I’ve heard people use the phrase, “flipping burgers” to refer to someone’s job in the fast food industry so many times. You’ve probably heard it too. The phrase has become so overused and normalized and that’s not okay.

Saying this phrase suggests that a fast food worker does nothing else at their job but literally flip burgers. It also implies that the person is not smart enough to have any other job.

Unfortunately, working at a fast food place is seen as the lowest and “easiest” job that someone can have, when in reality, that is not the case.

This applies to me personally, as my mother is a fast food worker. She’s worked at McDonald's for many years and she learned how to do several positions there. She knows how to use the cash register, do the preparations, take orders at the drive-through, train new employees, and make food.

Still, people refer to her job as simply “flipping burgers.”

My mother is the most intelligent, hard-working person I know and she takes pride in her work. Hearing the phrase hurts me because it’s as if people look down on my mom and the work she does.

It’s funny how people are so quick to bring down fast food workers, when they are customers themselves. This is completely hypocritical.

Working at a fast food restaurant does not determine someone’s worth or intelligence. We need to stop normalizing the phrase “flipping burgers” because it belittles not only someone’s work, but also them as human beings in our society.