OT: Michigan State asking Faculty to Volunteer for Food Service Jobs
We've all seen the image of Sparty delivering pizza. The real news is not that far off.
A recent email sent to Deans, Directors, and Department Chairs has asked for faculty to volunteer at the dining halls on evenings and weekends. They are having problems staffing with current students, as are many campuses across the country.
As a current faculty member of another school, I find this ask ridiculous and laughable, but I'm only laughing because it hasn't hit closer to home.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:04 PM ^
Volunteer? Or they could pay you what they'd pay a student.
Ya know, after you get that criminal background check!
October 21st, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
The volunteer thing is really the cherry on top. We won't pay other people enough to do these jobs for money, so why don't you already employed people do them for free? The nerve is really incredible.
October 21st, 2021 at 7:51 PM ^
My old company was having trouble staffing the production lines, so they asked for salaried workers to volunteer on the line in addition to their normal work. I asked if they were paying us extra and they said they were "looking into it". I said no thanks.
October 21st, 2021 at 9:32 PM ^
Is that legal? Even if it’s just voluntary it sounds bad. We all know what managers mean when they ask “do you want to do this?”. It means “I want you to do this”
October 21st, 2021 at 11:26 PM ^
Where I work they're paying salaried people $25/hr to work in the plant, 16 hours a week max.
October 22nd, 2021 at 3:37 AM ^
Same…just not quite $25 an hour. Labor shortages vs demand. Have to make up the difference somehow.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:05 PM ^
There is like 35K students. Why not ask/make them do it?
October 21st, 2021 at 6:08 PM ^
Seriously. My daughter's high school is offering their students pretty good money right now for part-time janitorial work after school.
I'm thinking about pulling a Buscemi to see if I can get the job myself.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:05 PM ^
Kenneth Walker III wouldn't start for our hockey team
October 21st, 2021 at 5:10 PM ^
Neither would Justin Abdelkader
October 21st, 2021 at 5:06 PM ^
But MSU football Twitter says they have the money to pay Mel Tucker TWICE what LSU could offer!
Maybe if they cut out all academics?
October 21st, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
Then where would the US be without all the Political Science majors and lawn mowing technicians?
October 21st, 2021 at 8:29 PM ^
That has been one of the weirder flexes by MSU fans this year that Dan Gilbert and Mat Ishiba are just going to plunk down whatever is necessary to keep Mel Tucker. Like, LSU or some other major program can likely match whatever salary MSU could cobble together (Oregeron made over $9M this year in total compensation) and I doubt some mortgage guys are going to dig that deep into a pocketbook to retain him.
October 22nd, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^
It would be funny to give him a big pay increase and then find out that he falls flat on his face during the hard part of their schedule.
October 21st, 2021 at 8:59 PM ^
The sad thing is that most of their fans would be good with it.
October 21st, 2021 at 11:56 PM ^
What academics? I thought they got rid of the couch-burning and delivery specialist departments, or did they just rename them to something more apropos for the 21st century? /s
Take it easy MSU grads---I kid. We know that you are not that bad, at least compared to LSU.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:08 PM ^
maybe they should increase the pay for dining hall workers
October 21st, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
sounds like a path to socialism. best not to try it
October 21st, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
National Socialism
October 21st, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
Don't worry, we're already so far down that road there's nothing that's going to stop it. I'm sure by the time my kids are in college President Occasio-Cortez will have set it in stone.
Kinda hard to believe it was less than 60 years ago we applauded JFK for saying "ask not what your country can do for you".
October 21st, 2021 at 8:40 PM ^
Accelerating towards a full blown clown world.
October 22nd, 2021 at 3:21 AM ^
That JFK quote actually sounds very socialist to me.
October 22nd, 2021 at 1:59 PM ^
I’m not trying to get banned, but I’ll point out that JFK’s speech was at a time when income inequality in this country wasn’t nearly what it is today. Unions were strong and people could make a living working one factory job, as an example. Very few people were paying back student loans. That is very much not the case today.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
If they have an union they would have to renegotiate contract first.
October 21st, 2021 at 6:02 PM ^
The student positions wouldn't be union, but the non-student food service worker staff most definitely are.
October 21st, 2021 at 7:03 PM ^
$25 an hour with full benefits and free college tuition.
October 21st, 2021 at 10:12 PM ^
Wots is fast food workers in Detroit are getting $20/hour. We’re headed for hyperinflation.
