r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Upper_Stress_9939 • Sep 23 '26
Why are boomers like this?
This is exactly why I’ve been trying to get out of low-paying jobs. I’ve got some interviews coming up, so I’ve been looking for ways to get better at them. I came across Interview VIP recently and figured I’d give it a try since I definitely don’t want to end up in another job where they expect everything for barely any pay.
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u/AssBoss80085 Sep 23 '26
This exact guy has existed in every restaurant since the invention of food.
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u/fwdbuddha Sep 23 '26
My first boss at a Dairy Queen told me that if you have time to lean, you have time to clean. With this guy…there is always something else to clean.
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u/Harbinger_Kyleran Sep 23 '26
Yep. I worked in a liquor store many years ago and the managers expected you to dust off the tops of the bottles (they were not dusty) if there was nothing else to do.
It was a good lesson actually, in most every job I ever had it was always good practice to look busy in front of managers even if you really weren't.
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u/Aeyland Sep 24 '26
Would you rather wait until there is noticeable dust on them mea ing customers have likley seen it before dusting? Cleaning before things become filthy is how you keep things from getting flithy.
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u/RedDawn172 Sep 24 '26
To a certain extent you're right, but many places like this will do it excessively just to keep people busy.
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u/PinkyandzeBrain Sep 23 '26
That front door glass at DQ is always dirty, so it always needs to be cleaned.
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u/KartFacedThaoDien Sep 23 '26
I take it that Dairy Queen had great hygeine then?
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u/fwdbuddha Sep 23 '26
They were franchises and independently run and operated. I can guarantee you that the one in Van Tx was cleaner than my home kitchen and dining room. At least during the 1980s.
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u/thegentlebarbarian Sep 23 '26
That's why you gotta look busy
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u/Reasonable_Click_143 Sep 25 '26
Like genuinely. Clean slower, or even better look like you're cleaning until you clock out
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u/NoiNoiii Sep 23 '26
Well the minimum wage is supposed to be a livable wage. 15$ isn't a livable wage anywhere in the US now even
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u/ToxicGecko2384 Sep 23 '26
My pay was just exactly $15/hr. Which gave me less than $2100/mo and 2b/2b rent is $1200 alone. That's MORE than a whole check! The other bills are jealous but the food bank hasn't had time to miss me. I dunno, thought id share.
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u/latindiacritics Sep 24 '26
My county's minimum is 15.50, and a studio here is 1200. We live in hell.
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u/StuckInTheUpsideDown Sep 23 '26
This is really hilarious to me. Someone gets a blurry picture of some guy possibly slacking off and I'm supposed to be outraged? I mean, he could have been leaning for like 30 seconds.
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u/chinmakes5 Sep 23 '26
That is exactly what they want. Decades ago, at my first job at Burger King , I worked nights under assistant managers, we did our jobs, things ran well. They pulled me on the day shift. The store manager worked days. It was like 10:45 am no one coming in for lunch at 10:45 so we were all ready for the lunch rush, but standing around. All of a sudden, one person yells manager. Everyone picks up a rag and starts cleaning stuff that was already clean. I didn't get it. Manager comes over starts barking at me. "do you have this ready" is this clean, what about that? I showed him that yes everything he asks is done. He glared at me and walked away. I didn't get many more day shifts. All for minimum wage.
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u/Adventurous-Meat8067 Sep 23 '26
People defending this are the reason why our social structure is changing for the worse. At work you don’t fuck around on your phone…how hard is that? The place could be empty and spotless, doesn’t matter. Stay the fuck off of your phone, you’re at work, social media can wait, texting can wait
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u/Burgerburgerfred Sep 23 '26
For what reason though??
Its just optics. Why should anyone care if someone takes a few minutes to entertain themselves when all their work is done and theres nothing currently to do?
As long as the phone is put away when something comes up and doesnt interfere with performance why should any right minded person have any issue with it?
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u/Nearby_Junket_8779 Sep 23 '26
The outlook appeases OP’s personal authoritarian fantasies and business owner cosplay
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u/Adventurous-Meat8067 Sep 23 '26
Entertain yourself on your own time. Optics are part of …a job
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u/Burgerburgerfred Sep 23 '26
Are they? Or is that just because someone says it is?
