NationStates Jolt Archive

That's what John McCain is offering (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mccain_booed;_ylt=AlyKSXpsPd8j8B21EdKUAwas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--).

But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer.

"I'll take it!" one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."
Now lettuce pickers make considerably less than that per hour--don't know how much less, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were by a factor of more than ten. Fifty bucks an hour, for a forty hour week, is two grand a week before taxes, and is $104,000 a year before taxes, or slightly less than three times what I make per year as a college instructor. I may be 37, balding and overweight, but you bet your ass I'd pick lettuce for fifty bucks an hour. Would you?

Take the poll.

I wish i could have made half of that when I was trimming lettuce.

Yes i would lol

my long, detailed, well thought out answer:

fuck yeah!

I've done similar stuff for nada... Hell yes I would take the cash :D

without a doubt Id do it

YES!

What fool WOULDN'T?! :eek:

McCain's douchebaggery blew up in his face.
Who the fuck wouldn't do hard manual labor for $50 an hour? Only rich snobs like career politicians.

I could only aspire to pick lettuce!

50 bucks is more than what I make by sitting in front of a computer all day.

I would enjoy picking lettuces for 50 bucks.

Hell yes.

Surprisingly, McCain made a point disproving a common "pro-illegal" stance:
that illegal immigrants do the jobs "Americans won't do"


There is no job Americans "won't do", only jobs they wouldn't do for a certain price.

Hell... for 50 bucks an hour I'd toss a whole salad.

Surprisingly, McCain made a point disproving a common "pro-illegal" stance:
that illegal immigrants do the jobs "Americans won't do"


There is no job Americans "won't do", only jobs they wouldn't do for a certain price.
Exactly. I'll jerk off turkeys all day if the money's right. I've got no shame.

I work at KFC, arms covered in blood, flour, and chicken bits; the flour clouds make me sneeze all the time and I have been splashed with grease more times that I can count and I make next to nothing for my hard work.

So picking lettuce for $50 an hour? Hell yeah!

I work at KFC, arms covered in blood, flour, and chicken bits; the flour clouds make me sneeze all the time and I have been splashed with grease more times that I can count and I make next to nothing for my hard work.

So picking lettuce for $50 an hour? Hell yeah!
I feel you. I worked at a similar place in high school making $3.35 an hour to start, and at the time drove a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville with a 454. If I had a slow week, it took my paycheck to fill that fucker.

:p Hell... for 50 bucks an hour I'd toss a whole salad.

Now the real question is, can we hold a job picking lettuce, or would the probably more physically fit Mexicans take our jobs away?

Exactly. I'll jerk off turkeys all day if the money's right. I've got no shame.
Be honest - you'd prob offer them $50 a hour to let you do THAT job.

I could only aspire to pick lettuce!
So, what do you do then?:confused:

You guys do know that the Yahoo article says an "hour"' where it is supposed to say, a "day," right? Ten hours a day, five dollars an hour, $50 a day picking lettuce by hand.

You guys do know that the Yahoo article says an "hour"' where it is supposed to say, a "day," right? Ten hours a day, five dollars an hour, $50 a day picking lettuce by hand.
The article has McCain in quotes, and the AP is not known for fabricating uotes. Now maybe McCain meant day, but I can only go on what they have him quoted as saying, and let's be reasonable here--would union people have said "I'll take the job" if McCain hadn't said fifty an hour?

I would.

However, only if my dad's work wasn't available for me(which it isn't atm). He makes about 60 bucks an hour doing 2d graphics for big companies like GAP. Makes about 120k a year, and I'd love to get into it. Too bad his work is really slow currently.

$50 an hour for picking lettuce??

I don't personally know anyone who would turn that kind of work down!

Lets see, I'd rather be picking lettuce than dealing with idiotic whiny-ass customers, and I'd rather be making $50 US an hour than $7-something CDN, so yes

I'm a bit out of shape so it would be hell starting out but getting into shape the hard way would certainly be worth it for $50 an hour. Tough it out and make great money.

I wouldn't have to live in Arizona though would I?

Who says that senators are out of touch with the ordinary person?

I doubt a job like that exists. But $50 for picking lettuce vs. $9 Canadian for listening to Americans bitch about FedEx over the phone. Hmm...

Well, there are a lot of things that I could be doing now for more money than I make, but I love what I do and that's why I do it-so not so much, but then I have that quote on the top of my sig as well, I'm a bit of an out on the scale...but when I was working my way to the point I am now-and could do it part time that'd still be more than enough to walk through college without an issue (except being dead freaking tired, but that wouldn't have been changed from how I was, so it's a push...)

I think ppl are missing McCain's point here.
He offered $50 /hr to pick lettuce, then said this:
McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."
I think he was more implying that there's certain jobs out there that no-one would be willing to do, no matter what the wage being offered. Sure, it'd be great earning $50 /hr picking lettuce, but to be bent over in the hot sun 12 hours a day, doing that for a whole season (assume 3 months)?
Not many could handle that.