October 22nd, 2021 at 1:11 PM ^
Hyperinflation - defined as a 50% or higher rate of monthly inflation meaning at least an annual inflation rate of 12,974.63%
yeah. Probably happening when fast food workers start getting above (or at?) a living wage. Totally the next step.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:13 PM ^
I don't see the laughing matter here. People volunteering, especially folks who really don't have to, is a good thing. Nothing to mock.
What am I missing here?
October 21st, 2021 at 5:18 PM ^
That a large university is asking anyone to volunteer for paid positions instead of paying them is laughable. Raise the offered wage or, at least, pay the people doing the work.
October 21st, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
How do you know that they don’t?
Menial labor jobs suck no matter the pay.
EDIT: People negging for stating what everyone who works in these type of jobs feels. I know as I have worked them myself. No amount of money eliminates the loathing one feels for a job where you aren’t appreciating, you deal with stupid shit constantly, and the customers don’t even acknowledge your existence.
October 21st, 2021 at 6:13 PM ^
I worked in Bursley Hall, rinsing dishes for beer money. Met some nice people there!
October 21st, 2021 at 6:18 PM ^
I worked at the Underground/Cafe ConXion in South Quad in late college, after I chose a steak over my job at Pizza Bob's. The pay was shit but I ate enough of their food to double my salary.
October 21st, 2021 at 8:24 PM ^
I didn’t even know that existed back when you were in college, for some reason I thought it was new in 2010 when I was in WQ, even after having lived in SQ previously.
October 21st, 2021 at 8:47 PM ^
Stockwell here. On Saturday the let me go to the serving line.
October 22nd, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
When did they start housing boys in Stockwell? I remember Stockwell being an all girls dorm.
October 22nd, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
You can identify however you want these days.
October 21st, 2021 at 11:42 PM ^
I worked at Palmer Commons as a senior. UM pays its students well, I was getting $15/hour to set up tables and chairs. Definitely helped me breakeven that year!
October 22nd, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^
I really enjoyed working at Palmer Commons. The real perk was the leftover catering. Fancy items like lamb chops, Zingermans deli trays...it was great.
October 21st, 2021 at 11:42 PM ^
I worked at Palmer Commons as a senior. UM pays its students well, I was getting $15/hour to set up tables and chairs. Definitely helped me breakeven that year!
October 21st, 2021 at 11:42 PM ^
I worked at Palmer Commons as a senior. UM pays its students well, I was getting $15/hour to set up tables and chairs. Definitely helped me breakeven that year!
October 22nd, 2021 at 11:15 AM ^
I worked in the cafeteria at . . . East Quad.
Got enough money to afford the occasional 12 pack of Goebels from the corner store.
October 22nd, 2021 at 1:15 PM ^
My grandfather worked in the student union. His job was to toast the bread for someone else to make the sandwich on. This was mid-1930s
October 21st, 2021 at 6:54 PM ^
I don't understand the question. How do I know they don't do what?
October 21st, 2021 at 7:07 PM ^
You're working in a cafeteria, probably in the dorm you live in, as a college student. I can't see that as much of a hardship. I worked full time attending a big 10 School. Maybe they should just close the cafeterias down and force the kids though go out around town to find expensive food to eat. Sounds like a good waste of time, energy, and money
October 21st, 2021 at 8:23 PM ^
I did this exact job while living in South Quad as a freshman. I also did dish cleaning, which is even more demanding because the cleaned bowls and utensils come out of the washers at a temperature of approximately 2000 degrees. It was, in fact, not the most enjoyable job in the world but it's also a job that people will do if you pay them appropriately and don't treat them like trash.
Labor jobs are not inherently menial unless you treat people like garbage who do them.
October 21st, 2021 at 9:05 PM ^
Was gonna say. When you're looking down on the people that make your food and wipe your behind. . . while you blather that paying people decent wages is the road to fascism. . . who's the productive contributor to the actual freaking world that you're inhabiting?
October 21st, 2021 at 10:09 PM ^
Proud undergrad UM food services worker here. I actually loved scrubbing dishes as a mindless job that was somewhat physically taxing during rushes. It was great spending money earned at a very convenient work location.
October 22nd, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
Wait, you really think NO amount of money eliminates the loathing one might feel? I'm pretty confident that if I were paid $1,000,000 to work an hour in MSU's dining hall, I wouldn't feel much loathing since I'd be preoccupied thinking about all the things I could do with my $1,000,000. So there's definitely SOME amount of money that would eliminate it. At least for me and probably most people.
October 21st, 2021 at 6:38 PM ^
The main point of humor here is that's it's not the University of Michigan.
Until it is.