system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The trope in media where the high school bully ends up working fast food or retail and the main character works a successful job is harmful and reeks of classism.

Growing up as a kid I’ve seen this trope constantly; the main character gets bullied in high school but later on the bully is stuck working in the same town they grew up in as a busboy or flipping burgers while the main character is successful in the well paying job of their dreams.

I bought into that trope hook line and sinker all throughout my life and thought if I worked hard and got good grades I’d be set for life in a great career. Well that didn’t happen and I realized the field I studied in college was a lot more competitive than I originally thought it was. Now the only jobs that will hire me are retail and customer service type jobs.

The reason that this trope is harmful is that it buys into the notion that working these types of menial jobs is almost a type of karmic punishment, and that to end up working these jobs for the rest of your life means you’re a failure and must have done something bad to only be qualified for these types of jobs when that simply isn’t true. 

The fact of the matter is the job market for well paying jobs is more competitive than ever and you don’t only have to be qualified for a job to get it, you have to be overqualified to the point where you’re insanely talented and have connections with a bunch of people to even have a SHOT at getting an interview for the job.

This notion of low paying menial work = you’re a terrible person who deserves it is everywhere in media. We had it hammered into our heads as a kid to go to college so we don’t end up like failures working customer service or at fast food restaurants. Only that make us even more depressed and ashamed of ourselves when they’re the only jobs that will hire us because of this fucked up economy that gives a leg up to the wealthy, privileged and connected, but not the people who deserve it.

I really think this trope needs to die in fiction because it’s predicated on the idea that people who are talented and good at something will automatically get a better paying prestigious job with benefits when that’s almost certainly not the case. Tons of talented people who deserve to work in the field they studied in college get passed over every day because ‘somebody was better’ and there was only 1 position to fill. Companies want to save a buck and hire only one person instead of 20 so competition for that job becomes more stiff than ever.

Edit: I first wanna say that I’m not suggesting media should reflect reality and be accurate but rather that these tropes and harmful stereotypes have an effect on how people view society and poor minimum wage workers in general. Media affects how people view the world and I’m arguing this trope is harmful.

Edit 2: A bunch of people have asked what I majored in. I received a BFA in animation in 2015.
gpt
Stories don't have to reflect reality. 

How many survival stories end with the main character dying of dehydration half way through the movie? In reality, most people would just die, and not make it to the end. 

How many action movies end with the main character getting shot in the back 2/3rds of the way into the movie? In reality, war is cruel and many people don't make it. 

Stories are written by the winners. Stories are written, by the people that make it through. Part of what makes a story compelling, is that so many people fail, yet the main character succeeds (generally). 

Jackie Robinson, is an inspiring story, precisely because it was so difficult for black men to find prestige in that era. The fact he succeeded where so many others failed to find success, is what makes it a story. If every person who wanted to play major league baseball, could regardless of race, then the story would be pointless.