Baristas should be paid close to the same as nurses and both should be able to have functional work life balance I hate that this is some radical belief. Baristas deserve to pay their bills and nurses deserve to not constantly live on the edge of burnout. This shouldnt be hard.

I have nothing against baristas making a living wage but I also don't want somebody making $35hr looking me in the face asking for a tip.

I have a different take on this. I agree that everyone deserves a living wage, but the amount to live keeps rising as wages do. What needs to happen is regulation. We need to make essentials cheaper. Utilities, healthcare, housing, food. Corporations are addicts, and we have fed them their drug. They need to be forced into rehab. Let’s face it, if corp “a” labor costs go up. They raise prices to cover that +, and then blame the total increase on increased labor cost and then we are all screwed.