uh, and, uh, there was this guy who commented on one of the Instagram posts I did.
	Uh, and he said, my landlord sends over specialized tradesmen in a very timely manner after I email or text him about issues with the house.
	I have absolutely zero complaints.
	And it's funny because this guy, this comment is the one that inspired me to make the meme where it's like, wow, can you imagine having to call your own specialized tradesman to come repair the house?
	I think I would rather die than make the phone call myself.
	It's worth your rent.
	That action is worth just paying your rent.
	I don't want to talk to people on the phone.
	I hate the phone, man.
	I don't like talking on the phone.
	Yeah, I mean that $500 off the top profit that the landlord is taking from my rent.
	Every penny.
	Worth the crippling anxiety from talking to a scary working person on the phone.
	Because I personally prefer to, like, ask the person who can just remove my roof from me.
	I like to ask them for help.
	That's what I feel comfortable doing.
	Yeah, exactly.
	And then, yeah, on a later, like, you know, a few days later on another post, I think a post about the episode, this same guy commented, I'm a landlord.
	Heart emoji.
	Yep.
	And I said, yeah, that was, it was pretty obvious that you were a landlord considering you were pretending to have a good landlord in the comment section last week.
	Yeah.
	My, my landlord who, who I don't know on a personal level at all, uh, we just engage in a consensual business practice.
	He honors it by having a specialized tradesman show up to my building in a prompt manner.
	We do have a contract, but I know that if I know if I wanted a handshake would have done.
	Yeah.
	Oh, just kidding.
	It's me.
	I'm the landlord.
	Yeah.
	Which is funny, because either that means he was lying about, you know, not being a landlord, or that means he's trying to steal Landlord Valor, which is, which is real, real embarrassing.
	Yeah, he's definitely a landlord.
	It's all embarrassing, but I think, yeah, him being a landlord at least makes more sense to, like, for him personally, you know, but it is like, you know... I want that for him.
	It is like white congressmen forgetting he's not on his burner account and saying, as a black man, I really like the work Congressman Daniels is doing every day, you know.
	Yeah.
	You know, Congressman Daniels can come to the cookout.
	Uh, yeah, and then this other one was great.
	Sarah Whitaker, she said, uh, Minion Death Cult Podcast, you, sir, are demented and possibly jealous of folks that work to provide places for people that either can't buy or choose to do or choose do to buy.
	It's people like you that cause rental problems.
	That's possible.
	I think a source of the rental problems might be due to misspelling every single word on the lease.
	Any landlords are your thoughts against us would be totally different.
	Yeah.
	It's people like you that cause rental problems.
	And that's possible.
	I think a source of the rental problems might be due to misspelling every single word on the lease.
	Yeah.
	That could also be a problem.
	So this doesn't count anymore just because it's actually not the words.
	It's not the words.
	Double negatives are binding, actually.
	So, tough on the streets.
	I love, you sir are demented.
	You criticized landlords.
	You sir are demented.
	Yep, yep.
	Possibly minion death cult.
	Listen, I saw the name of the page and I don't judge a book by its cover.
	But after reading your post about how all landlords do is call a plumber for you, you, sir, are demented.
	You sir are demented.
	And possibly jealous of folks that work to provide places for people, so yeah, I'm jealous of their altruism.
	Yeah, because that's what's happening.
	I don't have enough conviction of, what is it, like moral conviction to provide places for people to live for profit.
	Look, I know I'm a landlord, but I also provide on-house people with literature on how to make their own tiny homes.
	For which they will pay me a fee to park on this property.
	I will consult what they can get consulting from me.
	And I would gladly help them build a tiny home.
	And then, like, obviously you don't know any landlords.
	Are your thoughts against us would be totally... I mean, so I'm a guy who's jealous that he can't own his own property, but also I don't know any landlords.
	Yeah.
	Which is it?
	I mean, everyone has to, if you're not a landlord, you have to know a landlord.
	You know, you have to know one.
	If you don't own property, right?
	Yeah, there you go, yeah.
	If you don't own property, you gotta know at least one landlord.
	And yeah, unfortunately, the one I deal with is just painting you guys terrible.
	I hate to paint with a broad brush.
	He's one of the bad ones, yeah.
	He must be one of the bad ones.
	And the problem is, I don't see any other landlord sticking up for me.
	And then finally, yeah, Caleb Byatt on Instagram.
	There were so many that are still just commenting on this post, but these are just the best ones.
	Caleb said, yeah, I grew up a landlord's son, not even close by a mile.
	And I mean, if you listen to that episode, we talked about a guy who commented on the Facebook page who was the son of a landlord and explained how hard it was for his dad to not only be a landlord, but to have to give up landlording as his chosen career.
	It's like when my dad talks about how he wanted to be a marine biologist, but things didn't work out.
	But he still wears a red beanie.
	He doesn't...
	I just couldn't get a submarine.
	I don't know why I couldn't get a submarine.
	Yeah, his dad also had a huge temper and a chip on his shoulder for like 15 years because he couldn't keep being a landlord.
	His one true passion in life.
	But yeah, so I said to Caleb, I said, oh shit, I think we talked about you on the last episode, dude.
	Uh, and he said, Thanks, I hope you covered my experiences and my father's of cleaning up sewage surviving the 08 recession.
	The stories I could tell you.
	The stories I could tell you.
	Caleb.
	Kay?
	Every landlord has insurance on their property and they call people like me to go clean up the fucking sewage and it fucking sucks.
	And it's your shitty landlord dad who didn't do the maintenance on the pipes that allowed that leak to happen in the first place.
	Like, fuck you and your dad.
	Someone was, uh, on Twitter, someone was replying that, like, their house got flooded because a pipe burst.
	Like, all their possessions got fucking ruined, and their son's possessions got ruined.
	And he, like, overheard the landlord and building manager talking to each other, saying something like, Well, you know, it's, it's just like one of those things where you know it needs to be replaced, but you never get around to it.
	Oh, God.
	Oh.
	And how that person didn't go to prison is like a real mark on their character.
	It's a real, like, strength of will for that person to not have done violence.
	You know what also never happened when I showed up to those sites where I had to clean up the sewage?
	Like, you could never actually talk to the landlord.
	When you're like, hey, you know it's actually your job to put these people up for a few nights in a hotel, right?
	Did you know that?
	Did you know that it's your job to actually go through your insurance and make this happen?
	Did you know that?
	That's when they don't answer the phone.
	Every single fucking time.
	It's like that scene in The Simpsons.
	I think it's the stonecutters episode where his basement floods and then he becomes a member of the stonecutters and the plumber finally fixes it for him and he's all, you know it!
	Or no, it might be a different episode.
	But anyway, he's like, oh, you know, this could be prevented by a simple washer.
	You know, you can get it at the grocery store or the hardware store for about 35 cents.
	And Homer just kicks him out of the house.
	Listen, I got I got some in the truck.
	I'll give them to you.
	And he slams the door in his face.
	Yeah.
	Same thing, pretty much.
	Uh yeah, you asshole, my dad survived being a landlord through the 08 recession.
	Oh brutal.
	What part of that is supposed to be bad?
	Like what part of that is supposed to be a sad story?
	Your dad got to keep being a leech on society through one of the most uh...
	One of the most hard times for this country in recent memory.
	You know what's funny is there's two people in these comment sections.
	There's people like him who are like, the oil recession ruined my life.
	And there's other people that were like, remember those suckers from the oil recession who didn't read the fine print?
	I bought up all their homes and now I have plenty of property.
	And you never see them going at each other.
	They don't see the correlation between each other at all.
	No.
	So uh yeah just just had to follow up uh from from last week's Patreon episode which uh very very good episode if I do say my say so myself a lot of people seem to like it uh and incidentally we are so close to having 1312 patrons, uh, on our Patreon.