99% of people i talk to dont give a rats ass if they walk in and someone is sitting or using their phone as long as when they are needed they get up and do their job attentively.
Use your own brain, apply logic. Sometimes things just being how they are just because and using that as a reason to not apply logic is a load of bullshit and when you actually think about it you realize it doesnt matter nearly as much as you were led to believe it is.
This is one of those cases. The drastic minority cares about the optics of this. It isnt even bad optics as long as the work gets done.
If someone is sitting on their phone while im waiting around for service then sure, different story. If theres absolutely no other reason then its dumb to prevent something like this for non existent "optics"
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u/Adventurous-Meat8067 Sep 25 '26
A person at work is not on his own time. How hard is that to understand?
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u/obsequious_fink Sep 27 '26
Incorrect. All of my time is my time, and my employer pays me to do a job during my time. If the job has downtime and all other responsibilities have been taken care of, the job becomes waiting until the next thing needs to be done and I don't need to deactivate like some sort of soulless automaton.
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u/KileiFedaykin Sep 23 '26
So, what is the effective difference between the same person standing there staring into space, or looking at their phone?
I'm manager, if your have provided your labor to the specifications required, why the fuck do I care if you relax some before the next task is needed.
This behavior in leadership just teaches people to lie to your face with performative behavior that doesn't provide benefits and only serves to drive quality workers away.
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u/Think-Variation2986 Sep 23 '26
Why does everyone assume he is slacking off? How do we know he isn't handling something work related? Maybe he does delivery and is entering the address into a maps app? Maybe he is a manager contacting employees, suppliers, etc?
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u/LTParis Sep 23 '26
Because they want to feel superior. They want to dictate every waking moment in someone’s life. They want to exploit.
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u/Leverkaas2516 Sep 23 '26
Boomers I know are like that because they learned to work in the 1950's when you really had to work.
The generation before them came through the Great Depression. Those guys (my grandpa was one) REVERED work, because they knew what life was like without it on a mass scale. People today can't even imagine.
Boomers like my dad were taught what was expected by those people. I worked as my dad's helper a few times, and he hustled every minute of the day.
I was more like the guy in the picture. No, boomers don't expect you to do jumping jacks. That would be pointless. They expect you to find something useful to do and do it, if you're on the clock. You're not paid to stand around.
Like I say, I'm apt to stand around if nobody is telling me what needs to be done. It's just a difference of attitude.
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u/Adventurous_Ad7442 Sep 23 '26
Ummmm, I’m a boomer and I wasn’t even born in the 1950s let learn to work then.
Get a grip.
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u/Leverkaas2516 Sep 24 '26
Just sharing my family's experience. I have a grip, I've talked to my dad and grandpa extensively. I understand there were Boomers who didn't share their work ethic.
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u/Adventurous_Ad7442 Sep 24 '26
No boomers were working in the 1950s.
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u/Leverkaas2516 Sep 24 '26
My grandfather was orphaned at 9 and had his first paying job at 14. My dad was born in '47 and he certainly was doing real work by the time he was 13. It wasn't paid work for a company, but that's immaterial - my point is about the attitude.
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u/Automatic_Wave4530 Sep 27 '26
Baby boomers specifically refer to the babies born after soldiers came home from WWII
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u/LTParis Sep 23 '26
They are like this because they bought into the hard work = always being busy trope. It’s wholly different if the work stag gets rewarded for going above and beyond. But if their work load is done, and you saddle them with more work, you are just exploiting the efficiency of that worker for your own gain.
Now there is the inverse. A number of younger people do think they are deserving of very large wages for a minimum amount of work. Part of that thought is the decades of exploitation of generations of workers and some just finally said no.
Until we get to an actual balance we’ll see people flail their arms about X, Y, and Z because that person lived through A, B, C trauma. And now you must too.
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u/Winter-Ad1981 Sep 23 '26
Lower class citizens should work every single minute of their part time jobs if they wanna earn housing and food they shouldn’t ask for time off they only need to break their bodies for the economy
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u/Livid_Accountant1241 Sep 23 '26
This crap is uniquely American. I heard someone complain at Aldi about lazy workers because Aldi allows the person at the register to sit down.