I used to work on farms during uni hols, haymaking. It invloved picking up a 30 kg bale of hay, throwing it onto a truck (or stacking it on the truck if it was my turn to be on the back), taking it to the barn and stacking them in the barn. Really boring, repetitive, hard work out in the sun.
There was 3 of us: we'd take turns with 1 driving, 1 throwing, 1 stacking.
No breaks - the break was when it was your turn to drive for the 20-30 minutes it took to load the truck.
The normal work day was 10 hours, 10am - 8pm, but quite often we'd work through to 9 or 10pm. Once we started at 9am and finished at 1.30am the following day (though we did earn $250 that day which made it worthwhile) - and had to be back on the paddock at 10am.
We got paid piecemeal - that is, a whole 12c each per bail. This was why we never took breaks - you didn't get paid for breaks, only work.
We aimed to do 8 - 10 loads a day (a load took 130 bails), so that was $100 - $150 p/day. Which isn't great, but is better than the $6/hr they'd pay you down at McDs.
I took a long term view of it - a week could equal $800 - 1000 in the hand, which, at 18yrs old was a hell of a lot. At that time, $1k after tax, was almost double the average wage, and was 5 - 6 times the dole. A month would pay my uni fees.

Where I worked there was high unemployment. This was all cash, so one could stay on the dole and work. So surely any extra cash would be appreciated. But nope. The work was just too hard for most. One year, we had a dozen guys turn up. The longest serving lasted 4 days. None of them cared for doing work that hard, regardless of the fact it was 5x what they were currently doing.

Demented Hamsters: Yeah, I agree. I might take the job for a short term goal. ie - save up for a small trip, pay off a small loan, etc. But at some point, my physical well being, mental sanity would win over $50.

[QUOTE=Frostguarde]I work at KFC, arms covered in blood, flour, and chicken bits; the flour clouds make me sneeze all the time and I have been splashed with grease more times that I can count and I make next to nothing for my hard work.

So picking lettuce for $50 an hour? Hell yeah![/QUOTE/]

why did you have blood on your arms and you are sneezing, KFC doesnt sound to clean to me

- snip -

I have no doubt that you are right that many people who would jump at this offer are deluding themselves that they are physically/mentally able to complete an entire season of lettuce picking. Especially judging by the number of fat lazy bastards I see in the street every day.

However, by the same token I am sure that if indeed $50 US an hour was offered for lettuce picking, there would be a surplus of able volunteers for the job. After all, some americans do actually do shitty jobs: like coal mining or sewer work, which are physically arduous, disgusting and dangerous; and often for significantly less than $50 an hour.

I doubt a job like that exists. But $50 for picking lettuce vs. $9 Canadian for listening to Americans bitch about FedEx over the phone. Hmm...

why Americans got to be bitching, maybe fedex sucks and we cant understand canadians, but yall do got good grass, but ours would be better if it werent for the weed nazi police force

I think that this is a case of a politician who’s out of touch with what human beings in the real world make. Hanging out with CEO’s, lawyers, and chartered accountants can skew your perceptions of the labour pool. Brings to mind the Tommy Douglas speech about why a bunch of mice keep electing governments made up of cats.

Hell for 50$ an hour, I’ll get a green card and move down to the US from Canada to pick lettuce! Hell for 50$ an hour I’d be tempted to enlist in the US army and do some time in Iraq!

I'm a bit suspicious about this "lettuce" though. Sounds like McCain is hanging out with some pot growers.

Demented Hamsters: Yeah, I agree. I might take the job for a short term goal. ie - save up for a small trip, pay off a small loan, etc. But at some point, my physical well being, mental sanity would win over $50.
See, that's why I went with a tentative yes. Sure it sounds good, but I've heard enough from my relatives who farm, although they raise cattle, to be suspicous as to my actual physical capability to do the work.

[QUOTE=Frostguarde]I work at KFC, arms covered in blood, flour, and chicken bits; the flour clouds make me sneeze all the time and I have been splashed with grease more times that I can count and I make next to nothing for my hard work.

So picking lettuce for $50 an hour? Hell yeah![/QUOTE/]

why did you have blood on your arms and you are sneezing, KFC doesnt sound to clean to me

It was chicken's blood; I have to hand clean the chicken to get rid of excess fat, any leftover feathers, and check from broken bones. I don't deal with customers and I wash my hands frequently (more for myself than others to be honest) and sneeze onto my shoulder, so I don't get germs on my gloves. Our store is cleaner than most, actually. Plus, the grease is hot enough to kill any germs while the food cooks.

In the future though, I'll try not to sneeze when pepper and flour are flying up my nose. =P

I have no doubt that you are right that many people who would jump at this offer are deluding themselves that they are physically/mentally able to complete an entire season of lettuce picking. Especially judging by the number of fat lazy bastards I see in the street every day.

However, by the same token I am sure that if indeed $50 US an hour was offered for lettuce picking, there would be a surplus of able volunteers for the job. After all, some americans do actually do shitty jobs: like coal mining or sewer work, which are physically arduous, disgusting and dangerous; and often for significantly less than $50 an hour.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I know there'd be thousandss of americans willing and able to do lettuce picking for $50 /hr.
However getting paid $50 /hr to pick lettuce ain't going to happen, unless they start charging $10 a lettuce down at the grocers.

