Rightly or wrongly, a job at McDonald’s is perceived to be one of the lowest rungs on the capitalist ladder—so much so that the term “McJob” came into prominence in the 1980s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a McJob is “an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects.”

McDonald’s Talk, hosted on LiveJournal, provides a forum for those who toil under the golden arches to grouse about their employer. Complaints of poor pay, unfair managers, grueling working conditions, and most of all clueless customers are all served up in supersized helpings, complete with a side of nonplussed, WTF attitude.

McSampler:

Holiday pay…or lack thereof

I had to work for nine hours on July 4th this year and as a result, I missed seeing much of my family…(and) it turns out that in Texas, no employer is required to compensate employees with Holiday Pay…So basically, the owner of the store I work at stated that she offered other benefits which is why she doesn’t offer holiday pay. However, those benefits aren’t so great in my opinion.

1. Free uniforms. (Are you serious? All we get is one shirt, and we have to buy the pants and shoes ourselves….so no that’s not a benefit.)

2. Free meals during your shift. (This isn’t anything special, either. Let’s say I don’t want to eat fries. The policy is posted on the wall in the back and it states specifically that we may have any three menu items as long as the third item is a drink and ANY two food items as long as it doesn’t add up to 6.50….but when I tried to get a big mac and a sundae, I was told I couldn’t. Not really fair, eh?)

yeah that’s it. Seriously — how does that qualify as benefits?

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So you can go straight to the source(s), two more economist blogs:

• EconLog
  This provocative blog written by three libertarian economists includes posts like
  Would Milton Friedman have advocated last year’s bailout of banks? and a cost/benefit analysis of torture.
  

• EconomistMom.com
  Diane Lim Rogers works for The Concord Coalition, an organization that’s hawkish on the deficit. She’s also worked for the Council of Economic Advisers, the Congressional Budget Office, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the House Budget Committee. And of course, she’s also a mom, so the topics of her posts range anywhere from CBO budget reports to shopping for colleges, which appears in her family life section.

B-B-Bernanke & The Fed

Feel like auditing some economics courses without leaving your room? University of Oregon economics professor Mark Thoma has posted videos of his course lectures online. The courses are Monetary Theory and Policy, History of Economic Thought, and Econometrics. Watch them at your leisure, but in the interest of class decorum try not to do so in your underwear.

Fifteen video journalists from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism have produced some great reporting on the effects of the recession on individual New Yorkers. The videos are archived on Downsize NYC, which describes itself as exploring “not only the statistics but also the sensibilities of the economic crisis. Our stories consider how this recession is impacting average New Yorkers – from taxi drivers and hedge fund managers to unemployed volunteers and single parents.”

Some of the best pieces include Pink Slip, Yellow Taxi, a report on the glut of cab drivers resulting from the large-scale layoffs. “People get in my cab and say ‘wow an American cab driver who speaks English,’ says a former UBS/Warburg employee, just one professional who has taken a traditionally working-class job to make ends meet. Now What Do You Do? features a former worker who describes his downsizing as “the most poignant failure I’ve had in my life.”

And in Downsized Pride, former financially stable people are forced to turn to food pantries for help. “On top of being nervous, I felt a little ashamed,” says one recipient, still looking surprised at the situation she has found herself in. “You have to get in line outside and so it was like, wow, I’m begging for food.”

Definitely worth a few clicks…

…the worst dramatization of a governmental agency function goes to the FDIC Channel’s “Introduction to FDIC Deposit Insurance,” starring “Ashley” and “Grandpa.”

And here to present the award are Big D of the Freedom For You and Me channel, Pennsylvania congressional candidate and tea-party participant Jake Towne, the Fat Libertarian, and this guy “proclaiming the warnings of prophecy for our times and announcing the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.” All of whom have been warning of the imminent bankruptcy of the government’s bank insurance program. The FDIC announced today that this year’s record 81 bank failures had left it with just $10 billion to service the additional 416 institutions on its “problem list,” should the need arise.

If you’re worried about the fiscal condition of your bank, but perhaps not quite as much as the above presenters, Bankrate.com’s “Safe & Sound” ratings page is a good place to start.

Savvy entrepeneurial initiative or cynical rip-off? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA is offering to take care of the pets of born-again Christians forced to leave them behind in The Rapture.

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you’ve received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

Here’s the elaborate FAQ, which states the whole thing is not a joke.

They even take Discover. Now that’s serious.

The blogosphere is filled with commentary on Ted Kennedy, vitriolic and hagiographic, and a portion in-between. THE AFL-CIO blog has two Kennedy items up, one on his fight for universal health care and the other on his support for unions and working-class issues. For those who want to remember him in the best light, his Facebook page is a good place to start online. There we found this personal remembrance. Of course, there’s no way to know if it’s true, but it’s nice to think so. An excerpt:

As a personal [beneficiary] of Senator Kennedy, I’d like to add a short true story. Back when I was a kid, perhaps 12, my younger brother was diagnosed with a mental disability. The school system would no longer admit my 9 year old brother and he had to be sent to a private institution which was way beyond my parents means.

One Thursday evening the phone rang at dinner time and I was the one who was closest and answered it. To my great surprise, the man on the other end said he was Senator Ted Kennedy and he wanted to speak to my father.

My dad got on the phone. A few minutes later after a one sided conversation by the Senator, my father ended the call with “Thank you so much.” Tears ran down my father’s face.

The senator had gotten a letter from my mom telling him how awful it was that our state of Massachusetts no longer helped the handicapped. He read the letter and called to say he personally would pay for my brother’s stay and education at a private institution.

My brother, and the rest of the family were saved by this great man. He had compassion. He had his demons as well. But for America, he was a hero. With great sorrow I brave his passing. Thank you Senator Ted. For me. My family. For the country.

And on we go…

The web site Jobacle is holding a contest calling for haikus about work. Turns out there are a lot of work and job-related haikus on the Web. Some faves germane to the current economy, gleaned from here, here, here, here, and here:

Poverty Is So In
Bad economy
means no big bonus for me.
Must steal more staplers.
———————————–
Editing client papers
Government clients
please don’t learn how to write well,
lest I lose my job
———————————–
How was I to know?
Apparently, when
you interview on the Hill,
snow boots are a no.

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Seven pages of people’s personal photos of the Senator.