At wages that range from $9 to $21 an hour on average, it’s no surprise that nobody wants to work in Burger King, but it also means being left alone to run a store shift is even more likely.
Fast food employment is a thankless and grueling job. It’s relentless slaving over greasy food under tight time constraints. The hours are often long, and the pay, especially in the US, is brutally low. This comes with no tips and no bonuses.
More and more often, people are having enough of having to work these kinds of jobs. They’re watching the profits of their employers climb every year, while their wages are stagnant, and life gets more expensive. People are quitting these kinds of menial Burger King jobs by the thousands, and who can blame them?
However, for people like 25-year-old Nykia Hamilton, quitting is not an option. Recently, a video has gone viral of her, left alone, without a manager, running a closing shift in Burger King after her other team member quit.
Indentured Servitude
Hamilton can be seen doing every stage in the Burger King, she was left to run on her own. From taking the orders, to prepping the meals, and even running the drive-through. The shift was a gruelling 12-hour-long one, and she had to do the same the next day.
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According to an interview with Fox57, she had help for the next day from one person, but was alone for the day after. “I closed again by myself last night. I finally got help today. Eleven o’clock and will stay until close at 11. We just don’t have any employees. Nobody wants to work anymore.”
She won’t quit the job because she has a record, and that makes getting employment in the US difficult. She also has two kids to feed, but she rarely gets to see them. “I be missing out on my kids’ lives when I work so much,” she said, tearing up. “I have to provide for them, but I really don’t have time to spend with them, and it hurts me a lot.”
It’s against the company policy for someone to work alone in a Burger King. They say they’ll look into how she has been left holding it down by herself so many times. I doubt anything will come of it, though.