Minimum Wage just went up to $11.50 in Washington State. The price of milk is $2.68 a Gallon.

[Smitty-48]

Slurpee machine calls.
Someone has to do the respectable, heavy lifting around this joint.

[Speaker to Animals]

Greatest soft drink in the history of beverages.

[heydaralon]

Greatest soft drink in the history of beverages.

Clamato with A&W.

[BjornP]

Googling around and seeing the other American posts here, that does seem to be a common American opinion.

Touché.
Is it any different in Daneland?

Very. Or, it's more like a non-issue. Where I currently work, the museum director sits at the same table as the rest of the staff, from cleaning lady, to technicians, archaeologists and historians when we have coffee or lunch break. That's fairly common. There is no calling one's boss "sir" or mister *Last Name*.

If someone decides they want to stick to working in a cleaning job, or work in a supermarket until retirement, sentiment's simply that that person's "found their place", and that as long as they pay taxes, they contribute to society, and someone has to do (the work X) anyway. The idea that a certain job is only for people who "fail" at everything else, is something you'll only really hear from a few (1st generation) ME immigrants, usually those who don't bother working any sort of job. Otoh, the "reverse" of the "manual jobs are not respectable " position, jedi's position, is something most people would roll their eyes at, too.

Professional dedication, knowhow, ability to cooperate, and willingness to invest (time and money) in buying courses and certifications for yourself whatever your job title is, is respected no matter what your job. Not even a lifetime cleaning lady would simply want to stay cleaning assistent forever. Unions provide certficiations for things like cleaning sterile laboratories, museum storage spaces, etc. And unions for engineers provide professional courses, upgrades and certifications for engineers, historians use academic unions, etc. But if they do choose that, the sentiment is more "Huh, that's odd, doesn't she want to make more money, wonder what her reasons are?", than lack of respect. It's considered too private to speculate about, and personal space is also a huge deal, here. We're culturally close to the British in that regard.

[DBTrek]

Weird.

[heydaralon]

Danes eat fermented shark meat they buried in a hole for 12 years. That sort of behavior would get you baker acted here. Beyond that, I just assumed they all made cheap furniture or something.

[DBTrek]

I suspect if life long cleaning lady was unbraiding the director at the lunch table and started calling him a “fool” the repressed Danish heirarchy gene would manifest with a quickness.

“What did you call me? Sorry, I’m not fluent in toilet cleaner-ese”

That’s how that would go.

[Smitty-48]

I find Canadians to be quite respectful indeed, of my service to the Crown, God, Queen and Country, not a one Canadian "common man" has ever said to me, that I am not entitled to my retirement, quite the opposite in fact, so I don't feel like I haven't met my obligations to the public, but moreover, as the public does not rule here, even if they were of that opinion, it would be of no consequence in the end, I serve Her Majesty, and I'm reasonably confident that Liz Windsor has no quarrel with the likes of me.

Some random American on the internet decries me for being divorced from the common man? Well, it's not a republic, so what obligations I have to the common man beyond my fealty to the Crown, is not clear to me.

If you want to be a fuckin' communist, move to Cuba already. Rugged individualist me, I answer to no commune.

That's not the British way? Can't speak for the United Kingdom, but it certainly is the way in British North America, more British than the British, more American than the Americans, wot?

[BjornP]

Weird.

Possibly, but culturally helpful for a country without a minimum wage, and a high union membership rate. Employers and employees are culturally accustomed to treating each other as partners, so the way people talk about each other's line of work just reflects that. Not very helpful if you're heading the negotiations on behalf of the group representing the shared interest of more than half of private employers in the country, and you're on the opposite side of the union representing 60% of your country's cleaning assistents and begin the meeting by insulting your partners for having an inferior job.

[Smitty-48]

People have freedom of association, they can join a union at their leisure, but I have freedom of association too, to include the freedom not to associate with those filthy subhuman cockroach pseudo communists.

Pretty sure I do, let me just check the constitution... yep, I'm good like that, no obligations whatsoever to unionized gangsters, Her Majesty defends the right.