A teenage Burger King manager claimed that teens are “literally running the store” in a viral TikTok, sparking a conversation surrounding teen fast-food workers in the comments section.
TikToker Maliyah Moeun (@liyahmarmo) is a 19-year-old Burger King employee, according to her video and TikTok bio. Her TikTok claiming that teens are responsible for running her Burger King got over 56,700 views since being posted on Thursday.
In the video, Moeun is wearing a Burger King uniform with what appears to be an “assistant manager” pin. She appears to be working at a Burger King and has a headset on.
“Y’all stay coming at fast food workers, when teens are literally running the store,” the text overlay reads.
As of 2021, the average age of a fast-food worker is 24 years old, and only around 30% of fast-food workers are teenagers. Some viewers pointed to this in the comments section.
“88% of ppl who work fast food are 20 or older,” @ssjblue_milo said.
“And that’s the problem. I’m 20 and work in the food service. Having teens make its 2x worse,” @anna_jones1711 said.
Others remarked on how some fast-food places rely on young workers to keep the locations afloat and sympathized with such workers for “[having to] deal with those dam annoying customers.”
“We responsible for counting the cash cleaning everything and closing the store while we 15,” @_andres_885 siad.
“literally been managing since 16 too,” another claimed.
According to a Center for Economic Policy Research policy issue: “One argument frequently made against higher wages for fast-food workers is that the industry is dominated by teenagers and workers with less than a high school degree, who somehow ‘deserve’ the low wages they receive.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @liyahmarmo via TikTok direct message and Burger King via email.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/burger-king-worker-teens-running-the-store-tiktok/