With me, I was fortunate enough to be at uni, so the haymaking was only 2 - 3 months and it was great to get out and do hard physical labour after 9 months of sitting on my arse. But there's no way I'd want to/be able to do that week in, week out year round. Coming in filthy and exhausted, waking up sore and tired - sometimes my fingers would be so sore, I couldn't straighten them without pushing against a wall.
It certainly made me want to finish my education, I can tell you. I also worked in a forest a few years later, and while I was only doing Q/A stuff (checking to see the pruners had done their jobs), it was tough enough. The pruners on the other hand - they'd get 80cents a tree. They'd start at 5am, and finish at 6pm Monday - Saturday. Beginners would be lucky to prune 50 trees a day in their first month. So they were making $240 for an 80 hour week. The top guys would do 120 - 150 trees a day, so even they were only getting $700 for 80 hours work. There were all huge strong guys too. It was one of the toughest jobs I ever saw, and it REALLY made me happy I'd stayed at school.

Assuming that it would be a summer job, 12 hours a day, six days a week, that would be a sum total of $43,200. Absolutely I would do it, and I would get my ass into shape starting right now. Hell, I would do that every summer, I could live off of that for the rest of the year, long as I could get into shape for it.

However getting paid $50 /hr to pick lettuce ain't going to happen, unless they start charging $10 a lettuce down at the grocers.
Well I guess he should have used a more realistic example.

Yes..
I get paid $20/hour for trimming caskets.. I easily get the most out of all my mates.

But shit, $50 an hour? I would do that in a second.

why Americans got to be bitching, maybe fedex sucks and we cant understand canadians, but yall do got good grass, but ours would be better if it werent for the weed nazi police force

I really don't know what you're trying to get at there. But, uhh, if you took that as an anti-America post - it wasn't. I have no FedEx pride either, so bitch ahead and use DHL or something.

Exactly. I'll jerk off turkeys all day if the money's right. I've got no shame.

Hey, turkey jackers(Or the opposite there of for females) up here get paid pretty damn well. 15-20 bucks an hou average just to jack some turkeys, or inseminate the hens. So, if you're ever in the Frazee-Detroit Lakes-Vergas area, there's a job turkey screwing for you. Not 50 bucks an hour, but still good money.

Hey, turkey jackers(Or the opposite there of for females) up here get paid pretty damn well. 15-20 bucks an hou average just to jack some turkeys, or inseminate the hens. So, if you're ever in the Frazee-Detroit Lakes-Vergas area, there's a job turkey screwing for you. Not 50 bucks an hour, but still good money.

Turkey Jackers collect the semen, Turkey Basters inseminate the hens.

I think that this is a case of a politician who’s out of touch with what human beings in the real world make. Hanging out with CEO’s, lawyers, and chartered accountants can skew your perceptions of the labour pool. Brings to mind the Tommy Douglas speech about why a bunch of mice keep electing governments made up of cats.

Hell for 50$ an hour, I’ll get a green card and move down to the US from Canada to pick lettuce! Hell for 50$ an hour I’d be tempted to enlist in the US army and do some time in Iraq!

I'm a bit suspicious about this "lettuce" though. Sounds like McCain is hanging out with some pot growers.

Yeah. Now, a more reasonable number around 10-ish would be suitable. However, even then you'd have a good deal of Americans willing to do it. You may need to "supplement" your workforce, but that's why I'm liking Bush's immigrant plan(Which is about the only thing I agree with).

Turkey Jackers collect the semen, Turkey Basters inseminate the hens.

Yep.

They're all turkey screwers in my book.

I work temp at various warehouses but most of the time I am working in the printing deparment of the local newspaper. We used to print the copies of a magazine called Thunder Press. some of you who have "hogs" will know the magazine to which I am refering to. during a 12 hour shift getting paid $6.75 an hour for the first 8 hours then time and a half after that I stacked 150,000 copies of the magazine. taking out at least two hours from that because the other workes had to change the plates between sections I actually stacked the 150,000 in 10 hours making it what 15,000 papers an hour? What I am getting at is I think for 5 times the rate of my overtime pay I think I could pick lettuc. it can't be any more difficult then unloading 3,000 pounds of food in 45 mins off the back of a pickup truck. or unloading 4,000 pounds of semi frozen chicken. I think I could make a case for lettuce picking to be an easy job.

I may be 37, balding and overweight, but you bet your ass I'd pick lettuce for fifty bucks an hour. Would you?


You might want to pick lettuce, but your body couldn't handle the intensive labor involved. Wouldn't matter if it was $100 an hour or $200, you'd never last the day much less the week. Leave that work for the migrants who are used to hard labor. Even though it may only pay $10 or $15 an hour it's still a whole hell of a lot more than they'd make in their own country doing similar labor. Hell they make more money picking lettuce here than they would make as a doctor or professor in some of their own countries.