A minimum wage story...
There is a guy who works at our office, his name is Carl. Carl makes less than anyone else we have at $7.75; Carl is the janitor.
Carl is a 65-ish year old man, he draws SSI but not enough to make ends meet. He depends on his job, without it he is fucked. He gets about 20 hours a week.
Carl and I both do a lot of after-hours work there. Where I am reviewing the contracts, and putting my signature on the dotted line of completed jobs and preparing stuff to be sent off to the state, Carl is doing Janitor things.
I cant fucking stand Carl. He is possibly the worst janitors in the history of janitors. He has a beyond simple job. Go into an office, empty trash can, dust desk, vacuum the floor. Three things. He usually forgets one.
Whenever its time for him to clean my office, i go out for a smoke. I come back in, and resume work.
One time, I yelled out, "Carl you forgot my wastebasket." His reply, "Bring it to me."
Anyway the owner of the business is really just doing charity by having Carl on. If minimum wage were $10.10 an hour, I do not believe Carl would have his job anymore.
But even Carl, as inept as his is, makes above minimum wage. Why? Because at least you can count on him to be there, not fuck up/steal your shit, and leave it cleaner than he found it. Even if he forgets to do a big chunk of the things he is supposed to do.
We were out smoking and having a laugh about Carl one day, and the owner said that no one deserves to make minimum if they are worth having around.