	Uh, so I think it's a pretty good time to sign up for it, uh, if you're not already.
	If we get to, uh, 1312 patrons by Wednesday night when we record the Patreon episode, we might, uh, do something special in honor of that very special number.
	Um, maybe even revisit our old pal Foreskin.
	Uh, and see... Oh!
	Oh, yeah!
	What's happening in the world of cop rap now in honor of 1312 patrons.
	I like that and you know I was thinking about the cool thing about signing up for for our Patreon is that you now will have proof if we hit 1312 we now have you have a little bit of like proof that you can use that you're like not a bootlicker and if you don't have that how else are you going to prove that you are in fact not a bootlicker?
	You're actually, I mean, you will be like a boot licker, but you're licking the right kind of boots.
	You're licking working boots.
	Working class boots, yeah.
	You're licking UPS boots and sewer cleaning boots.
	Sewer cleaning boots.
	You're licking UPS boots and the Birkenstock baking shoes.
	Baking clog.
	And the taste isn't great, but you'll feel good on the inside.
	You will, you'll know.
	And it's also good for your biome.
	Yeah, support the show at patreon.com slash MinionDeath called P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash MinionDeath call for three bucks a month.
	As little as three bucks a month to get access to that episode and every other episode right in your podcast app or on the browser.
	Yeah, so there is a... on to the rest of the show.
	There's an image that I saw on Twitter, it's going pretty vile, viral, it is vile though.
	It is vile, yeah.
	It is a photograph taken of like a sandwich board chalk billboard advertisement for a sandwich shop.
	And doing a little digging, I found the original post, because of course social media is just mostly taking photos from one of the formats, one of the outlets, and moving it over to the other social media platform.
	I found what I believe to be was the original post of this sandwich board, which was in a Facebook group called Jobs Network.
	This is a networking group located in Florida that helps people pass around low-wage jobs.
	Stuff like that.
	Like employees?
	You can post here and then people will, you can find each other, like find employees this way?
	Well, we'll get to the nature of the group after we talk about this specific post and this specific job opportunity.
	But basically this group is employer friendly, right?
	So it's like, um, there are people posting, hey, I need a job.
	I have this sort of experience.
	And there are a bunch of people, you know, who reply, DM me, you know, I have an opening, uh, it's, et cetera.
	This post reads, this post is from James and Katie Cannon.
	Oh, we love, we love a joint account.
	We love a joint account.
	It's always a good sign.
	Especially when the and is part of the first name.
	Posted at Jason's Deli on 192 in Melbourne.
	So that's Melbourne, Florida.
	So this is, of course, Florida.
	One of the epicenters of demonic energy in this country.
	Named after what?
	A city in Australia?
	It's double down?
	Yeah, uh, you know, maybe it's just a coincidence.
	I don't know or care enough about, uh, history to tell you, but, um, posted at Jason's Deli on 192 and Melbourne.
	If you don't like the wages, you don't have to work here.
	Just keep scrolling.
	This isn't for you then.
	So off to a great start.
	Here's a posting advertisement.
	I'm already expecting the reaction to be overwhelmingly negative.
	So let me just head that off right now.
	If you don't like it, please don't say it.
	Please don't ruin it for me if you don't like this situation.
	This is honest.
	I like this type of communication though.
	I'm not here to coddle you.
	I'm telling you straight up what's going to happen.
	If you don't fuck with this, then don't show up.
	This is how we're going to treat you.
	And this is the little sign.
	So it's not a sandwich board.
	I scrolled down and saw the rest of the photo.
	It's like a little chalk sign that's on top of the counter, right?
	They use the chalk markers that anybody who's ever had a job in service where you use the chalk markers, you love it because you take forever doing that job, making the sign look so good, which is further proof of who made this sign.
	Yeah, it was a good time.
	I haven't worked food service since.
	Like 2005?
	So my food service predates all of that sort of technology.
	Chalk markers, I don't even know what they are.
	Yeah, what is that?
	Yo, my slimes were fucking ill.
	They were so good and I would take so long doing them.
	I would lay them motherfuckers out.
	Now hiring all positions.
	And then the next, very next line is min wage.
	So minimum wage equals mediocre person.
	$9 an hour equals first job, willing to learn.
	$10 an hour equals some experience, efficient.
	$11 an hour equals reliable, multitasker.
	$12 an hour equals better than most, brings zero drama, works like two people.
	$13 an hour.
	What?
	That one's nuts.
	Yeah, this is all pretty nuts.
	$13 an hour equals supervisory material.
	$14 an hour equals never ever late, cares like the owner does, brings positivity to the environment.
	$15 an hour equals outshines and outperforms the owner, does all of the above.
	That, that, that is just a way to sign it off.
	And that's the cap.
	We're done now.
	$15 an hour is now doing more than the owner.
	You have to.
	To earn $15 an hour?
	Why else would I give you $15 an hour if you're not doing more than the owner?
	Yeah, what do you think this is?
	You think this is America and you're an illegal immigrant?
	Get out of here.
	You gotta work for this money.
	Um, so yeah, minimum wage equals mediocre person.
	That's, it's such a good distillation of like the overarching, uh, Ideology in this country, like the sort of, you know, the how morality is tied to monetary value in this country.
	It goes back to that American ethos of money equals morality, right?
	And if you're poor, it's because you're a bad person.
	Poor, it's because you lack the moral fiber, or you lack a work ethic, or you lack any redeeming quality that would somehow generate you income.
	Yeah, your priorities are all fucked up, unless, if you're poor.
	That's your fault.
	That's on you.
	Because of course, you know, we live in a meritocracy in this country.
	There's no such thing as nepotism.
	There's no such thing as generational wealth.
	There's no such thing as capitalism or passive income, things like that.
	Just, if you're good, you're going to profit.
	If you're good, you're going to succeed.
	You don't understand.
	My dad's friend saw me working hard.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	I earned that spot.
	So right here we have minimum wage equals mediocre person.
	If you are making the minimum wage, then by definition you're a mediocre person.
	Why should we bother raising the minimum wage when all those people who are currently on it are mediocre?
	Yeah, how about they raise the bar?
	We'll meet them there.
	It's just like, you know, reverse engineering why this country is awful to working people and blaming it on the working people themselves.
	So $9 an hour equals first job, willing to learn.
	I mean, if you start a job, you kind of have to learn no matter what.
	It doesn't matter what you're doing before.
	You have all the experience in the world.
	I worked at Subway for a year and a half.
	If I go to work at Jason's Deli, which is a sandwich shop, You think they're gonna let me take my skills I learned at Subway and apply them to Jason's deli?
	No, no, no way.
	No way.
	They're not gonna coddle your little artist, your little sandwich artist heart.
	You're in a deli now.
	You're in Jason's fucking deli.
	You gotta learn the rugged way.
	Also, like, just first job willing to learn.
	Like, I've never had a job.
	How do I do this thing?
	Yeah, as if someone's like also, oh no this is my first job, don't tell me shit.
	But I don't know like what, I don't know what you wouldn't know at your first job versus what you would, you would know if your second job is at like a totally different place.
	Totally.
	It's like, OK, well, see, I'm the boss and you're the employee, so you have to do what I say.
	And it's like, oh, now I get what a job is.
	I get it now.
	I'm here.
	I'm here for it now.
	That's not what that's actually not what I got hired because I'm a self-starter.
	When does that part happen?
	So I know how to wash dishes, but I've never done it at a job before.
	This is my first job, and it's like, so how does that work?
	And it's like, okay, well, when there are dishes, you have to wash them.
	Oh, okay.
	Cool.
	Sick, okay.
	Thanks for paying me $9 an hour instead of a living wage, because you had to tell me that.
	Also, I mean, if you didn't want $9 an hour, you would wash the dishes and also maybe take a look at the books, see if maybe you can find some money to save, you know?
