I was in the mood for a breakfast burrito this morning. I drove up to the drive-thru speaker at Carl’s Jr. I was the only person in line. I waited a long time, tried saying “Hello” a few times. I couldn’t see inside the restaurant and I thought maybe they had gone out of business.
Finally, a Hispanic woman came on the speaker, said “Sorry about the wait” and took my order. When I got to the window, she apologized again and said “I’m the only one here this morning. There’s three in the back” — meaning the kitchen — “but just one in the front.”
“You need some help,” I said.
“No, they cut my hours and my days.”
The geniuses running the state of California recently raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20/hr, thinking, I guess, that everyone would get a nice pay increase. and not thinking about the most obvious unintended consequence, which is that restaurants would cut staff and hours.
“Sorry to hear that,” I said.
I thought about adding, “At least you haven’t been deported yet,” but didn’t.