Two recent experiences have combined to prompt me to write this article and it’s not about the normal minutiae of business that I write about business most days.
Reading the Financial Review, which is pitched at the top end of town, I discover that there is a restaurant in Sydney that now offers a steak for six hundred dollars. Yes, that’s right, a single steak for merely six hundred dollars.
The paper reports that, “If you want to order it, you must you join a wait list of others equally keen to try the 1 kg dry-aged waygu ribeye on the bone (marble score 9+)“.
And there seems to be a demand for food such as this and other specialties for which the trendy, high-end restaurants cater.
And it occurred to me that maybe many people could afford this luxurious feasting because of what’s happening at the bottom end of town.
Maybe it’s not those affluent diners who are the creators of the problem about which I’m going to speak but somehow I reckon that they or someone in their client chain are contributors.
You see earlier this week I caught up with a relative living in a small country town and found that his proud young 17-year-old son now had a job. He was working for a local contractor and was pleased with what he was achieving (and so was I).
Then I discovered the basis on which the youngster was employed.
If you want to do more, be more and achieve more you must read this book today!
He was paid a lousy 15 dollars an hour for the time actually spent on the job even though there was at least an hour or so of travelling time to the various jobs each day.
Payment was in cash which meant he got no holiday pay, sick leave or workers compensation entitlements. He didn’t even know that he should contribute to our nation by paying some tax.
How disgusting is that deal?
I thought that maybe I could do something about it but, no, if I were to attempt to rock the boat, the youngster would be sacked and some other young person, hungry for work, would gratefully step into that position.
It’s kids working under conditions like that which create the profits that mean people can afford to stuff their mouth with a $600 slab of steak.
There is probably not a lot we can do about it except that, in our own businesses, we can scrupulously and fairly pay each of our employees everything to which they’re entitled (and then maybe a bit more!).
And encourage others to do the same. Nag the politicians too who, unfortunately, seem totally disinterested!
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