Gothamist: Thousands Want to Work at Times Square M&M World

not that sad

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:53:33 -0500

Karen, I challenge you to find where I advocated illegal immigration. But the fact remains that millions come to the US and find work AND find lodging AND feed themselves AND have money left over to send home. You chose not to address that and wandered off on some tangent. I actually want everyone to find work that they find fulfilling and be able to feed their families. Almost everyone else that replied here thinks New Yorkers should be stuck here. And somehow I'm the asshole. Fascinating. FYI, the New York Times ran a piece over the summer that said the idea that immigrants take jobs Americans don't want is a complete myth. The only industry where more than 50% of the workers were foreign born was agriculture i.e. migrant farm workers. As for companies sending jobs overseas, the reality is that it is primarily the large manufacturers i.e. large publicly traded companies. So who are they trying to satisfy? WALL STREET. Hit the quarterly numbers and satisfy the shareholders or else private equity will snap you up and do it for you.

Karen

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:26:02 -0500

Notsosad, are you advocating illegal immigration? And, of those who do try to get into this country, how many are found dead in the desert? Become shark bait in the Carribean? End up being found in Lake Ontario after they drown in the Niagara River? Anyway. Say I want to move to Orlando, to get a just above min wage job at Mouse World. I have to get some money scraped together to get there-either for a bus ticket, plane ticket, or for gas for my car. That is, if I have a car that is in good enough shape to get there...but it probably isn't, because I don't have the money to get the brakes or the transmission fixed. If I get to Orlando (or Raliegh, or Phoenix, or Dallas), I have to be able to afford a place to live, while I find work. ANd, maybe storage for my things. OF course, I probably would have sold everything but for a few changes of clothes, before leaving...so I could get the money to get a room when I get to Orlando. And, then there's the bit about leaving behind family, and knowing that you nor they will be able to afford to get to see each other, even once a year. OR, (thinking morbidly here) should Mom or Dad die, that you won't be able to afford the plane ticket to get back for the funeral. I keep hearing the govt saying that unemployment is either down, or at least that it hasn't gone up. ANd all around me, I see businesses going under, because thier parent companies have decided to outsource the work to Mexico, or China, or India, or Brazil. I hear the govt say that they want us to go from a manufacturing economy to a service one. Right...a population trained to ask, "You want fries with that?" or, to figure out in a few seconds that all that is wrong with your computer, is that it has not enough memory to play all 1489 versions of The Sims that someone has tried to load. Both jobs pay about the same. And as for pensions...if anyone finds one, that will have a pension, guarenteed, in 20 years, get me a job application.

JN

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:47:26 -0500

You guys are really laying into Not So Sad...not agreeing with him/her, but what was said that necesitates these attacks? Am I missing something here?

xnan

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:51:24 -0500

Re: not that sad. Karma. Very, very simple. You know the "There but for the grace of God go I" sorta stuff. As you rapidly ascend the ladder of success, I take great joy & comfort in the knowledge that you will have the opportunity to fall that much more quickly, and from SO much higher, than the poor folks caring for & about one another at the bottom. You know, the ones with hearts. Since you haven't got one-- I can only hope that the big, red stain that you leave behind when you DO fall (and you certainly WILL fall-- eventually!) will be that much easier to clean up. The rocks (aka: ballast & bombast) in your chest & head will have turned to gravel. So much easier to sweep away than mere flesh & blood. What goes around... well, you know. Cheers!! No. Really. Cheers!!

not that sad

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:29:12 -0500

not that sad is a sad excuse for a human being. Right back at you. I'm still waiting for you to make a point that isn't a personal attack.

Slasher

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:41:53 -0500

is it possible that this was just a really well advertised job that paid over the going-rate for retail and probably had certain really nice perks like freee M&Ms...

champagne dreams n' caviar nites

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:40:33 -0500

not that sad is a sad excuse for a human being.

not that sad

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:29:21 -0500

caviar and champagne, let me see if I understand this. A poor guy in Mexico has the has the drive to risk a border crossing through the desert for some shit kitchen job in New York or a meat packing plant in Nebraska but US citizen can't relocate for a better life? And instead of talking about it you're now wishing ill fortune on me? I pity you. You are a miserable human being. And on the income gap, how ironic is it that the worst income gap in the country is in the blue state.

not that sad

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:23:36 -0500

Thanks to Bloomberg, working at the M&M's store is now a viable alternative to the starting pay of a police officer. You do know that the union signed off on this because the people that get the low pay i.e. new hires, don't get to vote on the contract because they haven't been hired yet. It's the same logic that guides the professional athletes unions to agree to a rookie salary cap. Next season's rookies are still in college and don't get a say. And don't cry too hard for anyone that can retire with full pension benefits at 55. Find me a job anywhere that offers that.

BrianVan

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:15:42 -0500

I'm totally feeling the love in this thread! Anyway, the unemployment numbers are a sham. They do not in any real way reflect the state of labor or poverty in this country - the numbers are so massaged, and leave so many people out, that they're practically useless except for propaganda. If you want a real life version of 1984, it's that 4.5% number - aka "We're winning the war against unemployment." I think the income gap in this city is horrendous, a result of the winner-take-all brand of capitalism that is infesting our economy. I'm a social capitalism supporter, in the sense that one should do business with the goal of not simply enriching themselves, but enriching their partners and neighbors to ensure their longevity, security, and long-term prosperity. It's the evolved thing to do. Unfortunately, we live in a society where shareholders and financial services run away with the lion's share of profits while the staff workers and laborers are enduring rock-bottom wages and, in some cases, third-world living conditions. People no longer see an economic benefit to being honest, and the new leaders of the economy have no shame in their actions. And the poor end up pitying them for their lack of decency or soul. How ironic.

caviar and champagne

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:07:28 -0500

No way NYPD makes less than retail. another urban myth by the PBA. You add in all the overtime and benefits, it's much much more. Holiday pay, night differentials, vacation and health benefits, etc etc etc. You add in those and there you have it, much more that what the retail worker makes. and, not that sad is a heartless asshole. he'll get his, maybe not now but he will. everybody get's it, no one is immune. some get it earlier than others but your time will come. what makes it sadder is because you have too much to lose and will ask yourself, why? why now?

NYPD Blue M&M

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:47:06 -0500

not that sad

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:46:10 -0500

fram filter is a typical apologist. And a typical liberal internet hack. Rather than put together some sort of coherent reply you go right for the personal attack on me. very sad indeed.

fram filter

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:29:18 -0500

The Nile is a river in Egypt. And, this is NYC where some stay here all their life. Because they just can't move. You want reasons? Here's one, poverty. I bet you had that Poverty Sucks poster in college. very sad.

not that sad

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:25:02 -0500

Other parts of the country have much lower unemployment than New York. If people were more willing to relocate they could dramatically improve their lot in life. Not unlike the reality that some people are going to be better off after Hurrican Katrina because it forced them to leave an economically depressed city.

november surprise

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:14:03 -0500

Hey, I thought the job market was going great. Where are these jobs? Unemployment at an all time low. Stock market at an all time high. Payback's coming. You can pay me now or pay me later. And, not in cash.

bob

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 12:55:14 -0500

sad