The recipe is not secret – Dagsavisen

The old European upper class went on educational journeys. Writers, artists and rich people went out into the world to embrace foreign cultures and other customs. They could be gone for years. Like so many upper-class customs, this too has trickled down to wider sections of the population in step with the educational revolution and the general growth of wealth.

In our time, it has not been uncommon for Norwegian young people to go on Interrail in Europe or for the extra adventurous, lace up their backpacks and go “backpacking” in Asia. The goal is the same, to see other countries and to meet other people than here at home, before life is framed by rules, expectations and debt interest. I myself went as a young man on a journey of formation to McDonald’s.

[ Tøyen kan ikke vente lenger. Det begynner å bli flaut ]

That is, I took a detour then. My trip went by bus across the North American continent. A unique journey through almost 20 very different states. But it’s McDonald’s I remember best.

Nowhere is selling fast food a high-paying profession

I do not remember where. Alabama? New Mexico? The whole point of hamburger chains is that the experience should be the same no matter where you go. One night the bus stopped at a 24-hour center so that we on board could stretch our legs. I was hungry and chose the burger. It tasted just like home. But: At home, those who sold the Big Mac were younger than me. He who stood behind the counter here, in the middle of the black night, was at least fifty years old. He could have been my father. It made a strong impression.

The Economist magazine compiles a Big Mac index. The idea is that precisely because this dish is identical all over the world, it is interesting to see how differently it is priced. “Burgernomics” is not a very precise science, and The Economist is not part of the workers’ press, to put it mildly. The method is primarily intended to tell whether a currency is undervalued or overvalued compared to wages and prices. But that must mean that it can be used on salaries as well. The job of making the burger is as standardized as the burger itself.

[ Mange av våre mest sårbare er slitne allerede når de begynner på videregående ]

I mean: if the theoretical ideal is that a Big Mac has the same value all over the world, then the person who works to make this burger should also have the same value all over the world. In other words: Two workers who do exactly the same job in their respective countries should be able to afford the same standard of living in their respective countries. But that’s not the case.

While the chains are allowed to push wages down in large parts of the world, McDonald’s in Norway follows the collective agreement’s tariff

Nowhere is selling fast food a high-paying profession. But: while in Norway you can have a dignified life on a waiter’s salary, in the hamburger’s home country you must have two such jobs to make ends meet. The standard of living is radically higher in Norway for someone who has exactly the same job in almost all other countries.

The recipe is not secret. While the chains are allowed to push wages down in large parts of the world, McDonald’s in Norway follows the collective agreement’s tariff. It has automatic promotions, evening and weekend supplements. It is part of an organized working life that, combined with the welfare state, gives fifty-year-olds alternatives to work night shifts by serving fast food to privileged young people on educational journeys. The number of restaurants in Norway tells us that this model does not make it difficult to run a business at all, it only makes it unnecessary to have two jobs to survive.

Keep yourself updated. Receive a daily newsletter from Dagsavisen

–