Jethro Jacinto

SOC 1005
Ethnographic Research Paper (FINAL Draft)
December 17, 2015

Minimum Wage of Sin

The concept studied in this ethnography is minimum wage work. Minimum wage is the
lowest possible wage (whether that be by the hour, daily or monthly) that an employer is legally
allowed to pay his or her employees. Supporters of the established of a federal minimum wage
believe and promote that this system aids in the reduction of exploitation and also that it
guarantees workers the ability to provide for themselves, and any family member, the basic
necessities for survival, like food and shelter. However, others argue that the existence of a
federal minimum wage adds to an increased unemployment rate among younger people and
unskilled workers. Minimum wage work is often characterized as unskilled labor and includes
the completion of unwanted, miniscule tasks. Examples of jobs with government established
minimum wage salaries are the front desk workers at college dormitories, fast food workers, a
restaurant dishwasher, and a gas station attendant.
In the United States, the minimum wage has risen from $0.75 (1950) to $7.25 (2009) and
recently it has increased again in New York State from $8.00 (2013) to $9.00, effectively on
December 31, 2015; however, despite the increase, the exact value is actually lower because as
the minimum wage level has been increased by the federal government, the value of the US
dollar has decreased. This loss of value and the significantly high number of people employed at
minimum wage are contributing factors to the continuously increasing level of poverty in the

United States, especially because the small income is not a sufficient salary that would provide
people with a substantial lifestyle to live. The purpose of this study was to grasp an
understanding of what it is like to hold jobs that are not highly desirable and yet only be paid a
small amount of salary for the work that is done.
Observations for this study were carried out in two different McDonalds locations; one
in Queens by Queens Boulevard, and the other in Midtown Manhattan by Madison Square Park.
I chose to observe at these two settings because the first McDonalds location is near a busy
neighborhood by the highway where its not as busy but has a drive-thru and the other
McDonalds is located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan where its really busy all day from the
commuters who pass by, and I noticed that there were various kinds of employees working at
both restaurants. I thought that this specific location would increase my chances of observing a
variety of both workers and customers. Also, I thought it would enhance the quality and overall
accuracy of my observations because the communities surrounding the two locations are so
different from each other.
When observing, I chose to do so from a third person point of view. I did not interact or
socialize with employees or customers (with the exception of interviews, which were done
following my observation) because I did not want peoples behaviors to be influenced, positively
or negatively, by an awareness of my observations. When conducting my interviews, I was sure
to remain completely neutral and made the questions broad enough so that they could be
individually subjective and free of influence from my personal opinions.
The two restaurants were very different from each other. The first location was relatively
new and clean, yet had an industrial-like and sterile atmosphere about it. The walls were stark
white, grey tiles covered the floors, the booths and tables were a combination of white and grey,

and the only color throughout the dining area were randomly placed McDonalds logos. I
observed this location on a Monday afternoon, between 12:00-3:00pm, and the restaurant was
staffed with one manager and two cashiers. The employees were young and had a part-time
college students paying for their own tuition look on them. When I observed them, two of the
employees were there five out of the seven days working from noon to mid-afternoon.
My observations were not very specific because I was interested in the overall
characteristics of people who work at the minimum wage rather than a specific characteristics or
action. The most general observation I noticed was of the way in which the employees interacted
with customers, seen at both locations. I found that the majority of the employees (with the
exception of one at the first location) were polite, well-mannered and willing to help the
customers. Also, the workers at both locations had noticeably different characteristics (physical
race, age, gender, etc.) and unlike commonly held stereotypes about the type of people who work
the minimum wage jobs, not one characteristic, behavior or action was specific to only one of
any of those three categories. I also observed many circumstances in which employees interacted
with one another. These interactions included a variety of situations; some were a person asking
for extra help or other questions pertaining to work, while others were conversations about nonwork related topics.
When asked about the relationships between the employees, one female employee (from
the second location) said that employees interact with each other, such as joking around, because
it helps the time go by faster and the boring tasks are not as difficult to get through. She also
said that they are willing to help one another because employees of McDonalds are all a part of
the same team and they are there to professionally support one another. Along with teamwork,
I also observed the different jobs assigned. The cashiers had the most personal interaction with

