'My coworker stated that minimum wage was not meant to cover all our bills and if we needed more money we needed to get a different job': Coworker calls coffee shop job 'supplemental income,' believes coworkers should all have other jobs

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Oct 20, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Everyone comes to a certain job for a different reason. Maybe you see it as a stepping stone in your career, where you will gain experience and make connections. Maybe you just need something to tide you over for a couple of months while you look for something more permanent. Maybe you know somebody who works there who gave you a foot in the door. The paths that you can take toward the same job are infinite. This is why we sometimes clash with our coworkers. We might all be there for different reasons. But whatever it is, you shouldn't look down on anyone else's reason to be there. 

Maybe you work a certain job just to have a little extra cash, and you don't depend on it for your livelihood. That doesn't mean that your coworkers don't. They might need every red cent from that job to keep themselves fed. It is not anyone's place to judge that situation, since you never know if you might be in it yourself one day. 

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  • A pair of coworkers at a coffee shop discuss something.
    via Андрей Полторжицкий

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • But that's not what happened in this story, where a coworker was laying down some pretty serious judgment about their coworker's lifestyle. Instead of banding together in solidarity, one coworker brought her pretty outdated ideas to the table. So one of her coworkers sought solace on the internet. Read on to see what others had to say and see what you think about it. 

  • A fellow coworker believes the coffee shop job we work is "supplemental income."

    I work at a well known coffee shop and my co-workers and I were discussing an internal survery we all had to complete which asked us about our level of satisfaction with our pay. I firmly believe we do not make enough, in fact, I have a second job.
    via u/CatVietnamFlashBack
  • My coworker stated that minimum wage was not meant to cover all our bills and if we needed more money we needed to get a different job. Otherwise, that would be "communism." When I argued that was not true, she said I must not have learned enough in economics class. What version of the matrix am I in?
    via u/CatVietnamFlashBack
  • TrogdorBurns • 20h ago . You should quote what FDR said when he signed the minimum wage into law. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By
    via u/CatVietnamFlashBack
  • "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living. wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.
    via u/CatVietnamFlashBack
  • A barista makes coffee at a coffee shop.
    via Brooke Balentine

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Commenters agreed that this was a backwards-thinking approach.

    Gloomy_Tie_1997. 20h ago Your coworker is an idiot. Supplemental to WHAT? it's not like we have a UBI. lol. Lmao.
    via u/Gloomy_Tie_1997
  • UncleCrapper • 21h ago . For any job that doesn't pay a living wage, here's the solution: Hire corpses. When the dead refuse to work, fucking pay the living, a living.
    via u/UncleCrapper
  • ElTupacabraXXX • 21h ago A job that doesn't pay livable wages shouldn't exist. Your co-worker is brainwashed by capitalism.
    via u/ElTupacabraXXX
  • thebuttsmells • 21h ago minimum wage was a government assurance that jobs would cover our bills
    via u/thebu**smells
  • QueenNappertiti • 20h ago . I ask people "should getting a full time job lift someone out of poverty?" And watch their braim twist into a pretzel explaining why not. If a job doesn't get you the basic necessities then what is the point? If it can't lift you out of poverty than poverty is the point.
    via u/QueenNappertiti
  • And when they say "It's a job for teens!" Ask "then why is the store open during school hours?"
    via u/QueenNappertiti
  • HedonismlsTheWay · 20h ago The funny thing is that capitalists have convinced the middle and upper class that there's no way they can possibly pay them more. Since they can get by, it's not a super hard sell. So they see a better paid lower class as a threat to them. They know
    via u/HedonismlsTheWay
  • their wages won't go up because capitalist Daddy says it's impossible. So suddenly they're just as low as the poors they used to look down on. Being comfortable isn't as fun when you don't have anybody to look down on.
    via u/HedonismlsTheWay
  • Independent-You-... • 20h ago "minimum wage was not meant to cover all our bills" is the worst and yet most successful lie corporations. sold to Americans in recent memories.
    via u/Independent-You-6180
  • ChaoticCapricorn ⚫20h ago Tell your coworker that minimum wage was DESIGNED to be the calculated amount to be able to support yourself working. Look up the history of the law. In fact, since it was mostly considering men, it was the minimum to be able to support a man, his wife and
    via u/ChaoticCapricorn
  • kids. Minimum wage is actually a POVERTY wage since many mega corporations pay so little that their employees still qualify for social services.
    via u/ChaoticCapricorn
  • TheAskewOne 20h ago "That would be communism" That person doesn't make any sense. You're wasting your time arguing with them.
    via u/TheAskewOne
  • feelingmyage • 20h ago Does she know that minimum wage started because it should be the lowest wage that a person could work full- work time and support a family on?
    via u/feelingmyage
  • Beneficial_Grape_... . 20h ago sounds like your coworker took the red pill from the wrong bottle, minimum wage barely covers rent, let alone coffee, some people just have a weird understanding of economics
    via u/Beneficial_Grape_430
  • mynameisnotearlits 19h ago . Americans really don't understand what communism is
    via u/mynameisnotearlits
  • Sure_Acanthaceae... 20h ago Regardless of what one's political views are how could you internalize not wanting to make more money?
    via u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348
  • RedPrincexDESX 20h ago Just tell them to read the original bill as passed by FDR that established minimum wages. It addresses this explicitly.
    via u/RedPrincexDESX
  • . goronmask ⚫ 18h ago Your coworker is a good example of why the rich want poor people to stay away from colleges and universities
    via u/goronmask
  • jessewalker2 • 20h ago Your coworker is an a― and I pray they learn empathy through starvation. I'd like to see them survive on just coffee shop money for just long enough to learn that's all some people get.
    via u/jessewalker2
  • Soithascometothis... 14h ago Pretty sure minimum wage was passed as law to be the minimum amount we needed to have our basic needs covered.
    via u/Soithascometothistoo
  • MyHamburgerLove... 20h ago The people who throw out the word "communism" and "socialism" for everytime the government helps people for some reason have a blindspot for things like 13 years of free education, free fire fighters, free security force (police), etc...
    via u/MyHamburgerLovesMe
  • RacoonWithPaws 20h ago These people are absolutely insane and brainwashed... FDR explicitly stated that the minimum wage is intended to be a living wage: "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages.
    via u/RacoonWithPaws
  • to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living."
    via u/RacoonWithPaws
  • He wanted to take it even further by introducing a second bill of rights, or an economic Bill of Rights These assholes have some romanticized idea that in the 1940s and 50s we were living in a true capitalist utopia... Completely ignoring the fact that it was during this period of time we were the closest to moving towards the type of welfare system that modern Democratic socialist are fighting for.
    via u/RacoonWithPaws

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coffee shop boss antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working reddit story toxic-boss minimum wage workplace reddit thread bad bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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