It amazes me the kind of people restaurants will hire. I was at the local Subway this afternoon, and I was so grossed out by the derelict who was making my sub. He seriously looked like a drunk derelict, fresh off the streets of Burnside. He had a nasty goatee that was about 6 inches off his chin(I kid you not) and he needed to shave REALLY BADLEY! Now I don't have a problem with facial hair, or a well groomed goatee, but when you look like a bum its time to realize you have a personal hygiene problem and need to get help. To make a long story short, I ended up throwing away my delicious Meatball sub because I couldn't stand to look at the workers nasty goatee. There should be rules that a company follows regarding facial hair of workers, especially when they are making food for the public. Has anybody else been grossed out by the appearence of a worker in a restaurant or fast food place? Lots of facial hair is disgusting and dirty!!!

A few years back when Boston Market used to be here in portland, I ordered the Chicken Carver Combo and I SWARE TO GOD I found a pubic hair in my sandwich.
I seriously wanted to vomit. I will never eat at another Boston Market again, although most Boston Markets are closed so I won't have to worry about Pubes in my sandwich. Could that be the reason Boston Markets closed???? I wouldn't doubt it.
None of the workers had goats and they all had really short hair.

Its kinda like the radio business, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!! Overworked minimum wage workers are going to look like they just came off the streets of downtown portland because they just don't give a shit!! And why should they, when they are making minimun wage. Maybe if they paid employees a living wage, you wouldn't have the scragily guy with the 8 inch braded goatee making your sub sanwich!
Why do you think the talent on Z100 today is so poor? Nobody with any talent would put up with the low wages they are paying jocks. Thats why the jocks at Z100 are at the station for a year and then leave. Absolutely ridiculous!

Raise the minimum wage by 2 dollars per hour, and inflation will go up about 2 dollars.

People in washington and oregon making minimum wages are still making close to $8.00 per hour, so assuming a 40 hr week, their making around 1200 per month, and I doubt if many live alone, if they want a better living, they need to go to school, or otherwise get themselves qualified for a better job.

I saw a fellow on the MAX the other day. Such a touching scene, there he was with his knocked up girlfriend, looking like Horatio Alger's wet dream in his Wendy's uniform. As the two of them chattered the way that teenage parents do, I noticed something on the back of his neck: A very large and ornate swastika. Although he was clean cut, I wondered how the hell the folks at the restaurant explained his choice of tattoos to their customers. I also wondered who wasn't hired so they could fund the adventures of an actively breeding neo-Nazi.

When I walk by the entrance of the restaurant kitchen, I never look in, because I might see the Chef they keep hidden for a good reason!

If you are making food or serving it and you have facial hair, you are supposed to wear a beard net as well as a hair net.

Call me narrow minded, but if I owned a business and some joker came in with tattoos covering his arms (ones that can be covered by clothing I wouldn't care about) or 2" rings stretching out their earlobes, lip piercings etc, I would not hire them even if they were the most qualified for the position.

I think it is dead wrong for the government to try and tell me who I must hire. If I own the business and it doesn't receive any government funding, then it is my business (no pun intended) who I do or don't hire.

I've never had a bad experience with Subway although I have on occasion seen young women working there who give the appearance of being former meth addicts. I've wondered whether Subway works in conjunction with some type of drug rehab program. If they do, good for them.
However, if you don't like the appearance of the people who serve you at a given eating establishment, vote with your feet and buy your food somewhere else. Also, you have to think about what kinds of people make sandwiches for a living: they are chiefly high school students, college students, dropouts, and people who cannot handle more complex tasks. These are the same kinds of people that tend to work at other chain eating establishments. These types of people generally aren't passionate enough about their work to change their appearances for the sake of the job; maybe you should eat at a restaurant with a more stringent dress code for its employees, such as Burger King.

In case you don't know, retailers paying minumum wage or thereabouts are having a warm body shortage.

NWOKIE, if you own a business that paid minumum wage, or especially, the minumum wage level of a right-to-work state like Texas, $5/hr, you, too, would be hiring tatooed people to keep the spot filled with breathers.

However, tatooed people are not a protected class, and I'm not likely to support making them a protected class, so you don't have to actually hire any tatooed employees.

