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McDonald’s Is Feeling The Heat, Y’all! How About We Kick It Up A Notch?

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Workonomics

Over the last year, we have posted several things about McDonald's — how it treats and pays its workers, some of its rather bizarre PR and social media schemes that totally backfired, and more. It turns out the company is feeling the pressure. In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, it admitted that “the long-term trend toward higher wages and social expenses ... which may intensify with increasing public focus on matters of income inequality” may affect future profits (you know, the ones paying its last CEO almost $9 million ... do you want fries with that?).

It also listed “the impact of campaigns by labor organizations and activists, including through the use of social media and other mobile communications and applications.”


And it's not just McDonald's. Here are a few more recent victories:

  • A group of health care workers in L.A. is getting a raise to $15/hour.
  • Workers at and near SeaTac Airport in Washington state won a referendum vote to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, as well as some paid sick time.
  • NYC airport workers are moving up to $10.10/hour.
  • The Gap is raising starting wages to $10 by next year.
  • Seattle McDonald's owners and operators say they're discussing raising minimum wages at their restaurants and are not fighting wage hikes.

What does it mean?

We're winning, that's what. With every click, every share, and every picket sign outside a fast-food joint, we're changing things. As a rep from one of the organizations involved, Low Pay Is Not OK, told us recently: "When we're taking on some of the largest corporations in the world, we need a huge megaphone to amplify these fast-food and low-wage workers' demands for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without interference. Upworthy has played a crucial role in spreading workers' stories as well as some of our videos and graphics that show how McDonald's is out of touch with its workers. Today is proof of the impact we're having together."

Here are some of the things we've posted that generated a lot of interest and attention.


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






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via Pexels

Millennials are now old enough to seriously reflect on life.

It seems like only yesterday a millennial was a college kid that baby boomers chided for being entitled and Gen Xers thought were way too sincere and needed to learn how to take a joke. Today, the oldest millennials, those born around 1980, have hit their 40s and have lived long enough to have some serious regrets.

They also have enough experience to take some pride in decisions that, in hindsight, were the right moves.

The good news is that at 40 there is still plenty of time to learn from our successes and failures to set ourselves up for a great second half of life. These lessons are also valuable to the Gen Zers coming up who can avoid the pitfalls of the older generation.

A Reddit user who has since deleted their profile asked millennials nearing 40 “what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?” and they received more than 2,200 responses. The biggest regrets these millennials have are being flippant about their health and not saving enough money when they were younger.

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Family

Mom calls out teacher who gave her son a 'zero' grade for not providing class with supplies

Her viral video sparked a debate as to whether or not providing school supplies should be mandatory for parents.

@shanittanicole/TikTok

A zero grade for not providing school supplies?

The debate as to whether or not parents should supply classroom supplies is not new. But as prices continue to rise, parents are growing more baffled as to how they can be expected by teachers to provide all the various glue sticks, colored pencils, rulers and other various items the incoming students might need.

What’s even more perplexing, however, is penalizing the children of parents who won’t (or can’t) provide them.

This was the case for Shanitta Nicole, who discovered her son received a zero grade in his new school for not bringing school supplies for the entire classroom.
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via Wikimedia Commons and Jerry Woody/Wikimedia Commons

Two Victoria gentleman and a shilling from 1894.

If you had a time machine and woke up in Victorian-era London (1837-1901), you would have difficulty breathing because of the air quality. You'd also walk around plugging your nose because of the poor sanitation and probably be very confused when purchasing anything because of the monetary system.

J. Draper, a London historian and tour guide, explained why money was so different in the Victorian era in a popular YouTube video with nearly 300,000 views. “Let me try and explain how pounds, shillings and pence worked,” J Draper opens her video.

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Man hears stepdaughter call him "Dad" for the first time.

Being a parent is often a thankless job, and being a stepparent is usually even more thankless. But most parents show up and do their best to make sure their kids have what they need and feel loved. So when our kids do or say something to show appreciation, it melts our hearts—but nothing melts it faster than a stepchild calling their bonus parent "Mom" or "Dad" for the first time.

A creator named Shane posted a clip from a longer video showing his reaction to hearing his stepdaughter call him "Dad" for the first time. The full video is about three years old, but when it was reposted as a clip recently, it pulled on everyone's heartstrings.

Shane and his wife, Liana, run the social media pages Shane and Liana where they post silly videos pranking each other. But this video wasn't a prank. His stepdaughter, London, wanted to surprise him after wanting to call him "Dad" for a long time.

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Dog refuses to walk with Mom, but her legs work with Grandma.

What gives dogs the right to have such big and hilarious personalities? It seems like these dogs have found a way to make their humans laugh while also annoying them until they're ready to come apart. It's truly a skill that only dogs and toddlers seem to possess in great quantities.

Zoe is a pit bull with a bombastic side-eye that makes it clear that she only tolerates her mother, Raven, but adores her grandmother, Yonika. There is no confusion about who her favorite person is, and Zoe's grandmother only seems to encourage the behavior. The two of them are the best of friends, and Mom...well, she's the third wheel.

Sure, Zoe likes her mom a little—she does feed her, after all—but the verdict is still being determined if love can be claimed. Raven can't even convince the sassy pittie to go on a walk with her.

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