Recently, I went to Taco Bell for a late night snack after a long stressful night of work. When I placed my order, the person at the drive-thru window was seemingly lifeless, going through the motions like a zombie. She was incredibly short with me as if I had done something wrong to her in a previous encounter.

After receiving my bag o' food, I checked inside, and came to the realization that my order had been messed up. I quickly got the attention of the girl in the drive-thru window and explained to her what was wrong. To no surprise, she got defensive and made no apologies about the incorrect order. My order was then corrected and I was on my way.

None of my expectations about going to a fast food restaurant were too outrageous. I did not expect fine dining, but I did not expect to be treated like I did. Experiences like this make me really wonder why service like this deserves $15 an hour.

Without sugar coating it, I am sick and tired of hearing about how the wage should start out at $15 an hour. What this honestly tells me is that people are completely fine with getting a job that pays like this and completely settling for it. They have very little intention of moving forward and getting a better job. One of their (and when I say their, I am referring to those who are making minimum wage and pushing for an increase) biggest arguments is that they cannot afford to live off of such a small amount of money to get through the day to day.

While it is unfortunate for some who are trying hard, it is quite pathetic for those who only want the higher wage so that they can settle. Take my above example into consideration: those who have trouble handling very basic tasks are essentially asking the people for a massive pay raise. Those who work their hardest in hundred, if not thousands of other companies outside of fast food might receive a raise that is less than one dollar on a yearly basis.

Many of those jobs require tasks that are much more complex than working at a McDonalds or a Taco Bell. McDonald's was my first job at the age of 16, and I despised it. If you think that people who work in the fast food industry can be rude to you, then imagine working alongside them. This is beside the point though. What I am getting at is that these tasks do not deserve almost twice the wage that they are making, especially when they are carried out the way that they are.

There are thousands, if not millions of people who work in the service industry. This includes bartenders, servers, hairdressers, valets, just to name a few. These people (myself included) make much less than the current minimum wage. It is generally as low as three to four dollars per hour worked. What this means is that they are on a "tipping wage," and the entirety of their position rests on how well they can carry out their jobs.

Here is a hypothetical that I want you to leave you with: Let's say the fast food industry operated like the service industry. Taking orders in the drive-thru as well as taking orders at the counter-only pays between three and four dollars an hour. Customers may tip accordingly, based on the quality of the service.

How many of you, on average, would tip well based on the service you have received in past encounters? I would venture to say not many. See, this would require the fast food industry to step up their game and provide exceptional customer service. Instead, what they prefer is to have the money handed to them without having to actually better their work ethic. I strongly stand by the idea that the minimum wage should be right where it is.