Skybill - couldn't agree more on your assessment of people with a ton of tattoos and the like. I know that many of them are hard-working and that, but that is NOT the image I want to portray to my customers. I am the same way with dreadlocks - ugh, it looks like they haven't washed their hair since the Truman administration!

The law only states that if your hair touches your collar, it must be restrained back behind the head in some fashion. There actually is no law requiring hair nets or beard snoods, though many companies require them.

Skeptical - I run three restaurants and 90% of my employees are in that entry-level minimum-wage category. I still have standards on who I will or will not hire, and can get and maintain a crew that fits what I want my image to be perceived as. Oregon is also a right-to-work state, BTW.

Hey Brianl What would you do if one of your employees decides to grow a goatee that is 6 inches off his chin? Would you tell him to shave it?? And what if his response is NO!!! Would you fire him for bad hygiene?

"Oregon is also a right-to-work state"

Since when?

Justin - he would either A) adhere to company policy and neatly trim it or B) he wouldn't work for me anymore. There are plenty of jobs out there that will let you have your six-inch goatee. My places aren't among them.

And Skep - I misworded it, my bad. Oregon is an "At-Will" state ... which is actually very vague in definition and teminology, lots of loopholes.

Sorry, lack of sleep is getting to me.

I think it's great that people who are undereducated can find work somewhere.

Just think, if these places didn't hire the "derelicts" that you all are complaining about, they'd be living off of our dollar. At least they aren't selling drugs or becoming prostitutes or being general scum.

They may look like scum, but at least they're trying to earn an honest buck.

>>>""Oregon is also a right-to-work state"

Since when?"


Unfortunately, it's still a forced union State.

Forced Union? I knew a straight couple was common law after 7 years, but a state run shotgun wedding? Enlighten us all.

To return to topic, image positions a company in a market, but refusing to invest in people has many drawbacks. If you pay very little, you should expect the same in return, even if you have hired the best.

I know plenty of the pin-cushion and ink splot crowd. They aren't bad folks, in fact many of them have degrees. This job market sucks, so unless he is an obvious hobo, do not make rash assumptions. But, if they make you uncomfortable, well, do what you did when you wanted a neighborhood without brown people: Go somewhere else.

If mister minimum and no tips has hygiene issues, well, look around, where are you eating lunch? When I have to stoop to questionable eats from the cheap and corporate, I expect nothing, and by jingo, my expectations are met every time. Even if you are in a big hurry, go local and tip jar, look for happy people and you will seldom be disappointed.

By the way, Subway has hired some real characters over the years. Most kids who went to Franklin are familiar with the joint between Powell and Foster. When I was in school, there was a very large woman who perspired a great deal and had what one would consider unique assets. A friend and classmate of mine immortalized her by naming his band, "Sweaty Nipples" in her honor.

In Texas or Oklahoma, the 5.25 minimum wage, goes a lot further than up here in Oregon and Washington where its close to $8 per hr.

Actually, as a side note...it's a common misconception, but Oregon does NOT have Common Law.

http://www.unmarried.org/common.html

Thanks Copernicus, I didn't know the scoop. Recently a couple pals of mine made it "official" but had told me they were considered common law. They have been together since the 80s.

Okie, In OK and TX 5.25 is the minimum wage for only some sectors. Restaurant work is half that per hour, plus tips. Farm labor is often even less because of competition from migrants. In Oregon -- back in the day -- Moyer changed the labor laws to benefit his theatres. As far as I know, the popcorn guy and ticket gal can work 100 hours in a week and still not qualify for overtime.

By the way, everyone should be aware that whether they tip or not, your server or barkeep is spending 8% of their total sales on taxes. This is in addition to the usual wage based grab by the gubmint. So, to put it in perspective, that dollar tip you left on a ten dollar lunch was a hefty twenty cents minus the hourly wage tax. Nice job cheapskate, she only has to wait on nine or ten more folks like you before she has a couple bucks in her apron.

I don't think that's true. I've relatives in Texas and they are feeling the pinch, same as we are. In the cities, I think Oregon is tougher to live, but elsewhere it's largely the same, just with a different set of numbers.

