I got hired as a dishwasher at a nice pizza place in town. The thing is, however, that I'm not too sure that I'm profiting the guy that much money if at all. I was talking to my brother about it, and I was starting to come to the belief that I was creating a loss for the employer. I like that I have a job and that I'm getting paid: I'm using the money to focus on making more money and moving on: Job searching and getting back on my feet. However, what I find odd is that the guy appears to be having me there at a financial loss. Perhaps he thinks I could do some other things, and I definitely think that I could: Take phone orders, make some pizzas, and (maybe) cook some things (that uses more skill..). Not bad for my current economic situation. However, I'm kind of wondering what some of you think of this situation. I think the employer made a decent move, because I don't think I'm going to get out of my situation for at least a financial year. Furthermore, he was starting to pay me more than Certified Nursing Assistants make, which would be a quick cash ladder move (so, forget being a CNA at that point).

What I'm wonder, though, is if I'm causing a financial loss for this guy, why is he keeping me around?

He has an established restaurant. It's been around 20 years. It's a family restaurant, but it seems like he doesn't have much immediate family there other than his daughter. One of the things I'm worried about is some push-and-shove from the staff if I encroach upon their job positions. I'm thinking the phone person isn't too worried about me getting involved with the phones, though: I think a lot of the revenue is made through the phones by taking orders. I think I could encroach upon their positions, because I'm that educated and could start picking that stuff up. But I don't want to be the jerk that causes someone to lose their job, not unless I felt that person was not doing a good job at what they do.

My brother, a business owner with about 20 years experience, said that the guy likes me: Just be nice to him and work hard (and don't get involved with politics or drama). I stopped working for my brother because I wasn't getting enough money via calls to work.

You haven't really given any reason why you think your employer is losing money by hiring you. Obviously, although washing dishes is a very menial task which doesn't require a lot of skill, it is an absolutely necessary position in any type of eating establishment. How many customers do you think would come back if their food was served on dirty dishes?

If you think you could do more, ask your employer if you can perform other tasks.

Assuming that he is making a monetary loss (and I suggest this is an unjustified assumption), he appears to be making an investment in the future (either in a possible long term skilled employee or just making sure there are enough taxpayers to pay for retirement pensions).

Yeah, dishwasher is an absolutely mission-critical position, so I'm not sure where the "financial loss" speculation is coming from.

The only way he would be taking a "financial loss" on you is if he's hired too many dishwashers.

Your brother is right...Maybe he just likes you.

Do CNA's make lousy money?

I washed dishes in college. First thing the hiring manager said to me, rapidly, after he said the hourly wage, was "You have to pay the dishwasher."

But, it was like, minimum wage was maybe $3.45 and he was telling me he was paying $5 or $6, whereas most part time jobs paid about $4.00. What can I say? It got me to take the job, plus the waitresses were all hot, and my age.

What're you trying to say? The guy is paying you the equivalent of a salaried position and it's tens of thousands of dollars or something? A lot of all that really depends on your location in the world.

But why worry about it? If the money benefits you and you're working versus not, then do the work, earn the pay, and leave it at that. And avoid any drama with other employees, don't try to be a smart-alecky-know-it-all, just wash the dishes as you're being paid to do. If the owner or manager asks you to do other duties and you feel you're fairly paid enough and there are no conflicts, then perform those other duties.

A dishwasher represents a "cost of goods sold." A certain portion of the cost of each meal is spent washing the dishes.