When you walk into a fast-food joint in the U.S., the person who “greets” you at the counter is usually some (rightfully so) pissed-off minimum wage employee. They’re probably poor, lower-class and they’re often a minority. Flipping burgers wasn’t on their “What I want to be when I grow up” list when they were kids.

In Finland, you get upbeat people who take pride in their work. They’re almost always under 21. Even the managers look young. Sometimes I walk into a burger place and think I’ve accidently walked into a day-care center. They enjoy their jobs cause they know in a couple years they’ll be doing something else, either a better or job or college. They work just as hard at serving greasy burgers as they will when their managing big companies a few years later. They probably still make minimum wage but since that money is going towards beer & clothes instead of groceries, rent, & baby clothes like in the U.S….it doesn’t bother them too much. I’m not sure a larger salary could fix the ‘unhappiness’ of McDonald’s employees in the U.S. cause, I don’t care how much you pay me, serving Big Macs all day would still piss me off.