I always tip well. Have worked those jobs. They suck, wages suck, a lot of people suck. Know this too:

THEY REMEMBER MR AND MRS HIGH EXPECTATIONS, LOW TIP.

If you don't tip well, chances are you've eaten more than your share of floor pepper, boogers, slimey veggies, and other special ingredients saved up for those special customers.

Believe it.

But their no worse off, thats my point.

Raise the minimum wage, and inflation will go up.

There is always a group at the bottom of the scale, increasing the base of the scale doesnt help.

If people want to improve their life situation, they have to do what it takes to get better jobs.

Or, to improve the market, we could stop making Portland a Mecca for the young. If the truth got out and it was no longer paradise to naive kids, we might lose our standing as the new powerhouse of the adult industry, but I do not see that as a great loss.

If you know that your sweet daughter working on a degree is having to do something utterly degrading for her notorious boss to keep her job at his bar -- yes, most of you know who this fellow is -- perhaps you will not be so eager to send her west.

Our cost of living has created an environment of predatory hiring that would never have been acceptable when this town was small enough for news to actually travel around. We could have a whole other thread on slimy employers and creepy jobs in Stumptown.

"THEY REMEMBER MR AND MRS HIGH EXPECTATIONS, LOW TIP."

Amen, brother! They also remember polite big tippers who order something logical based on the amount of customers in a given moment. I have been a regular at one particular restaurant for fifteen years. They know me, love me and I work with them, not against them when I am hungry.

Is it really really busy? Get the table to order similar stuff, get it quicker and feel the love. Show up fifteen minutes before the kitchen closes? Order really simple and they will usually pile on the goods and get that server one last great tip. Order something that makes the whole kitchen dirty again, well, you takes yer chances.

An easy barometer for eating out is HWMF = How would Mom feel?

Nwokie, there will be inflation, but it's not a linear relationship.

My stand on the minimum wage thing is all about work value. We don't need employment that is a net loss, because that loss comes out of some other pool of money somewhere that we all contribute to.

People need a minimum to exist. This minimum is the break even point for wages. Go below that and the costs for that person will still be met, it just won't be through their wages. --unless we have people just tipping over from lack of resources.

(which we do, but that's not the point.)

Raising the minimum wage means essentially making the work worth doing, that's it.

Put that into context with all the illegal workers and or workers on heavy subsidies willing to work for few dollars.

I'm at the Win Co all the time, watching these people pay with Oregon Trail cards. Some of them have multiple cards too! (what's with that)

The result is essentially a tax on those of us able to pay our own way right?

If the wage is set where one person can actually pay their way, in a minimum fashion, then the need for those other programs is sharply diminished. More of the work is worth doing.

As for prices, they will settle to where they need to be, barring intervention from other nations, etc...

And that's where the trade agreements are killing us! Used to be a lot more jobs that paid a solid income. Not excessive, but a totally doable income where working people could buy a house, have a car, kids, etc...

The general trend toward downard wage pressure increasing is quickly destroying that middle class zone that keeps a lot of this stuff running for all of us.

It's rapidly evolving into a two class system where we've got some of the people making enough to get by with no assistance and a lot of the people not.

Sure, they can share housing, not get cars, kids, etc... but that's not a reasonable expectation is it?

And then there is the whole work to improve bit. Hey, I've done that. It's tough, but it's totally doable. ---err at least it was.

These days, it's a whole lot tougher to improve your lot. Wny? Because we've lost a whole bunch of solid paying jobs. They are being replaced with minimum wage jobs, meaning the balance of people is tipping into the negative.

If those jobs are paying at a net loss --as in the work is not worth doing, then the distributed costs of those people end up as taxes, fees, etc... the rest of us end up paying.

And we wonder why our burden is so high these days. Mine is high, I feel it, and it sucks. Sucks hard, right along with the increase in below break even jobs.

IMHO, $5.00 or so per hour is not a meaningful wage. Can you imagine? Hell, the cost of gas alone right now means likely working two hours just to break even on getting there and back! It goes down hill from there, does it not?

Things, like gas, are essentially hard costs that are just there no matter what. The price of food, and other things will vary somewhat with the wage change, but the core things don't.

What were transportation costs back when the minimum wage was last raised? A buck, less maybe?