	$11 an hour reliable multitasker.
	You're going to pay somebody $10 an hour if they're not reliable?
	I'll pay you $10 an hour and you get to not come in every other day.
	I was thinking about how to fleece your resume to get the exact sweet spot you're looking to get paid between $9 and $15.
	Yeah.
	reliable multitasker like every person at every job has to be a multitasker yeah well multitasker supervisor skills crazy not so reliable so this this list is just like a trying to you know set uh his own opinion of himself whoever manages or owns this particular
	you know because it's a chain restaurant so whoever manages or owns this uh franchise He's trying to both paint themselves as like a fair, I'm a fair boss.
	I'm giving you money based on, you know, your actual skill level, right?
	But then he's, it's also just meant to like denigrate people who, yeah, work on the minimum.
	If you're working for minimum wage, it's because you, you could not possibly know how to multitask.
	Yeah.
	You've never done- Because you're barely a piece of shit.
	You're very mediocre.
	Uh, yeah, better, $12 is, yeah, better than most.
	Brings zero drama.
	Works like two people.
	Listen, if you want to make the big bucks, $12 an hour, you're going to have to work like two people.
	And you got to be better than most.
	What is that saying about like, what do you think the world makes?
	What do you think the rest of the...
	If you think that better than most is $12 an hour, that means that most people are making less than that, no matter what the job.
	And like you said, also works like two people...
	Okay, cool.
	Let's cut a deal and meet somewhere between, you know, not $12, because that's only three more dollars.
	Yeah, somewhere between $18 and $30.
	Maybe give me $17?
	No, because the lowest scale is $9 an hour for one person.
	Yeah.
	So at least $18.
	Oh, you're saying I'm... But that's not a deal.
	Better than most people.
	Working like two people, that's $18 an hour.
	Automatically.
	Listen, I'm better than minimum wage.
	I know how to do basic math.
	Not like that minimum wage scum contingent who can't add 9 and 9 together.
	I can do that.
	Pay me $18 an hour.
	Hey, why should you hire me?
	Hands him a Rubik's Cube and says, and I've been chewing gum the whole time.
	This whole interview.
	Uh, works like two people for $12 an hour.
	Yeah, that's awesome.
	I thought, I thought you were supposed to work like two people in order to get like $20, $25.
	Isn't that what they tell you?
	Like, oh, you have, listen, you, you want to be better than minimum wage.
	You got to actually put some, put some effort into it.
	You want 15 bucks an hour.
	Uh, you got to work like what?
	Two and a half people now.
	It does extrapolate.
	I also do like the jump from just being reliable to being two people.
	It should be like from reliable and then you get to do the whole on time is five minutes early.
	Then you get to do that.
	You don't get to just jump to being two people.
	$13 an hour equals supervisory material.
	This one I actually agree with.
	Supervisors don't do shit.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's actually easier once you figure that out.
	Yeah.
	You're doing the bare minimum.
	That's what you should get paid.
	$14, yeah, never late.
	Cares like the owner.
	If you care like the owner does and you're making $14 an hour, you're like, you need help.
	You need therapy.
	Yeah.
	Also, if you care like the owner at a place that is paying you only $14 an hour to do so, then care like the owner and don't give a shit.
	Yeah, if you're... I don't know.
	You have, like, Stockholm Syndrome.
	If you care that much about a business that's only paying you $14 an hour.
	Like, your owner does not respect you at all if you care that much for making $14 an hour.
	Yeah, not even a little bit.
	You're, like, hard to look at.
	You know?
	They're taxing you because they have to look at you.
	You actually are earning more, but they're being burdened by having to stare at your fucking face sometimes?
	Just a soul-sucking entity that cares about a business, that cares that much about a business that only pays them $14.
	And that means you're also probably like policing your coworkers and shit.
	Yep, absolutely.
	That's what they're saying.
	Down to rap.
	Yeah, you're probably like, you know, hey, hey, what are you doing on the phone over there?
	You're at work, buddy.
	You're probably like doing that to your coworker because, you know, they only make $13 an hour.
	Yeah.
	And then yeah, of course, $15 an hour outshines and outperforms the owner.
	Does all of the... So just by this logic, like every single employee should be making $15 an hour.
	Because I guarantee you they are all outperforming the owner when it comes to generating revenue for this establishment.
	I know you say you never, like, you never had work in this kind of space, but there's nothing fucking worse than working at a place where you produce something.
	For instance, like, you know, working in coffee, or making sandwiches, or cooking, or a bar.
	When, like, the owner is in the shop, and they, like, want to, like, flex, and they want to, like, make stuff, and they put out the most dog shit stuff.
	Ever.
	They're like, oh, I remember the old way.
	And everyone loves what's happening because it's usually you.
	And they get the drink from the owner and they're like, oh, this is cool.
	Cool.
	Thank you.
	Every owner sucks at whatever they own.
	I promise you.
	Yeah, because that's not their function.
	That's not their function.
	Their function is to own the thing and make other people do the work.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Uh, no, yeah, I did work at Subway.
	I worked at Subway for like, yeah, a year and a half or so.
	And the, our managers actually were like the owner's nieces or daughters or whatever.
	Uh, but they pretty much stopped showing up.
	They pretty much only were, once they had people like me and other, you know, quote, reliable employees who could open and close and run everything.
	They just didn't show up.
	And they never gave us a raise for being a senior employee.
	I was making $6.75 for a year and a half.
	Damn.
	I became the senior employee there, and they never gave me a raise.
	And so, yes, I did steal food all the time.
	I would open... I probably already talked about this, but yeah, we would go, me and one of my coworkers, Would leave, close up, go get high, have sex, come back to the shop at like 1 a.m.
	and just make ourselves sandwiches and chips.
	Do you know how many times I've had sex and thought to myself, God damn, what I would do for a Subway cookie right now?
	Yeah.
	For a warm Subway cookie after this nut right now?
	Woo!
	Best shit ever.
	And for free?
	God damn right, for free.
	I would also practice, like, my flatland skateboarding tricks inside, uh, on the tile.
	I would do, like, 360 powerslides and shit.
	If you've never skated inside of your job, then you're a poser.
	Um, also, like, shoutout Pablo Lifestyle.
	Um, this is a skate Twitter joke, but, uh, this kid Pablo, he fuckin' rules.
	He's always learning tricks and skating on the clock, and it's my favorite thing.
	Yeah, that's good.
	That's what you get for, sorry, that's what you get for $6.75 an hour.
	I'm gonna make my own chalkboard.
	For $6.75 an hour, you get skateboard wheel tracks on your tile.
	And I get super wet tray flips.
	Outshines and outperforms the owner.
	Yeah, to get what is barely a living wage in Florida, a living wage for one person with zero children, You have to outshine the fucking owner of the establishment.
	So let's get into numbers here, okay?
	So first of all, like I said, this post, I found the original post.
	This is somebody who is bragging about seeing this sandwich board, this little advertisement.
	They're posting it in the Jobs Network.
	Hey, for anybody who wants a job and isn't a total piece of shit, they'll give you $10 an hour or whatever.
	With my research, I found the group, I found a screenshot of the original post.
	Could not actually find the original post because it had been deleted by this point.
	Even in this screenshot, the comments were turned off by this point.
	So 18 hours after posting it, James and Katie Cannon had to turn off commenting for this post.
	And then they deleted it soon after that, right?
	So, amazing stuff.
	I went to learn a little more about Jason's Deli.
	I wanted to see, you know, if they had posted anything on their Facebook page, etc.
	And there wasn't.
	There were pretty negative reviews coming in on their Florida location, their Melbourne location's review section.
	But one of the major hits I got was an article from 2016 on Business Insider.
	The headline is, Jason's Deli to be the next Chick-fil-A.
	Hell yeah, that's where I want to get my sandwiches from.
