Fast Food Power over Teenagers in the United States

Thierry M. Nda

Dr. C. Jason Smith

ENG 101-5564

March 30, 2015

Fast Food Power Over Teenagers in the United States

In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser discusses through “Throughput,” many topics such as teenagers large representation in the United States fast foods, symbolized here by Elisa Zamot, a sixteen-year old student girl, the speedy work of these adolescents on pressure on limited employee number, and the possible and smooth replacement of these teenagers without any training by others inexperienced at any time. Among the topics cited above, the first one, the domination of teenager work in the United States fast food industry captured or called my intention, estimating that it could cover the others.

In “Throughput,” from (67-71), as a subsection means, working faster so that to produce more orders in very short time, Eric Schlosser claims vehemently the preference of fast foods ownership to employ teenagers because they are cheaper to hire than adults, but also because their immature ignorance makes them easier to command as well (68). Schlosser then shows us the palpable example of Elisa Zamot, sixteen who worked at McDonald’s while she was studying. She was customarily obliged to open the restaurant with only the manager early, going back and forth between downstairs into the basement and upstairs, making sure food and supplies they need are ready for the morning shift before seven o’clock and other co workers arrive (67-68). Like Elisa, many adolescent pursuits the fast food restaurants in Colorado Springs stated Schlosser (68).

In addition, Schlosser affirms that there are no other industry kitchens in the United States, an allusion to McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants (69), where children, assuming to be adults, are in majority (68). Despite their courage, although low-paid, those teenagers do not have any guarantee at their work because threatened to be kicked out by fast foods ownership as Richard and Mac Mcdonald and even Fred Turner, a McDonald’s executive whether they do not conform to various devices, menu, and greeting instructions that could be found into “the Bible,” the McDonald’s operations manual (69-70).

The fact that fast foods leadership like to hire teenagers is purposely done. They already know the physical and spiritual weaknesses of that part of the population. These leaders are then focused on them, using their advertisement. As adolescent, in general, at certain times we have some yearnings that could be impossible to be attained because of our life grade, depending on our parents’ one. If our parents do not have the minimum mean for us, this lack of money will lead us to struggle to make some by working anywhere even with the lowest salary. That is the living case of the majority of the United States’ teenagers who have to work not only for themselves, the needs that they meet, but also to entertain nearly their whole family that is not obviously in their charge. To illustrate, I had had a coworker, Barros, at my work, Victor’s Cafe, a restaurant at 52th street, 7th avenue, who was barely nineteen years old. We used to have the same working days. I was used to listening to him talking about making money, then, which one he was going to share with his family, by giving them a part of the money that he did not receive yet, but already done after advanced calculation making. he also said that he was going to use the rest of that money from his next paycheck to cover his needs, for instance, going to the club with friends of his, buying some clothes and his Metrocard for his commutes. He already lived, depending on his paychecks coming up. Even though that restaurant paid us a dollar more than the minimum wage, I felt sorry for him because, a few weeks later from his debut, he was complaining that the money he did receive every Friday was smaller than the job he was doing. Questioning him about what he would like to do so that to change his complex issue, he responded that he did not know what to do. I advised him to go back to school in order to ensure his future