It's A Big Deal To Me That She Worked At McDonald's

On job-shaming and un-relatable candidates.

Kamala Harris worked at McDonald’s as a teen. Every time this gets mentioned it makes me happy. And I think it sets her apart from pretty much any other presidential candidate for a major party we’ve had. It’s a big deal to me.

It’s a big deal because it means she can relate to an average American better than other candidates. She can understand what our lives are like in a much more concrete way. Some people seem to be embarrassed about this part of her history; her opponents have tried to shame her for it. But I think she should lean into it, talk about it more often, help people understand how it’s an advantage.

I’ve had jobs since I was very young. I didn’t really see them as part of my identity, I think I just accepted them as a part of life, like sleeping or eating. They were just a thing I did so I could have money. My parents weren’t wealthy and there were no allowances or spending money to give out. So instead I would work to earn money. I think my dad felt bad that he didn’t have more money to offer us, so he would look for opportunities where me and my siblings could earn some ourselves, until we were old enough to get our first paycheck jobs.

The earliest work I remember was at age 6 or 7, collecting big bags of aluminum cans to trade in for cash. Starting at 8 or 9 years old, I delivered newspapers, at 10 and 11, I would paint house numbers on curbs. From age 12, I babysat. Through my teens, I had actual jobs with paychecks. I worked in a video store, then I worked at a frozen yogurt shop, then I worked at our town movie theaters. When I moved to college, I worked at a farm and made dried wreaths for a catalog, then I flipped burgers at a campus restaurant, then I worked at a flower shop, then I worked at a plant nursery, then I worked at grocery stores giving out samples, then I worked at the Gap, then I transcribed research information for a professor.