	A deli chain you've probably never heard of is gearing up to be the next Chick-fil-A.
	Uh, so again, this is back in 2016, and apparently, uh, Jason's Deli is, uh, much more popular than it- now than it even was in 2016.
	Uh, but I'm gonna read from this article.
	A small deli chain was just named one of the most profitable restaurant chains in the U.S.
	Fuck.
	Oh, what an awful metric if you know anything.
	If you know anything, what a terrible metric.
	Jason's Deli was number two on QSR's magazine's ranking of the average sales per unit of the 50 biggest brands in the quick service industry.
	The deli chain only trailed behind industry champions Chick-fil-A.
	Fuck.
	Part of the reason why Jason's Deli's average unit sales are so impressive is because menu prices are simply higher than competitors like Chick-fil-A and McDonald's.
	Wow.
	So we charge more and we also pay our employees less.
	And that's how you make that money, baby!
	Here's the one stat.
	While the chain has just 260 locations, a single restaurant made an average of 2,666,000 in sales in 2015.
	locations a single restaurant made an average of two million six hundred and sixty six thousand in sales in 2015 that's six times as much as deli rival subway with average units of sales just 420 000 oh my god right Real quick, real quick.
	I do want to... Because Chick-fil-A is in this, and everybody likes to be like, I'm still gonna eat Chick-fil-A, it doesn't mean anything.
	And you're not wrong there.
	But what I am gonna say about this is...
	Remember, this company came behind Chick-fil-A.
	And so sure, eat your Chick-fil-A.
	Doesn't mean you hate gay people necessarily.
	I kinda think it does.
	But, waiting in line for 45 minutes to get a sandwich from Chick-fil-A, that for sure means that you really don't care.
	In my mind, because you're still behind Jason's Deli.
	Jason's Deli is still behind them.
	And you're part of that problem.
	Yeah, give your money to the small deli chain, Jason's Deli.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Go buy waffle fries and get an air fryer.
	Uh, so again, a single restaurant, such as, I don't know, the one in Melbourne, Florida, made an average of 2 million, 2.6 million in sales.
	$2.6 million in sales in 2015.
	Wild.
	Yeah, so a restaurant bringing in multi-million dollars is trying to shame its workers into, yeah, working for the minimum wage or working twice as hard as the person making $2 million, at least working for the minimum wage or working twice as hard as the person making $2 million, And this is the thing.
	This is like...
	The heart of the nonsense argument that is, oh, well, you want skilled pay for not skilled labor, right?
	First of all, $15 is not skilled pay.
	That is not skilled pay.
	No.
	Try working in a specialty trade.
	You are making far more than $15.
	Hey, why don't you go get a quote on rewiring the electric in a couple rooms in your house?
	Have fun with that.
	Yep.
	And see how much skilled pay actually is, okay?
	Yep.
	It's not $15 an hour.
	What's wrong with this argument about, oh, they want skilled pay for a not skilled position?
	I don't like this, I don't even like acknowledging this argument because yes, working in any industry is going to be a skill.
	You're going to have to have skills to make a fucking sandwich.
	You're going to have to have skills to know how that particular establishment runs.
	You're going to have to know where everything is.
	All of that stuff requires training.
	That's why these people complain so hard when they have to hire people because they have to Retrain a brand new employee, which isn't as easy as they pretend it is despite them working in fast food.
	And to further take that argument in my mind, if you think that skilled trade is where you should be paid more, then you should make skilled trade accessible by making the minimum wage jobs pay enough to where you can live and attend a trade school without going into debt.
	If that's really what you think, then you should make minimum wage at least that.
	Which is still far beyond whatever you're talking about.
	So like, fuck outta here.
	Fuck outta here.
	You need to go into debt or have a cheat code.
	Like, there's no other way around it.
	Yeah the uh the number one problem with this argument in my mind because you're not going to convince most people that like quote flipping burgers is a skilled job you're you're you're not going to convince them because they like love to hate those people those people are their enemy you know what I mean they don't have like social interactions with many people and, and the, the people that they do have social interactions with, it's a nice little treat for them to be able to think of themselves as better than, you know,
	the person making their food or serving them or, you know, cleaning the floor at the mall they go to or whatever. the person making their food or serving them or, you You're not going to convince them that it actually takes some skill to do that labor.
	You can't even convince Guy Fieri that flipping burgers is a skill.
	He won't even pay them that much.
	And he's the guy that, like, highlights that.
	That's his whole thing.
	He won't even do it.
	Well, it's just when black people do it.
	Well, he won't necessarily pay them more, but he will tell them that, you know, that that is just the bomb.
	So, the real big problem with this argument is that Every one of these companies that they're talking about, you know, flipping burgers for McDonald's, oh, you're making sandwiches for a living, whatever, you don't deserve a living wage.
	That's not valuable labor.
	And if it's not valuable labor, then why is Jason's Deli bringing in $2 million worth of sales every year?
	Why is McDonald's a billion dollar company?
	How can you tell me with a straight face that the people doing all the work for these companies are not valuable?
	Yep.
	Sounds like a pretty valuable industry to me.
	It sounds like a pretty valuable skill to me.
	Go ahead and do it without them.
	Do it without them.
	Have fun with that.
	See how valuable they are then.
	Do it for them.
	Go ahead.
	If you look at the minimum wage in Melbourne, Florida, it's $8.56 an hour right now.
	And according to MIT, the living wage in Brevard County, Florida, should be $13 an hour.
	It should be $13.5 an hour for a single adult with zero children to be an actual living wage.
	Two adults, both of whom are working, and have one child, that living wage is $16 an hour.
	And, like, mind you, what living wage means is, like, the minimum.
	That's what minimum wage- that's what- that's what- sorry, living wage means that.
	Doesn't even mean usually what people actually need to have any semblance of, like, um, uh, of, uh, you know, comfort, Or, uh, you know, consistency.
	Less stress, uh, a nest egg, something to retire on.
	It doesn't come with any of that.
	Something, like, in case of an emergency.
	It's just survival.
	Yeah, it's just like you can make rent payments and maybe you can afford, like, the shittiest healthcare that this country offers.
	On just your job.
	Um, so keep that in mind.
	Yeah, $8.56 is the minimum wage, uh, which is up from $8.05 in 2015.
	So think about all the inflation that's happened since 2015, six years ago, and the minimum wage in Florida has only gone up by 50 cents.
	And that's across the board, but it's worse in some places like this.
	It's absurd.
	That math is so obvious right there, and I don't get why people can't do that.
	Well, they can do it.
	They're just benefiting by not doing it.
	Yeah.
	You know what I mean?
	They know what they're doing.
	They know they have a pretty good gig.
	If you're a business owner in Florida, you got a pretty good gig because, yeah, you can force employees to work for $8.50 an hour and then tell them it's because they're mediocre the whole time they do it.
	You get to have the best of both worlds.
	You get to use their labor, save money, and also Publicly disdain them.
	Yeah.
	Put him on blast all the time.
	So gross.
	This guy on Twitter was like, hey, if you do more work than the boss, why would they pay you $15 an hour instead of giving you the boss's salary?
	Wow.
	Good question.
	I wonder why.
	Shatlev replies, the owner, not the boss.
	The owner has, okay, that's a weird distinction.
	Yeah.
	The owner has laid out capital to open and operate the business, has taken on tax and regulation liabilities, is subject to labor lawsuits, creates jobs and more.
	Man, the more I think about economics, the more I see about the relationship between labor and capital in this country, the more laughable the phrase creates jobs is.
	It's infuriating.
	It's just, yeah, you put on the they live glasses, you're looking at the phrase job creator, you put on the glasses and it's just like, oh, an opportunity to like, yeah, pay somebody $8 an hour.
	Yeah, yeah.