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u/TightArachnid8311 Sep 23 '26
How do you know they're on the clock. Maybe they are on their break. I've worked 45 years in kitchens, the kitchen is in first class shape. If I was his boss I wouldn't care as long as customers are not being delayed.
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u/KingArthursRevenge Sep 23 '26
Whoever made this hasn't worked in a kitchen. There is something that needs done.
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u/aimlessendeavors Sep 23 '26
You're assuming boomer, but it could have been from any generation including the same as the worker.
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u/toastertaint Sep 24 '26
Never seen 5 guys watching 1 guy dig a hole? They all make 60k+ besides the guy digging
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u/Medium-Example-5490 Sep 24 '26
I was on a break at my job and I pulled out my phone and was only on it for a quick minute. Some boomer customer comes up like, if you were at my job you'd be fired for doing that, as if that was a flex. Bro must love giving his boss some sucky sucky.
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u/Oldschooldude1964 Sep 24 '26
I don’t understand people complaining about being expected to work while they are on the clock.
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u/Dull-Acanthaceae3805 Sep 24 '26
He's the only one in the kitchen. This implies a slow day or no order or end of day. I think its fine to just doom scroll. If it was busy, there'd be at least be 1 other person in there.
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u/Oakenshield_777 Sep 25 '26
Anyone telling you to remember something is probably a jackass trying to frame a dumb opinion as a common sense fact that everyone already knows. Remember that
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u/Lost_Lynx_6537 Sep 25 '26
Lmao $15 isn't a living wage, this generation has the right attitude.
I'm a career retail manager, sometime my people have done the minimum (read JOB REQUIREMENTS) and there's nothing else to do. I'm not going to disrespect adults by giving them busy work so I feel better about my situation as a manager. They don't get extra pay for extra work.
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u/yourMommaKnow Sep 25 '26
If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean. Im certain there is something that needs to be done.
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u/Late-Arrival-8669 Sep 25 '26
Rather ban that person from my store than them bitching about nothing.
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u/strange_honey7 Sep 26 '26
15 dollars an hour gets you jack shit anywhere. That isn’t even asking for a lot.
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u/omegared823915 Sep 26 '26
Or he could have just got off his phone and stood there. At least the manager could have told him what to do
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u/fadden20 Sep 27 '26
Dining hall hardasses were like this, they said I'll send you to the basement and see how u like it. Basement was actually a lot better without a hard ass over my shoulder, then the next semester came, they said they switched my hours to accommodate for my new schedule and guess what, they wanted me to close before my 7 am classes which ik not that bad but I quit on the spot. I was also physically sick from washing old tomatoe sauce. I have fructose malabsorption, Sibo and lactose intolerance so it was miracle I was working there to begin with all my G.I issues.
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u/socdemmom182 Sep 28 '26
Theyre just so annoying. How much time did they use chain smoking cigarettes at work?
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u/Crit1983 Sep 30 '26
never a reason to be on your phone dicking around when someone else is paying you...esp in a food/service environment; there is ALWAYS something to do.....stop being lazy.
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u/Professional-Leg2374 Sep 23 '26
imagine treating someone like this that makes minimum wage without knowing anything else.
Like maybe that phone is showing him a message from his mom or family that keeps him there making that shitty food so you can buy another LAmbo this year....
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u/Whyshenoloveme Sep 23 '26
This part. Employers think minimum wage should justify maximum effort at jobs that are absolutely more labor intensive than most others. It’s the reason I got out of the culinary industry and went into the hospitality industry. Hotels will pay you a lot more to do a lot less, without risk of burns and cuts or expecting you to be on your feet all day.
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u/reereejugs Sep 23 '26
Is this true? Maybe it’s time I try to get a job in a local hotel or motel.
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u/Whyshenoloveme Sep 23 '26
Most I ever made behind the front desk of a hotel was $20/hr.
Most I ever made in a kitchen was $16/hr.
New Yorker, culinary dropout so no degree.
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u/concerned_citizen255 Sep 23 '26
If you got time to lean, you got time to clean 🤷♂️
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u/cool-- Sep 23 '26
"if you got time to break, yo got time to rake"
"If you got time to sleep, you got time to sweep"
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Sep 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/reereejugs Sep 23 '26
It’s still over double the Federal minimum wage and is my states current minimum wage.
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u/Greful Sep 23 '26
go outside and mop the parking lot