customers. The managers (at both locations) were the over-lookers of the front counter
(whether the orders were placed by walk-in customers) and at the second location the manager
prepared the items for the pick-up window. Also, at both locations, there were employees who
gathered food for eat-in customers, restocked the condiments station and picked-up around the
restaurant. All of the workers seemed to work well together; however, at the first location the
exception was a white male teenager who did not want to socialize with any other workers and of
all the employees observed, he was by far the least welcoming to customers.
Aside from the employees, I also observed the ways in which the customers acted. In my
interviews, I asked customers if they had any stereotypes about those who worked in minimum
wage jobs. Their answers were all related to three topics: race (specifically blacks and minority
racial groups, such as Mexican), education (rather lack thereof), and motivation (low-paid and
unskilled workers have little or no drive to make something of themselves). Despite these
stereotypes expressed in the interviews, I did not observe any obvious forms of rude behavior or
discrimination towards employees. The customers seemed to respond in a manner that reflected
the one in which they were approached with by the employee. Most customers appeared to be in
a hurry, but remained polite and patient. One difference I did not notice about the customers at
the two different locations is that at the first location, the customers were more likely to leave
trash on the floor or not tuck-in a chair than those at the second location. At the second location,
customers seemed more aware of and concerned about the mess they were leaving behind.
From my observations, I learned a great deal about the concept of minimum wage work
and how it related to sociology. McDonalds is a location where employees begin earning
minimum wage (however advancement and salary increase are still a possibility) and as gathered
from the interview, most employees hired are younger, less-educated (some still in school or

saving for further education), and less-skilled than others in our societys competitive corporate
world. From my interview with the cashier at the first location, I inferred that the job title and
salary were not as important as the luxury of having a job. He also said that everyone has to start
somewhere and that even though he has to make sacrifices to live off of the low salary, he is
confident that he is building his future. Most of the workers consider themselves lucky to have a
job; some are using the income to support themselves and their families while others working to
save for the future. Although the minimum wage job market does contribute to poverty in the
United States, it also enhances the opportunity for the success of others.
My observations also go back to our Sociology class discussion of the challenges that
those with less educational and economic opportunity face. We studied stratification and this
relates to minimum wage because those typically hired into these jobs (young, less-educated
individuals) oftentimes come from working-class families and as seen within the concept of
stratification, structured ranking (upper, middle, working, poor classes) leads to an unequal
balance of opportunity in society. The two people interviewed at the first location both came
from single-parent families (raised by their mothers) who struggled financially and because of
this, their life chances may not be as fortunate as a child who grew up with both parents in a
middle class environment. Minimum wage work is also characteristic of a capitalist society
because McDonalds is a privately owned corporation and the incentives for working there
(based primarily on information gathered from interviews) is different for each individual, but all
are relative to each other in the sense that the employees took the jobs, for economic purposes,
specifically as an attempt to get ahead or, ironically in relation to stereotypes, to make
something of themselves.

I also interviewed a colleague who is an economist, and asked him why would the
minimum wage ever not be a living wage? He mentioned that the minimum wage was
originally passed with the intention of providing a full-time worker the capacity to support
himself and a family. The federal minimum wage in the United States was set at $0.25 per hour
in 1938, which was not tied to inflation and has to be increased by law. The minimum wage is
just that, the minimum acceptable wage that a full-time worker can make and be able to subsist
without assistance. The minimum wage was established to ensure that all workers in the US
would be able to live independently on their wages. The existence of a minimum wage provides
all other workers with useful bargaining leverage, increasing wages throughout. In the US,
minimum wage has become stagnant, failing to reflect inflation. A large part of that is the
misconceptions throughout in todays society. Minimum wage is not earned solely by teenagers
and college students for beer money, nor can any reasonable person suppose that anyone doesnt
deserve to live comfortably on 40 hours a week. These attitudes have been encouraged by
business owners who have little incentive to pay their workers a reasonable wage, so long as
there is an army of unemployed and underemployed willing to do the same job. The minimum
wage subverts that desire.
He went on to say that the minimum wage has nothing to do with whether or not
someone deserves to be paid for their work. Your boss will never pay you more than he has to,
that is the central premise of a free market. A minimum wage says that no matter how little he
wants to pay you; he should still pay you enough to live on. It is also simple economic sense; it
saves money that would go to public welfare to support people who are employed. It is clearly a
decision by society as a whole that no one who is willing and able to work should find
themselves in poverty. All that being said, the shareholder prefers that money goes to his bottom

line, and not into wages. Since the minimum wage is not tied to inflation it becomes increasingly
trivial as time goes by. After a while it becomes, as it has now, a poverty wage and very political
since it must be raised by Congress.
Overall, the minimum wage must be raised today because the cost of living has gone up
drastically. My observations and interviews with different people coming from different
backgrounds working for minimum wage showed me that everyone has to start somewhere and
that even though they have to make sacrifices to live off the low salary, they are confident that
they are slowly building their future. Education is essential today, and that price tag has
increased drastically in the past twenty years as well. People should not have to fight for equal
pay for equal work. Companies should be obligated by the government to pay their workers what
they deserve, and that is more than minimum wage is now. With our new technology and the
technology in the future work is more difficult and complicated. A minimum wage increase
would raise the wages of many workers and increase benefits to those disadvantaged workers.
Because the cost of living has sky rocketed, especially in New York City, it has become almost
impossible to raise a family on a minimum wage job. A person living on his or her own cannot
survive on minimum wage job either. Their living expense would just be too much. The earnings
of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families well-being.