An Interview With My Girlfriend
Even through interest and research in the topic, the struggles of small business, and the oppressive motions of big business in relation to them could be very obscure, especially during a volatile time such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Most mainstream media is very much aimed at particular agendas, and most often than not, this entails what the mega-corporation sponsors of whatever news networks or social media giants would like to be seen. In other words, the toils of small business are most likely not properly conveyed to the masses. But what do the opinions of someone with little to no prior research of the topic look like? To experiment with this concept, I interviewed my wonderful girlfriend Daniella Gasparic. Below are my questions and her answers to five questions relating to the dynamics of small business, big business, and COVID-19, based heavily on my previous piece about minimum wage.
Q: As of late, there has been increased support from big businesses such as Amazon to increase the minimum wage to $15. What are your thoughts on this?
A: “Okay great, but that’s not enough to live. You have to support a family. I don’t know much about Amazon, but I’m pretty sure they treat their workers like absolute garbage. They portray themselves very positively, but I’ve heard they work their employees to the ground.”
Q: What do you think big businesses like Amazon have to gain by pushing for this change? Would you say it makes their public image better?
A: “I don’t know. They avoid backlash I guess? It definitely would make them look better to the public.”
Q: Do you think big business have been making active efforts to destroy small business over the course of the pandemic, or do you think it is just an unfortunate side effect of the economic turmoil at hand? Or both?
A: “Both. They know that they have more resources to get things to you, faster, and probably cheaper. Especially now, since there is such a need for that. They don’t care. They want money. If big businesses cared about small businesses, they wouldn’t be there.”
Q: Going back to the question about minimum wage, how do you think increasing the minimum wage would affect small businesses?
A: “It would be f — d. They can’t compete with that. They can’t afford to run the business, and pay their employees. They would have to make cuts in other places, if they even could. It’s a Catch-22 situation. People are mad that people aren’t paid enough, but small business cannot afford to do so. Unless your small business is doing well, it won’t succeed. This isn’t the 1900s. I don’t think it’s Amazon’s fault, but it’s just what the people want. Fast stuff. The small businesses simply cannot. Also, exposure is probably so hard. How do you market a store in Ohio for example, next to a company like Amazon?”
Q: Would you say the average person would see Amazon supporting legislation for a higher minimum wage as a good thing? What would you say to these people?
A: “Honestly, I think it’s just to show face, because they can afford it. They probably want to do some damage control, because people are aware of how working conditions are. I don’t even know things, and I know that Amazon people are not treated very fairly. I would tell them to look more into the context of things like this, and see the underlying motivations behind the actions of big companies.”
