Would you pick fruit for $17.50 plus benefits?

[mrhotdice]

i read all the time that Americans won't do this kind of work anymore and that illegal immigrants are the only ones that will do the job.

Do you buy this theory? That's 17.50 and hour in wages that packers are getting now in California.

 

[Free_Salato_Blue]

Morgan Spurlock answered this question.

 

[mrhotdice]

Morgan Spurlock answered this question.

Not really, this was his first day and of course it was a experience he was not ready for but let him pick a month things change. It like picking fruit or any type of job that requires physical labor. And he was working on a piece rate like in many factories that make parts and are then assembled by other workers.

I wonder what Morgan did before he took up fruit picking.

 

[krazykats]

Thing is you don't get $17.50. Maybe in some places you do but farmers know they don't have to pay that.

And by benefits do you mean paid under the table? That's the only benefit you may be offered realistically.

 

[Tampa UK]

We could fix a lot in this country if poor Americans had to do this labor instead of sitting at home all day. Plus it would make a lot of people try a lot harder in school.

 

[krazykats]

don't know about picking fruit but I'd pull my pork for that.

Perv

 

[BlueRaider22]

Thing is you don't get $17.50. Maybe in some places you do but farmers know they don't have to pay that.

And by benefits do you mean paid under the table? That's the only benefit you may be offered realistically.

Yep. Lots of tobacco grown back home. Lots of farms use what are called "Travelin Mexicans." Groups of Mexicans that show up in large box trucks. They'll work for a little less than minimum wage.....under the table....certainly no benefits. 10-12 hr days, 7 days a wk, non-stop with little breaks, and no complaining. The idea is that they'll blow through several tobacco farms in the area then travel to other area for other jobs......like progressing North for Fall Apple harvest.

Never heard of any low level farm worker getting benefits either.

 

[LordEgg_rivals16573]

what kinda fruit and how much? ten thousand watermelons is a no. fifty apples is a yes.

 

[DSmith21]

Pick bananas for $17.50 plus you can get a bonus four hour erection.

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/woman-finds-spiders-cause-erections-grocery-store-bananas/965019/

 

[funKYcat75]

Win-win. ^^

 

[BlueRaider22]

"I see big ugly black tarantula......daylight come and me wanna go home....."

 

[Big_Blue79]

It's not even really a choice for those making more right now. It's tantamount to asking "would you take a pay cut for a worse job?"

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Hi, My name is Darryl, and my anti-drug is picking strawberries.

 

[rmattox]

My alcoholic cousin that hasn't had a job more than a couple of years at a time due to his many "illnesses" told me he wouldn't work for less than $20 per hour. I'd do it...not to make a living as my regular job pays more, but as a part time job for some extra Christmas money. The people not working wouldn't do it if they were paid $50 an hour. You can't pay lazy enough not to be lazy.

 

[crazyqx83_rivals88013]

My alcoholic cousin that hasn't had a job more than a couple of years at a time due to his many "illnesses" told me he wouldn't work for less than $20 per hour. I'd do it...not to make a living as my regular job pays more, but as a part time job for some extra Christmas money. The people not working wouldn't do it if they were paid $50 an hour. You can't pay lazy enough not to be lazy.

Let me guess... he's on disability?

Jeez, this country has gone to ****.

 

[dgtatu01]

Had an aunt in law on disability working a BBQ stand in Glasgow taking only cash and scraping $700-$800 a week in profit. That ticked me off. Now she keeps special adults that cannot care for themselves in her home for about $30,000/year per adult she keeps. Also the govt pays your SSI on top of this to entice people to do it as they are paying for these special adults to be cared for anyway. So now her husband and her make $60,000/year plus both get $1600/month in SSI for having 2 grown mentally challenged people who can basically take care of themselves around the house living with them.

 

[TheySoSensitive]

Had an aunt in law on disability working a BBQ stand in Glasgow taking only cash and scraping $700-$800 a week in profit. That ticked me off. Now she keeps special adults that cannot care for themselves in her home for about $30,000/year per adult she keeps. Also the govt pays your SSI on top of this to entice people to do it as they are paying for these special adults to be cared for anyway. So now her husband and her make $60,000/year plus both get $1600/month in SSI for having 2 grown mentally challenged people who can basically take care of themselves around the house living with them.

Sounds like they'd be doing fine on their own if they spent as much time and effort on actually getting and succeeding in a regular job as they do in trying to find loopholes/ways to game the system.

Let me guess ---> She's obese?

 

[Free_Salato_Blue]

Had an aunt in law on disability working a BBQ stand in Glasgow taking only cash and scraping $700-$800 a week in profit. That ticked me off. Now she keeps special adults that cannot care for themselves in her home for about $30,000/year per adult she keeps. Also the govt pays your SSI on top of this to entice people to do it as they are paying for these special adults to be cared for anyway. So now her husband and her make $60,000/year plus both get $1600/month in SSI for having 2 grown mentally challenged people who can basically take care of themselves around the house living with them.