	And they treat it like they've been, you know, spending their life, you know, just like, you know, cultivating this like soil and like propagating this little, little plant, you know, and they've, it's finally began to sprout and like, you know, you like focus in and it's like, look at, look, look what I did.
	It's a job.
	I made a job.
	I did this.
	Here it is.
	Here's a job for you.
	You can have it now.
	It's like you just, you just didn't want to do something.
	Yeah.
	You, you like didn't do so.
	Oh, I created.
	Oh, hey, I didn't take the trash out this morning.
	I created a job for you to do.
	Thanks.
	Wow.
	It's so generous of you to not work the register.
	Thank you for not working the register, boss.
	And that is so literally it, especially when you do work in close quarters with a small business tyrant, much like the one I work for, the bakery, where it's like, hey, you are paying me to do this thing that you used to have to do.
	Why were you making so much more while you were doing it than I am?
	I'm doing the same thing and more.
	But for some reason, you said, oh, I took on the liability.
	And I mean, honestly, that's priceless.
	Well, that's the thing we talked about with landlord.
	It was the one, it's, you know, it's, hey, this is capitalism.
	And, uh, this is, you know, we've covered two very, uh, big operators, uh, on, on the capital side of things, which are, yeah, business owners and landlords.
	These are two people, two forms of capitalists that are very similar in a lot of ways for obvious reasons.
	And that was one of the arguments in favor of land.
	Oh, well we take on the risk.
	As a renter, you couldn't possibly understand the risk that we're taking on.
	Just like the business owner takes on the liabilities, right?
	And it's like, what's the liability that you'll lose, quote, everything and then not have a business anymore?
	Yep.
	Yeah, let one of your employees take over the business and then they can have the liability of not having a business anymore.
	Cool, put my name on it.
	Go for it.
	How is that different than somebody who already doesn't have capital?
	How are you taking more of a risk than somebody who already doesn't have the thing you're risking?
	Yeah.
	You know what's really telling too is, um, you know, talking to a business owner, most business owners do own their own houses.
	So like ask a business owner about a landlord and then ask them about their landlord for their business.
	And they will lose their minds and they will talk about, no, no, this is different because this is a commercial landlord.
	And you don't understand what it's like having a commercial landlord.
	I really need my refrigerator fixed, because if I don't get the air conditioning fixed, I will lose money.
	And I hate my landlord, but if you ask them to give that same thing to like a residential landlord, they won't do it.
	They're like, no, I actually rent a few things out.
	I'm pretty nice to them.
	I just, I love that their argument is like, no, I take on liability.
	The reason owners are better or like deserve more than the employees than the workers is because they have something to lose.
	They have more to lose, so they deserve more, right?
	Because, wow, can you imagine if the owner of your company lost everything and had to be like you?
	That would be worse than them.
	You're used to being like you.
	You've had to live with being like you your whole life.
	They've been special.
	They've had this thing, and if you take that away from them, that's way worse for them.
	Also, you know, tell them, you're right, the employees do have things to lose.
	There's plenty of jobs out there.
	Ask them that part, and they will not, they will be like, no, that's not the same.
	Well, there's plenty of jobs, but not, listen, I might pay a minimum wage, but I also treat you like family.
	I don't charge you for refills on your soda, on your fountain soda.
	You have to buy a new cup every day, but no refills.
	Um, so in this, uh, in, in this Jobs Network Facebook group, you know, I was like clicking around trying to find out what, you know, get, get the tone of this group.
	And, uh, this is, yeah, a Florida specific group.
	And here's a post by, uh, the founder of the Jobs Network, Kevin D'Andrea.
	This is, uh, from 2015.
	Everyone!
	There was a conversation going on that had several comments in it criticizing employers who only pay minimum wage, parentheses $8.05 an hour.
	So this is how I knew what the minimum wage was in 2015.
	It was 50 cents less than it is now in 2021.
	Yes, six years ago!
	Yes, it's true that it's difficult to make a living at $8.05 an hour.
	Okay.
	No, no, not all employers who pay that are taking advantage of employees.
	It's not enough for you.
	If it's not enough for you, quietly move on.
	Some businesses are not profitable enough to pay more than that.
	And if you've never been in their business, don't be so quick to judge.
	And if you've never owned your own business, let me tell you, it's tough to survive, especially the first couple of years.
	This group is employer-friendly for obvious reasons.
	Without them, we would not have put 427 families to work in the last couple years.
	That's the group?
	That's all the group can claim is 427 families?
	Yeah.
	And he says last couple years.
	That's probably like three or four.
	And what that means is that's how many people the people in this group employ.
	All together, this group has 427 employees.
	That's what they're saying.
	Maybe.
	Maybe they have a tally.
	Maybe they have a bell they ring every time they get some 18-year-old felon who can't get a job anywhere else to work their carpet cleaning business for $6 an hour or whatever.
	And if you want to learn how to make good money, there are many people in this group who would be honored to help you.
	Just say so and we'll show you the way.
	And then again, I'm so bummed I couldn't get comments on the original Jason's Deli post, because that would have been fantastic to see what the job creators in this comment section thought about people who had a problem with the tone of this signage.
	I do have comments from this one.
	Victoria Claire says $8.05 an hour is better than $0 an hour.
	I mean, she's not wrong.
	You're not wrong.
	What if you were a slave?
	How would you like that?
	Yeah, it can't get worse.
	It can't get worse.
	And also, going back to the comment before that, it says some businesses aren't that profitable.
	This is all based around a company who was ranked one of the most profitable companies Out there.
	So, like, that goes out the window.
	They tell themselves the entire time here.
	Totally.
	Yeah, these are two separate posts.
	There's no accountability.
	These are two separate posts, but if the logic was consistent, yeah, it would matter that it was a profitable company offering $9 an hour.
	But the argument is, like, yeah, we are profitable.
	How do you think we got here?
	We have to continue to do this to be profitable.
	Now, don't ask the details.
	Don't ask how profitable we are.
	Just know that if we stop doing this we may not be as profitable.
	And it's everybody complaining, you know, because the underlying theme of, you know, oh we can't find anyone to work anymore, nobody wants to work, is that the government is paying too much welfare out to people.
	It's paying out too much on unemployment, it's paying out too much on, you know, food stamps and SNAP benefits and WIC and that sort of thing.
	And that's why no one wants to work anymore.
	And it's like, well, if you did the alternative, if you did like the other extreme and you took away all welfare business, all welfare, all, you know, assistance, that sort of thing, you guys would be like strung up.
	Anybody offering to anybody paying their employees, you know, $8 an hour or $9 an hour when those employees don't also have welfare programs, other things to subsidize their income so they actually can survive.
	You would be in a much worse spot.
	Let's just say that.
	Abso-fucking-lutely, yeah.
	Because it is about being hungry.
	Because all these people who want to, like, admittedly pay their employees less than a living wage.
	I mean, we know for a fact that it's less than a living wage, but they admit it here.
	Yeah, it's true that it's difficult to live on $8 an hour or whatever.
	How is that A sustainable system where you have people giving 20 to 40 hours of their week to you for money that they can't survive on.
	The only reason that system is sustainable is because of things like assistance, is because of things like government assistance.
	Because it doesn't matter what they do when they clock out.
	I don't care if they go to like a comfortable home as long as they show up to work on time the next day.
	Yeah.
	It's just like all of us are paying for these business owners to line their pockets with, you know, the value that their employees create.
	We're all subsidizing their poverty wages.
	And I know that's kind of like a corny like lib thing like, you know, to bring up or whatever, but it's true.
	It's absolutely true.
	Yeah.
	I mean, I've been more than once where I've talked to my employer and they've hit me with some shit like, well, we just had a kid, so... And it's like, what the fuck does that have to do with what you're paying me?
	What do you mean?
	Like, you didn't ask me if you could have a kid.
	Yeah, I thought we were a family.
