> Hayne was already one of them, having worked at a McDonald’s as well as a Burger King in the 2000s. She knew how unpleasant the work could be. “You don’t get paid shit, and people are so rude,” Hayne said.
What makes you doubt it? To engage in this behavior in the first place strongly suggests so. Read the article and her description of the situation, she thinks she is the victim here (a common theme). Watch the video and how abusive she is being to the worker involved.
You’re making the same flawed assumption the judge did, that working one of these jobs at one point in your life gives you some kind of magical empathy. It clearly does not.
I make no claims about her ability to feel empathy; anyone who is throwing food around is struggling on the empathy front.
But if she has previously worked in a service job it seems unlikely that she sees people working service jobs as beneath her in principle. If anything she probably sees them as near-peers and is acting out of a warped sense of social competition.
One thing I’ve noticed: some people lose all empathy for their former selves. Like all of it. It’s like there is no continuity between the two persons. Maybe they were fat and lost weight, or were a young adult and had to work in a fast food chain. Well immediately when they are out of that predicament they just roll their eyes at how unworthy/dumb their former selves are.
As a direct consequence they are rubbish at feeling sympathy for other people that are also in that situation. It’s like their own experience has been emotionally discarded.
I have a brother that is a successful bond trader. When he was a young buck, he griped that he and the other traders would bust their asses all year, and at the end of the year each division would be allocated some pot of money based on how well their division did at generating profit. It was entirely at the discretion of their boss not only how to split the pot among the traders, but how much to keep for himself. The unfairness!
35 years on my brother has been that top boss for awhile. And now, you see, the world is a meritocracy: both those who have everything and those who have nothing are getting what they deserve. What a great way to salve any remaining pangs of conscience over being on top and not needing to worry about those with nothing.
I doubt she sees them as beneath her.