This thread is about picking fruits not caring for them.

 

[FtWorthCat]

In my day kids used to pick tomatoes at a place in Possum Trot. I don't remember what they made, but it was good money for a kid. I was more of a landscaper myself. The undocumenteds are taking all the jobs kids used to do.

 

[rmattox]

You're right, kids used to do these jobs. I grew up in a rural community. As a teenager, we knew the farming seasons that would require lots of labor: putting out the tobacco crops, hay season, harvesting the tobacco crops. Farmers would stagger their jobs because they knew they needed us teenage boys to do the work. Yes, undocumenteds do those jobs today but it's because teens won't work like we did. My dad still farms. When he has citizen kids/teens/ 20 somethings come out to work, they often work one day; demand their pay at the end of they day then usually don't show up the next day. I was there one day when he brought in a new twenty-something. You could tell by looking he was a "user". He farted around for several minutes while his Mexican colleagues worked. He had to keep tabs on his cell phone (probably a free govt phone). I don't know if he finished the day.
Farmers would gladly use teens that were willing to work (like we did). Unfortunately, our kids today are not up the to the task when it comes to demanding physical labor.

 

[Tskware]

I can tell you that I have several clients in the construction business who pay $18-20 per hour and cannot find help to save their life, so the answer is "No, a lot of Americans will not pick fruit no matter what you pay them", which is a sorry *** commentary on our country.

 

[BBUK_anon]

I do a lot of odd job stuff for the exercise. I work for less doing that as I want to do it versus eating chips. The value to me is in the exercise and actually getting some dough for dumb stuff like; being out and seeing a young person watching me and my wife eating an ice cream and buying him one or sponsoring a little leaguer by purchasing some uniforms or paying for the teams post-game outings. Things like that. I enjoy that more than the job and I love my job.

 

[wbryant316]

Soy mexicano en busca de trabajo en el campo .

 

[domino79]

Growing up, we worked tobacco alongside the Mexican migrants. Housing time was drinking time unless you were a migrant. Apparently old man Asbury had a couple drunk migrants wreck his tractor into a telephone pole from too many Milwaukee Bests one night after working. There are plus and minuses with every demographic.

 

[rmattox]

When I was a kid, my granddad told me "Your time is worth nothing". When asked (respectfully) to explain, he said that if someone offers you a dollar to do a job..if you are not doing anything at that time that will earn you more than a dollar, you should take their offer and do the job. Earning a dollar you don't have is better than sitting around doing nothing.

 

[Bigtyrone]

Growing up, we worked tobacco alongside the Mexican migrants. Housing time was drinking time unless you were a migrant. Apparently old man Asbury had a couple drunk migrants wreck his tractor into a telephone pole from too many Milwaukee Bests one night after working. There are plus and minuses with every demographic.

Is that you, Dan Issel?

 

[domino79]

Is that you, Dan Issel?

Son, I cut up to fifty sticks an hour!

I know, I know.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

I would hire Mexicans to pick fruit for 5 dollars an hour and pocket 12.50.

 

[warrior-cat]

"I see big ugly black tarantula......daylight come and me wanna go home....."

Woke up with 2 on my air mattress while in basic training at Ft. Sill Oklahoma. We were at the all night firing range in October 1976. Gave me a better wake up jolt than Army coffee.

 

[warrior-cat]

Oh, and by the way, yes on the $17.50 an hour if I could not find a better job.

 

[cat_chaser]

Had an aunt in law on disability working a BBQ stand in Glasgow taking only cash and scraping $700-$800 a week in profit. That ticked me off. Now she keeps special adults that cannot care for themselves in her home for about $30,000/year per adult she keeps. Also the govt pays your SSI on top of this to entice people to do it as they are paying for these special adults to be cared for anyway. So now her husband and her make $60,000/year plus both get $1600/month in SSI for having 2 grown mentally challenged people who can basically take care of themselves around the house living with them.

That money for adult foster care is also tax free. However, the SSI is for the people she is caring for and she has to keep records of it for the courts.

And if you've ever worked with that population, you'd realize it's not exactly a vacation. Even those with the mildest DD have their own set of issues. As a case manager for 8 years in that population, you would have to double that for me to even consider it.

In other words, I would rather work like a Mexican than do what your aunt is doing.

 

[warrior-cat]

That money for adult foster care is also tax free. However, the SSI is for the people she is caring for and she has to keep records of it for the courts.

And if you've ever worked with that population, you'd realize it's not exactly a vacation. Even those with the mildest DD have their own set of issues. As a case manager for 8 years in that population, you would have to double that for me to even consider it.

Unless I am mistaken, I think foster care money in general is tax free.