Treating workers nicely will often work in the short term for keeping them there, but in the long term, most people will leave as soon as they can find jobs with much better pay and benefits, because most people are not content with always being poor, struggling to meet their expenses and bills, and having no economic security. Nor should they be content with that.

@TomMcGiverin Oh. I completely agree with that. But as a manager I was not responsible for their paycheck.
The crew manager before me would yell and scream at people and often had people walk out in the middle of a shift.

@BufftonBeotch True, the owner is responsible for worker's getting paid and, ultimately, how much.. Your employer's business, for that manager job, sounds like it was more like a prison than a normal business, probably similar to how I hear Wal-Mart stores are run these days. The managers there act more like cops or prison officers. You had more success because you acted more like the good cop than the bad cop, but either way, it sounds like a shitty, exploitive situation, where the workers were more like prisoners doing time than normal workers, so no wonder they would leave as soon as they had another job to escape to.

@TomMcGiverin The major employer in town was a chicken plant...so.
You can imagine.
The alternative was far worse. I could barely stand to even drive by the place because of the smell.

@BufftonBeotch Yup, that explains a lot. I grew up in a town where the major employer was a meatpacking plant. And nowadays, it still is. So most people who lived there and didn't move there from somewhere else for one of the few good jobs there, would put up with just about any other job to stay out of the packing plant. That sort of town is a hellhole to live in and is a lot like most prison towns in America, where there is no other industry. It kind of beats down everyone who lives there emotionally.

@TomMcGiverin I have never considered any little town I have lived in a hell hole.
Some people are easier to get along with than others. But I think jackasses are liberally distributed in the rural and the urban areas both.

@BufftonBeotch We differ on that first point, but on the second one, I agree, I have met both good people and jerks, wherever I have lived, whether rural towns, college towns or the Des Moines area. I guess what makes a town a hellhole to me, is when there is little diversity, few college-educated people, lots of narrow-mindedness, and a very boring lack of arts, entertainment (besides country music), lots of churches, and very conservative politics being the norm. I would almost rather do prison time than live in such a stifling, empty environment.

To people like me, both environments would be equally damaging to my mental health. And that is also why, in my experience, most people like me, as well as probably most of us here on Agnostic, cope with living in places like that with lots of self-medication, thru either street drugs or alcohol, as well as making road trips as often as possible to places that are more stimulating and comfortable.

@TomMcGiverin I have also found kindred spirits and people who loved art everywhere.

People will astound you if you give them the chance.

@BufftonBeotch Suit yourself. I have not found the effort to be worth it, so I will stick to my tribe culturally and socially, yet continue to advocate politically for multiculturalism and equality.

I've debated you enough. I am a cultural and music snob and proud of it. If you choose to be different than that, fine for you, but you will not change my mind or browbeat me into apologizing for my choices and preferences.

Should not be controversial....it's only basic math, nothing more, nothing less.

@twill I agree, but logic has never been an American strong suit.

@Lauren I don't know how much people will take before there's a general strike... apparently quite a lot

@JonnaBononna I've been wanting to see general strikes for decades. Until the Dem Party is supporting general strikes, I will never believe they are really on the side of workers anymore, no matter how much lip service they still give to unions.

@TomMcGiverin agreed. They aren't on the side of workers any more than Republicans. And MAN, do people hate when I say that! Lol

@JonnaBononna Same here. They flip out because it turns their whole belief system on its head. They so desperately need to believe that Dems are the good guys and on their side in the class war, instead of a fake opposition party that colludes all the time with the Repubs because, for the most part, they are funded by the same people. It takes moral courage and a tough mind to allow oneself to realize that the two party system is rigged and that no help from it is ever coming to save the working class or average Americans from being crushed or pauperized. Most people can't handle living with such limited hope and such harsh reality for the future. It takes courage to recognize that we are likely doomed and that there is no savior coming. So instead they just get angry at us for challenging their delusions and treat us as the crazy ones. The still believe that all that needs to happen to save America and make things great again is to elect Dems, any Dems, and things will be alright. Not going to happen as long as almost all the Dems are corporate Dems. With them all we get is happy talk and identity politics.

And if you tell them to vote third party instead of for Dems, they parrot the same tired old lines about wasting your vote and that third parties can't win, etc. Well of course they can't if most people believe that and vote accordingly, but as long as we have elections, for the time being, a majority voting for third party candidates WOULD win, all it would take is for people to quit believing the propaganda from the corporate media and the major parties. People would need to ignore the propaganda and vote their conscience, then it would happen, that's all it would take.

how much profit is where I have an issue ..... the asshole papa john said he could not afford a nickel raise because of stockholders......I realize that a nickel for 5000 employees is a bunch ...I remember when ppl invested and were happy for a modest increase they did not expect to make double their money ....now they want to be rich in a year.... and while he denied his workers he gives tours of his mansion on a hill overlooking the ocean with a cottage for the yard man and tennis court and pools and helipad...I didn't see a helipad I added that .....

What I said above. What really kills me, also, is how many small business owners, who are wannabe rich types, who dream of becoming a big business, drink the Repub Kool-Aid and actually identify with all the Repub donors who are fat cats and corporations, as if the Repub Party actually cares about small businesses. They don't, and in fact, classwise, the small business owner has more in common with blue collar and middle class workers, in the class war, than they do with the top1% that the Repubs serve. But you can never get them to drop their delusions of grandeur and their worship of their betters. Suckers....