I feel so bad for my employees because they get absolutely exploited and it's really sad. But they'll treat us like kings and queens – we regularly get dinner bought for us, we get good bonuses, tons of Christmas stuff, lots of company swag, etc. The wage earners? Basically nothing and they work 3x as hard as us. They did get a year end bonus after a record breaking year… of $50 tax-deductible. And some of the shittiest dollar store “gifts” I have ever seen in my life.
The one big Christmas dinner they got? the smallest possible meal at a local fried chicken joint, while we got steaks and lobster.
Since I got hired I've done my best to try and treat these employees like actual humans so they can relax a little bit. I'll bring in coffee and Timbits for 'em, if they're late a few minutes I'll code their payroll to being on-time, I don't yell at them like everyone else seems to. It seems to have gone a long way. But I've also tried to have frank conversations with the big boss of our facility and get basically nowhere when trying to convince him that things should change. It's frustrating. I feel like it's impossible to use my position to affect real change and the best I can do is these superficial gestures.