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Recently, a Starbucks barista shared a video of themselves having a meltdown and it has become the center of attention on the internet.
The clip shows the employee sharing their thoughts on management and rude customers, but it was what the person said about their schedule that divided the online crowd.
The barista — who is also a student — said that a 25-hour week and 8-hour shifts during the weekend were too much for them to handle.
Immediately, one group of Twitter users started calling them soft and spoiled, while the other defended them saying that worker exploitation has many faces.
This Starbucks barista has accused their employer of poor working conditions
Trans Barista has meltdown because 8 hours is too long to work on a day… pic.twitter.com/IfVSzZ4G0w
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) October 30, 2022
In a now-viral video, they complained mostly about the schedule and management
Image credits: SebGorka
And highlighted the need to unionize
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Getting a degree in the US is expensive. Even the locals underestimate its cost. According to the 2021 Fidelity Investments survey College Savings & Student Debt, 38% of high school students and 1 in 4 parents believe that attending one year of college will set you back $5,000 or less, but this number is way smaller than what they’re likely to pay at public and private four-year colleges. (In addition to tuition and fees, students must also pay other expenses such as housing, food, and books, which can run into thousands of dollars a year.)
Of course, it depends on what college you go to. The average cost of tuition and fees to attend a ranked public in-state college is about 74% less than the average sticker price at a private college ($39,723). But that’s still $10,423 for the 2022-2023 year. And the average cost for out-of-state students at public colleges comes to $22,953 for the same year.
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So it should come as no surprise that many, just like the person who made this video, have to work if they want to graduate. In 2020, the percentage of full-time undergraduate students who were employed was 40 percent (additionally, the share of part-time undergraduates who were employed was 74 percent).
But that usually gets you only that far. In fact, there are 42.8 million borrowers who have federal student loan debt and the average balance is $37,787 (although the total average balance (including private loan debt) may be as high as $40,780).
Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.745 trillion.
As the student loan forgiveness plan is making headlines, many Americans are praising the government for granting relief. However, drained by years of financial crises, many more are still devastatingly unable to afford to pay for gas and buy essentials, let alone afford repayments of a five-figure debt.
After surveying 2,000 Americans, the team at ELVTR, an online education platform, told Bored Panda in a statement that this is how people in the country are impacted by their student debt:
- 63% are still struggling with federal loan paymentsdespite a forgiveness plan;
- 60% of educated Americans earn less than some of their friends without a degree;
- 32% had to delay starting a familybecause of student debt, and 53% could not afford to travel;
- 36% regret taking a loan, while77% regret their higher ed choices.
The results are staggering. Roman Peskin, CEO of ELVTR, said: “The United States higher education system is broken following decades of decline. Students give up years of their life and enormous sums of money in pursuit of the American Dream: a well-paid job, and the means to enjoy life and live comfortably. It turns out that those desires remain merely a dream for the vast majority of graduates. They end up learning an assortment of potentially useful skills and subjects, yet master none… and at a significant cost to their financial and mental health. With the cost of college rising faster than inflation, the situation is only getting worse. Loan forgiveness, while a great initiative, is really just a Band-Aid — before we dress the wound, we need to stitch it up first.”
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So while everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the way this particular person is handling the pressure, I hope we all can agree that looking down the line and seeing such hardship can put an enormous amount of stress on you.
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