HW 7 - Reading Response 

Chapter 1

Precis: The fast food industry started in southern California in the 1930s as Carl Karcher started a drive through barbeque restaurant. Also in California, The McDonald brothers started there empire. The post world war 2 economy drove both of these companies to be what they are today.

Gems:

"Entrepreneurs from all over the countrt went to San bernardio, visited the new McDonald's, and built imitations of the resturant in their hometowns, 'Our food was exactly the same as McDonald's.'"

Thoughts:

Why did the McDonald brothers secede while the small town imitation restaurants did not secede to the same extent? This is a mystery that was not answered by this chapter. After hearing more about the copies made in small town's I first thought that Americans would have some sort of attachment to these restaurants. But no, looking at it you see that these people were completely open to abandoning there local smaller businesses and going straight to the new big flashy thing.

 

 Eric Schlosser fast food nation responses

Chapter 3

Precis:  Colorado Springs, a town that sprung up like L.A. after World War 2. And during the 90's many people moved from southern California to Colorado Springs partially because of the Christian appeal that grew from a conservative news paper in the town. The largest employment in the town is fast food. When you look farther into the fast food you see that it is all frozen or prefixed when it enters the shop. The employees just assemble the food. These people can be like Elsa, a 16 year old who gets up early in the morning to help prepare the local McDonalds for the day. Many students in Elsa’s school need to go to work in order to have spending money despite the conflicts it imposes on the quality of there education. One of the reasons that students of low income families put up with being abused by fast-food restaurants is because of something called stroking. Stroking is a type of positive reinforcement that is offered to young teenage fast-food workers who may not get parse at home.

Gems:

"They build large signs to attract motorists and look at cars the way predators view herds of prey." p.65

"The easier it is for him (the worker) to use, the easier for us not to have to train him."p.71

Thoughts:

I found this paragraph sickeningly enlightening. When I enter a fast food place i don't think of how kids my age chose to work there because they need the job in order to have spending money. These kids are stuck with there conditions because they are afraid of unionizing. This part was confusing to me. As part of the history of our country more specifically New York City unions have provided security to people. In middle school I was tough all about the New York City Unions and how people banned together to get what they wanted. I associated unionizing with part of American pride. From this chapter i learned that unionizing is not part of the American culture. But could i be wrong? Could it be the fact that these workers are students who are being putt through all of the unfair conditions?