	I thought we were going to sit around the dinner table and discuss finances, discuss budgeting.
	I would have been like, let's get that raise and then you can maybe have a kid.
	And then, please don't though, because apparently that's fucking with my pocket.
	I got told, I got told, hey, you're having a kid soon.
	We just had a kid.
	Probably shouldn't be here because we have a kid too.
	So therefore we can't pay you enough to also have a kid.
	Yeah, it's great.
	It's a good system we have here.
	Yeah, and $8 an hour is better than $0 an hour.
	Once again, like, speaking the unspoken threat that is capitalism, that is private ownership of industry, which is just, hey, if you don't like it, then you can starve.
	You can get $0 an hour.
	If you don't like my terms in this consensual exchange, in this free market exchange, then you can starve.
	If you don't like the fact that house, homes, apartments are being bought up and rented out for profit, you can go sleep under a bridge.
	Yep, which is literally an argument that somebody made in that episode we did on Patreon.
	So, it's just, you're not really supposed to say this, but everybody who defends the system knows it.
	Everybody who defends the system is well aware that this is, like, how the system operates.
	It compels people into labor based on the threat of homelessness, the threat of starvation, the threat of imprisonment, really.
	It's illegal to be homeless.
	But listen, that's not my fault.
	Me, I was raised right.
	My parents helped me start a savings when I was 7 years old.
	And you know, they contributed to that.
	Just because your parents didn't do that, that's not my fault.
	If you would have done that, you wouldn't make minimum wage because then you get to pay people instead of get paid.
	And that's not free money.
	You had to listen to your dad's bullshit stories to get that savings investment.
	Oh my god, did I?
	Kathleen Veidt said, we all have to start somewhere.
	The sense of entitlement in today's society is amazing.
	So yeah, this is six years ago.
	This saw is still going.
	This old saw is even older, still going.
	The sense of entitlement in today's society is amazing.
	Yes, no one can effectively live well on $8.05 an hour.
	That is why you educate yourself, learn skills, become valuable, And move on to bigger a day, better things experience.
	Oh God.
	It's so great to learn.
	So to hear somebody who could barely use the computer, talk about how we need to learn skills for her to give us the money we need to survive.
	Like it's fine.
	If you don't know the computer, don't talk shit about other people.
	You don't get to do that about skills.
	Yeah.
	Cause most of the skills are going to involve a computer at some point these days.
	Experience is part of an education.
	Space, period, space.
	Opportunity comes at different pay scales, dot, dot.
	All are stepping stones to happiness.
	I love this comment so much because it's like, yes, no one can live on $8.05 an hour.
	That is why you educate yourself, learn skills, become valuable, and get experience.
	So just starve to death at $8.05 an hour, not have a place to live, while you're doing all those things that Kathleen says you have to do in order to be valuable to her.
	But that's why you have to do it at 14 when hopefully you still have parents to live with.
	This is the system we love, folks.
	This is just the greatest system on earth.
	that company and move up, you know?
	And then hopefully someone you know and like loved you dies and they leave you money.
	This is the system we love, folks.
	This is just the greatest system on Earth.
	Yes, you have to work for something that won't keep you alive, but you only have to do it for a couple years until you can create use the skills that you've learned dying while you're dying to earn $12 an hour almost at a living wage.
	Oh, they don't make Top Ramen anymore?
	This is the last one in that comment section.
	So this is Kevin D'Andrea, the original poster, the founder, again, of Jobs Network.
	Somebody commented, they were like, a business is going to pay their employees whatever they can get away with.
	A business exists to profit.
	Uh, the more money they pay their employees, the less money they put in their pockets.
	Like this is a scientific relationship.
	Um, which of course, you know, there's several variables considering like, you know, uh, if you pay your employees more, they tend to be more happy.
	They tend to actually care more about their environment.
	It's, it doesn't usually work.
	Oh, you have to care about this job and then I'll give you a raise or whatever.
	Or it does, it does work that way at like, you know, 50 cent dollar increments a year or something like that.
	But studies show that, yeah, if you pay your employees a living wage, they're actually going to want to stay there.
	They're actually going to want to take pride in their jobs, etc., which again is just like kind of a fucked up thing to think about.
	But anyway, that's what this guy was saying, was like employers are going to pay what they can get away with, basically.
	That's why you're only talking about the minimum wage.
	You're not talking about more than the minimum wage.
	And then Kevin, founder of the group, replies, Have you ever owned a business?
	To speak about millions of employers that you don't personally know or do the books for is a bit presumptuous.
	Most of the employers I know pay what will allow them to stay in business, not what they can get away with.
	How is that different?
	How is that any...
	You know, like, stay in business means I have to make the profit that I want to make, basically.
	Or else I'm closing up shop.
	It's so hard for businesses to admit that the real problem is their business model or their product and not how much they pay their employees.
	That's never the answer.
	It's always like, we must do something cheaper here.
	We must cut a corner here.
	And it's never like, oh, maybe what we do just isn't great.
	You know what I mean?
	Yeah.
	Maybe that's why we're not as profitable right now?
	Well, I don't know.
	Would they have the money to start a business?
	Would they have the capital if they weren't great, Tony?
	That is true.
	Going back to the original part of it, which is, yeah, minimum wage equals mediocre person.
	The fact that you have enough capital to start a business shows, you know, virtue.
	It shows that you have a certain level of goodness within you, and therefore it must be the rottenness of your minimum wage employees that are bringing you down, bringing the company down.
	I have owned 11 companies in 11 industries, so I have personal experience and know many this truth applies to.
	So instead of focusing on or implying that employers are just greedy and selfish individuals taking advantage of us, let's move on, okay?
	This post is here to defend employers who have the right to pay a legal wage.
	And if you or anyone else doesn't like that wage, then quit or start focusing on the skills needed for something that pays better.
	just like you did, my friend. - The only thing worse than just your average small business tyrant is like the serial entrepreneur who's always, no one should ever own 11 companies in 11 industries.
	That means you suck at all of them.
	Like you're not, you're not good at anything.
	And also you've probably hired people and like ruined their lives in the process.
	When you told them like, no, no, no, this is it.
	This is a million dollar idea.
	No, it's going to be a store.
	All it's going to be.
	Are you ready?
	Are you ready?
	I don't know if you've seen this.
	It's just going to be fidget spinners.
	Nothing but fidget spinners.
	All we're going to have is fidget spinners.
	All kinds.
	Three prong, four prong, six prong.
	All the fidget spinners.
	It's going to be huge.
	And I'm going to pay you, get this, $13 an hour because I can tell you're a go-getter.
	And that person quit their, like, job and went and worked at fidget spinners and now is, like, unemployed because now he just started a new company.
	He's like, actually, how about rolled ice?
	We're going to do rolled ice and that's our new company.
	I'm looking at Kevin D'Andrea's Facebook profile.
	His bio says, I'm a bold child of God who's positive, pushy, persuasive, persistent, and problem-solving sales pro.
	Oh, you know what?
	I'm so sorry.
	Everything I just said about him, I redacted.
	This person is clearly a poet and a creative, and you shouldn't judge those kind of people by how much business they have because they are creatives and they can't be put in a box.
	I think when he says I've run 11 different companies, he's talking about 11 different pyramid schemes that he's been a part of.
	Totally.
	I've been on all 11 levels of the multi-level marketing Scheme here.
	Senior account manager at roofclaim.com.
	It's an industry-leading technology company serving communities in major markets around the U.S.
	The company focuses primarily on roof repairs on storm-damaged homes through the use of advanced technology.
	That's like the only real job in his job history, because we have founder at Jobs Network.
	So that group that we're in right now.
	Former Employment Specialist at EmployU, Careers.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So, he had a job getting other people jobs.
	Former Franchise Owner at Unishippers.
	That means you sucked at that.
