> For a restaurant worker, that could be things like finding ways to boost sales, reduce wastage, find less expensive vendors, improve efficiency, etc. It's highly unlikely that any restaurant has successfully optimized all aspects of their operations.

What, for free? He isn't being paid to do that.

Perhaps you misunderstood that the point of it was to demonstrate your higher value and hence you were worth more pay.

If you choose to do as little as possible, it does make for a tough negotiating position when asking for more pay.

When I've gone into my boss's office and negotiated for more pay, I'd come in prepared to show how I'd already demonstrated higher value to the company. Sometimes I walked out with a raise, and other times I failed and started looking for another boss who did value what I could do for him.

Forgive me for making assumptions about you, but, you sound as though you have never even known anyone who worked this kind of job. What you're describing would likely earn you enmity or a very antagonistic working relationship with your coworkers.

I do understand that demonstrating higher value and then successfully negotiating for a raise can earn you the enmity of your coworkers. People are only human, after all.

On the other hand, I knew coworkers who were thieves and justified it with their notions of entitlement. I didn't exactly feel inclined to trust them, either, and trust is a basic element of friendship.

So I guess we all get to make our choices and accept the consequences.

Nobody is trying to justify thievery and of course you shouldn't trust thieves. My point is that if you pay your workers the lowest possible wages, you shouldn't be surprised if quality suffers.

> What you're describing would likely earn you enmity or a very antagonistic working relationship with your coworkers.

I.e., the old crabs in a bucket story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality

Thank you for that link, I had never heard it referred to as Crab Mentality. Note I wasn't describing my own life philosophy, but rather my observations.

Your comment suggests that you are analyzing the situtation as a static configuration rather than a dynamic system.

From a static point of view where the job situtation will never change it doesn't make sense to put in an effort that exceeds the compensation but that 'solution' is certainly non-optimal from dynamic point of view where the employment contract gets continually revised over time resulting in raises, promotions or perhaps shifting to a new employer where your experience and skills result in a better employment situation.