Oregon and Washington have a higher minimum and the small business gets along just fine. People can pay to get back and forth to work too. If it were $5.00 they wouldn't and the amount of assistance would skyrocket, or we would all live in crappy neighborhoods as a higher percentage of people could not afford to live decently...

I have one question that often is not addressed in discussions about wage levels: What about high school kids who are still living with Mom and Dad, but they are trying to get a low-skilled job for the experience and to have a few extra dollars? These people present a somewhat uncomfortable level of risk to employers because they have no past work references, and they most likely will require a lot of "hand-holding" to become competent workers. However, there is a great long term societal benefit, in my opinion, to these people entering the work force. If minimum wages are raised, should there be some legal exemption that would permit for these young people to work at a lower wage level?

Let's say we raise the minimum $2.00.

How is that significantly different than the current Oregon and Washington wage?

Depends, if you raise the federal minimum, it would have no affect on Washington.Oregon, as their already over that.

And Oregon has a lot of artifical minimum wage jobs, IE gas pumper. That increases the cost of gasoline in Oregon for everyone.

Compare gasoline costs in Oregon and Washington before making grandiose statements about "gas pumper" as if the job means nothing. You will find that they average out over time to be almost the same, because most of the "extra cost" is to cover theft in the mini-mart. Factor in the fact that you don't have to pump your own in the rain and Oregon is much better.

Not long ago, the "service station" was the backbone of our automobile based lives. Now, in Oregon, small repairs to get folks home are done daily by fellows and gals who earn far less than the technicians that were eliminated for the concept of a "filling station."

The petrochemical giants love the fact that the canaries are out of most of the coalmines. Like any drug pusher, they do not give two damns about the customer anyway. Exposure to gasoline, just a good splash, makes you impaired like alcohol. Some folks are too out of it to notice any effect, so they do not care.

It also increases many fold your chances for cancer, sterility, skin conditions and chronic lung problems. The additives in gasoline can also do irreparable harm to a fetus. So, next time you have your pregnant wife out pumping, think about it. Gasoline is a volatile chemical that easily gets in your bloodstream -- even the vapors.

Frank's 76 on the corner of Killingsworth and Interstate is typically the cheapest gas in Porttown! Even better than Arco and won't clog your injectors like their crap gas does!

You can fill up and get a automotive breakfast just down the street at Beaterville. Watch out for achingly cute girls with tattoos.

Littlesongs - gas in Oregon (Portland anyways) is a little cheaper now because Washington has incrementally bumped up their gas taxes over the last couple of years ... up like 12 cents per gallon or something.

Brian, 9 cents a gallon is what our bimbette raised the gas tax.

There was an appeal vote put to the people a few elections ago and every county in WA except King (Seattle) and 2 surrounding counties voted to repeal it and it failed.

However King county votes, thus goes the rest of WA!

Man, that majority rule thing sucks!

I can't believe some of the losers that they will let work in radio stations. Seriously, I saw this guy who was bald with a goatee. He was doing the midday show on this station in Vegas.

Well....he was disgusting. Upon reviewing his hideous and unsightly appearance, I decided not to listen to him, again. Ever.

Lando- Oh for sure. Like you, I can totally hear old, balding, and gotee when I listen to certain jocks. PLEASE...quit your day job!!

Oh I remember Skybill, it was 50-50 here in Clark County, and I think it failed in Snohomish, didn't it?

I was living in Seattle when they voted in that $1.2 BILLION (yes, with a B kids) RTA tax and proposal to use mixed-use transit to help unclog Seattle. Part of the proposal was to build a new 520 bridge, a commuter rail stretching from Tacoma to Everett with many stops in between, Light-Rail, and more HOV lanes ... and something connecting West Seattle.

It is now mid-2007. The Commuter rail got completed using existing tracks, and they are STARTING on SOME light-rail lines. Nothing else has been done. They voted in a secondary tax in King County to expand the monorail to West Seattle, and tax it through vehicle license renewals. It went up about $125 PER CAR PER YEAR, so much that King County residents started getting PO boxes outside of King County ... the monorail project is now toast.

It drives me nuts too, it drove me nuts more when I lived up there!

Chris....I love you.