	If you were a franchise owner and it doesn't exist anymore, that means you sucked at that.
	Former Jobs Initiative Ministry Leader at CenterPoint Church.
	Hell yeah.
	Yeah, we don't have all 11 here.
	Just real quick, technology in roofing hasn't really changed much.
	They're still doing the tar thing.
	They're still using mostly the same materials.
	You don't need to be the industry leading in technology for roof repair.
	This sounds like an awesome grift.
	The technology part of roof repair really just sounds like doing logistics or doing algorithms to determine how few roofers you can hire to get a job done.
	Yeah, totally.
	Well, we mostly do the assessments by drone, so we don't have to send anybody up there anymore.
	Yeah, really.
	Really.
	And they use architectural shingles now, Tony, so they don't use the tar shingles anymore.
	Um, I think you can maybe, but it's not good.
	I think, but like for repair, it's still like pretty much the same.
	It's like most of the same materials for repairs.
	Um, I like, uh, they have a right to pay a legal wage.
	I love that argument.
	And if you don't like it, move on.
	Please don't advocate for a higher minimum wage.
	Please do not advocate for a higher legal minimum wage, because that would kind of fuck up my whole argument.
	I'm trying to keep it at 11.
	I don't really want to do 12.
	I don't want to do 12.
	Businesses.
	So if we could shut the fuck up, that'd be great.
	It's funny because with just a slight tweak, it sounds like somebody arguing about who they're allowed to have sex with in Hawaii.
	You know what I mean?
	Yeah, totally.
	Like, for you to come here and denigrate entrepreneurs who are willing to move where the action is and have perfectly legal sex... Yeah.
	Move on.
	Sorry, do better next time.
	Don't hate the player, hate the game.
	Yeah, people obsessed with the age of consent have a very similar vibe to people obsessed with paying their employees minimum wage.
	Absolutely, yeah.
	I'll just say that.
	It's got the same vibe to me.
	I just don't like being told how to live my life and what I pay my employees is part of my life.
	And it's just like, it's been happening for centuries, right?
	Yeah.
	You know, it's human nature.
	It's just human nature to want to find the smallest amount to pay your employees and also the smallest person to have sex with.
	It's about efficiency here.
	Okay, last topic I wanted to mention was directly related to this because I found it while doing research on this topic while trying to find the source of this photo of the advertisement before I had found Jason's Deli.
	I was looking for it.
	And I instead found a post by Turning Point USA back from February 9th, 2018.
	And it's funny, we're revisiting the past so much on this episode, but it's just funny.
	That date blew my mind.
	Seeing that date kind of blew my mind.
	Yeah it's just funny to see like how things have changed or how things have stayed the same when they should have been deleted probably years ago and are still available for the public to see.
	Yeah such as this Turning Point USA meme which is again like Charlie Kirk's I don't think he's maybe he founded it I'm not sure he's like the spokesperson for it now it's supposed to be You know, uh, billionaire skeletons reaching out to college Republicans or, you know, millennials trying to, uh, trying to get them over on the side of capital, right?
	The side of American empire.
	And they've made a meme here that says, minimum wage laws have horrible consequences.
	Hashtag big government sucks.
	So we're still talking about minimum wage laws here.
	What are the horrible consequences?
	Well, looking at the meme, we have like a young, like looks to be about high school aged black kid in a high school, a photo taken of him, you know, he's smiling.
	He got a little peach fuzz kind of on the upper lip, you know, enduring manhood, his hopes and dreams all ahead of him.
	The top text and impact font says, the minimum wage, bottom text, Also known as the Black Teen Unemployment Act.
	Which really had me fumbling for a second.
	I was so confused by it.
	But thank God, thank God we have you.
	Because I was like, there's no way they're saying anything I think they could be saying with this.
	But sure enough, you know, you did break it down for me.
	Yeah, I think what they're saying is, who's going to employ a black teen if they have to pay them the minimum wage?
	Yep.
	Yep, exactly that.
	Which is like an insane argument to make for multiple reasons.
	For so many reasons.
	Why would you single out teens, first of all?
	And then you went further, and it's true, you're saying like, but I shouldn't have to pay a black teen the minimum wage.
	Like, what about, I don't know, should there be like a tax break for me for just letting him work here?
	I have to itemize my thoughts to figure out everything I need to say about this.
	It's like taking the statistic that young black kids make statistically the least amount of money.
	Be like, well, don't you want more of them to work?
	If we paid them even less, then more of them could work.
	Yep.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	There'd be more opportunities.
	Come on.
	Like, I mean, I don't, listen, I don't, I'm not saying we want to pay everyone less than minimum wage.
	Just black teens.
	It's okay because they're going to get into college easier.
	So like this is their tax for that.
	And it's also trying to own you by saying you're racist if you won't let me pay black people less.
	Yeah.
	Also saying like as if black teens are walking around going like, why would I get a job?
	I'm on unemployment because you know you can get unemployment when you're a teen real easily.
	It's so crazy and it's like doing identity politics to try and own the left by arguing that we should let employers pay black people less because that's the only reason they would employ them.
	So you're arguing for black people to make less money.
	You think that that makes you woke.
	And you're also arguing that business owners are racist.
	Mm-hmm.
	Like, your argument has to be based on the idea that business owners won't hire black people unless they can pay them less money.
	It's a very important part of that.
	Yeah, it's like, no.
	Wait, hold on.
	You expect business owners to put up with black teens?
	Also, I mean, It's that whole thing where, I don't know, you'll, there is a whole attitude where if you see like a black teen working in a place, people think, oh, they must have like an outreach program.
	This must be like a, this must be like a from the streets, you know, you know, program they got going on here.
	Are you, are you here on, on, on work?
	Um, what is it called?
	Like work experience?
	Are we, you know, work getting work credits?
	It's so funny.
	So, I couldn't believe this meme was still up.
	It's so bad.
	It looks like satire.
	It looks like, but there's a fucking verified check in the Turning Point USA, you know, profile.
	Like, this is a real post that they did.
	They thought this was a great idea.
	This has 1,000 reacts and 870 comments.
	We've had 4,000 reacts and 870 comments.
	And how do you think, so we know that TPUSA is purportedly, ostensibly, reaching out to young people to try and win them over to the right side, etc.
	Unfortunately, having covered TPUSA on Facebook for several years now, we know that their demographic actually skews as old as possible and as white as possible.
	Yeah, if they could, they would be leaving comments on their cricket phones, but they can't, so they have to go to their desktops.
	How do we think they received the argument that we should change the laws to help black people?
	I'm sure they didn't just black out at the sight of the word black team and not know anything else was going on.
	They probably had a reasonable response, probably agreeing with it and supporting it.
	Steve Linden, whose Facebook profile is one of those Facebook algorithmically generated t-shirts that say, stand for the flag, kneel at the cross.
	Yeah.
	Steve Linden says, quit playing that damn race crap.
	There are white teens out there working too, and if you stop and check, there are more blacks in the fast food than whites.
	Again, do you know what you're saying right now, Steve Linden?
	Cause you are, you are kind of saying it for us.
	You are saying that, you know, in fact, yeah, it does seem that black teens are getting the, you know, what is perceived to be the less desirable jobs.
	Um, that is what you're saying.
	Do you know that, Steve?
	It's a very good point.
	Or do you just feel like people are like, are you just, you're just tired of hearing the acknowledgement of the existence of black teens.
	So that must be, that must be like a mark against white teens.
	What's funny about this is I love this comment.
	Maybe I'm, I don't know, thinking too hard about it or extrapolating too much from it and inferring too much from it.
	But it's like, this guy's probably In a certain income bracket.
	I would not guess that he's in a very high income bracket.
	I don't think he like owns a restaurant or anything like that.
	Maybe he's a capitalist.
	Maybe he's a retired capitalist or whatever.
	If he were, I think he would possibly recognize that this meme is in his benefit.
	To, like, get rid of the minimum wage so that we can pay... You know, it's like winking at the neoliberal camera.
	Like, hey, we love black people, right?
	Let's all get together and pay them less money, right?
	Wouldn't that be great, right?
	Because we're so woke.
	And this guy, like, I don't know, maybe his eyesight's bad, so he doesn't see the winking.
	I think perhaps he would also not benefit from lowering the minimum wage.
	That would not help him whatsoever.
	Uh, but instead he just sees them trying to help black people and his racism overcomes whatever actual part of the right-left spectrum he's on, right?
	This guy probably identifies as a right-wing person, probably sides with capital in every other instance, but he sees somebody, uh, trying to use like the quote the race card to help the right side of the spectrum And it overrides any sense of logic or any sense of, you know, political identity he might have had.
	And it's so funny because he is saying like, wait, wait, let's pay white teens less too.
	Like, let us, hey, whoa, we, you know, we would actually do it for less, right?
	You know that, right?
	That's the oldest trick in the book, right?
	Organizing labor through race and saying that, you know, black people in fact work for less and getting white people to go, wait, hold on, I'll get paid that while being white.
	Give me that.
	Yeah, I mean, that's an argument usually used for, like, hating, you know, it usually kind of goes the other way, I would say, like saying, oh, well, they'll work for less than you, and that's why you don't like them, you know, rather than you don't like them, so you're going to work for less than them or whatever.
	And you can easily overcome that by realizing both of you are working people.
	And historically, it's been a very successful mode of organizing across racial lines, you know.
	Realizing that you have that part in common.
	But yeah, I just, it's funny, just if this guy is right-wing, if he is capitalist, he's like letting his racism overwhelm that.
	If he isn't an actual capitalist or whatever, he's still too racist to see that like working people deserve a living wage or whatever.
	Michelle Van Dyke says, white boys or girls not welcomed?
	Racist.
	That's exactly what this meme said.
	That's exactly what you got.
	Like you said, they see certain words and they black out.
	They have no clue what's happening anymore.
	It just seems like they're trying to... They somehow thought that TPUSA was pushing for more affirmative action.
	Yeah.
	Well, yeah, it's just TPUSA tries to do like, oh, we're going to get government out of the way and that'll actually help black people.
	And it's like, wait, help black people?
	Well, I don't know if you know this, but the cool thing about being a black teen is you don't need to get paid as much because of your drug selling and stuff.
	And also, you don't even realize how much I make rap dancing.
	Like, these arguments, it's just way off the mark.
	Like, this is the argument you would use if you went on CNN.
	Yeah.
	This is the argument that you would use if you went on Fox Business or something.
	This is not the argument that you use on Facebook.
	Like, these people don't care about helping black teens.
	These people actually want to do the opposite of that, you know?
	I mean, think about it.
	We need to incentivize them.
	Because why would I invest in somebody more than minimum wage when they're just going to leave me to get drafted by the NBA anyways?
	And let me just clarify something.
	That's not to say that Fox Business cares about black teams or CNN.
	That's just to say that they like having the appearance.
	They're catering to a more enlightened, culturally A cultured part of the demographic who likes to give lip service to these sorts of things.
	So that's how you would make it palatable to that section of the country.
	Finally, Richard McCarron says, to this TPUSA meme, You don't like it, just think how good it would be for them if they didn't get help from back then.
	Oh, we had the Lord, uh, test to help them.
	I finally get to the point for ones of president and they still aren't happening.
	A little cheese with that wine.
	I thought you'd say if it's free share.
	And then Nicole Abud says, is English really your first language?
	And Richard replies, yes it is.
	Don't like it?
	Tough.
	Just to clarify, there is no punctuation in any of this that Richard's saying.
	I love this.
	Okay, hold on.
	Hold on.
	For them, if they didn't get help from back then, oh, we had the Lord a test to help them.
	So are they, as he's saying like all of this stuff was like a test from the Lord and we like persevered and we finally got a president.
	So why are we still crying?
	Uh, that's the only part that I understood.
	I finally get to the point for ones of four spelled like the number.
	Yeah.
	Cause at first I was like, there's only been one president.
	There has not been four presidents.
	Four ones of president and they still aren't happening a little cheese.
	So yeah, you guys, you, Tony, the black community, you got a president and still aren't happy, I think is what that's supposed to be.
	What sucked is like there was a long time where I would say, why the fuck would I get a job?
	We haven't even had a black president.
	And then they finally got one.
	They were like, I think it's time for you to get a job.
	And I'm like, no.
	That should have been on the sandwich board, too.
	I thought that day would never come.
	Yeah, 8.50 an hour, black president.
	You had one president that looked like you, 8.50 an hour.
	And then I love, is English really your first language?
	Yes, it is.
	Don't like it?
	Tough.
	And like, again, you are, because the thing is you naturally as a human, that's being read with punctuation, you can't avoid it, but there is no effort for punctuation at any point.
	Why just like, he doesn't, I don't even think Richard knows what first language means?
	Nope.
	Because why would I not like it if English was the first language you learned?
	You're not owning me by having learned English first.
	It's not like, hey, I learned Hooked on Phonics, the English version.
	Don't like it, Snowflake?
	I'll help you pack.
	Like, what?
	What?
	Okay.
	Cool.
	Yeah, it's very cool.
	I actually don't have a reason for this.
	I am just not that bright.
	Deal with it, toots.
	Don't like it?
	Tough.
	Life's hard, get helmet.
	That's the episode.
	Thank you so much for listening.
	Thank you for everybody who signed up for the Patreon last week.
	Let's get to 1312.
	Let's get there, folks.
	Let's do it.
	Let's do it.
	Let's just stick it to them.
	That is patreon.com slash MinionDeathCult, $3 a month, gets you instant access to every single bonus episode we've ever done, hundreds of hours of content there, directly in whatever podcast app you're using right now, or you can listen to it on a browser, or you can listen to it on the Patreon app itself.
	$5 an hour gets you access to Tony's Last Responders podcast, the podcast where he watches the television programs 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, which are trying to, in the words of Tony's... Well, no, I guess in Tony's words.
	It was Jamie Peck quoting Tony, saying, what if they made Copaganda gay?
	Yeah, that's pretty much what's going on here.
	It's pretty great.
	Tomorrow we are releasing the episode featuring Jamie Peck.
	That's actually tonight.
	It should be available as you're listening.
	If you're listening now, you can also listen for $5.
	We are covering the episode called Buck Actually, which follows some love escapades with my favorite character, who I hate so much, Buck, named after one of my favorite movies, Love Actually.
	Um, and it's a good one.
	I'm really happy Jamie came out for that one, so tune in.
	Very good times.
	That's a kind of a shoehorned pun in there.
	Oh, it's brutal.
	Oh, it's brutal.
	It doesn't even really translate.
	There is not really, there's no parallels to the movie.
	It should have been, if you wanted to keep with the love theme, uh, I heart Buccabees.
	There you go.
	That would have been a better one.
	I like, hopefully that episode's just coming.
	There's definitely an episode called Good Luck Buck.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	I can't wait to hear that one.
	All right.
	Thanks for listening, folks.
	You can write to us at MinionDeathCult.gmail.com.
	Follow us on all the social media at MinionDeathCult.
	Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
	Join the Facebook group, Minion Death Commandos.
	I'm posting in there all day.
	There's a lot of good people in there having some fun.
	So, we'll see you around.
	Bye.
	Appreciate you.
	Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.
	Yeah, I'm stealing cigarettes I'm stealing cigarettes Selling a lock to French red
	Plus, I bet you can steal in debt.
	I'm asking how could it be?
	I know they don't believe them Even though they're sassholes going in No time to fly to the sun for the night And no one's all the same One can tell the tale so by the way

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