From Taco Bell in Ballard to a Burger King in Lake City to Subway and Qdoba in Capitol Hill, the rolling fast food strike continues around town. I stopped by the Taco Del Mar in the University District this morning, which was set to open at 10 a.m. In front, a few dozen protesters were shouting and holding signs.

This Taco Del Mar, employees outside told me, is run by three employees, total. Two of them were standing outside chanting and waving signs:

"Supersize my salary now!"
"We want change, and we don't mean pennies!"
"Lucha? Si! Entrega? No!"

One was inside, opening the store on time. I asked the guys outside why they were striking, and they talked about low wages and a lack of respect from management. "We're hoping the other employee comes out," said Alfonso Arellano, who's worked there for about 10 months. "We want to let him know he's not alone."

I asked Arellano how he felt about striking and why he went for it. "At first, I was afraid," he said, "but then I realized this is really important. I've been struggling, financially... This is a movement, and it's growing very fast." And he wants to be part of it.

Arellano's coworker Fernando Cruz has worked here for about five years. In that time, Cruz told me, he's gotten about a 50-cent raise, to $10.50 an hour. He also tells me he works at least 52 hours a week, with no benefits and no overtime pay. Two days a week, he works 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. "Three weeks ago," he said, "I asked the boss for a raise, and he said no, this store doesn't have enough sales." Cruz has a wife and three kids under 10, and he commutes in from Lynnwood. "I like this job," he tells me. "I like talking to customers." He's been here long enough to know a lot of people in the neighborhood and have regulars. But he still wants "a better salary, benefits, and most importantly, respect."

Inside, Leonardo, who says he's worked here for about four years, is waiting at the ingredient line behind the sneeze-glass; one customer silently eats lunch at a table behind us. Leonardo's not hesitant to talk to me, and says he knows exactly what's going on outside.

"I'm not saying no" to walking off the job, he explains. "If I see them get stronger, I'll go out." He says "all the corporations" tend to exhibit the same poor treatment of workers, it's bigger than just this one store. But he seems uncertain if striking is the answer.

Eventually, the crowds outside leave. This little shop on a side street off The Ave doesn't get too much foot traffic anyway; it stays quiet. The news cameras and recorders slip away. Leonardo stays inside.

People can talk all they want about how you should get a better job if you want more money (that's what the lone luncher there told me, basically), or how if you pay people more you'd have to hire fewer people or raise prices, but these asks—a living wage, benefits, overtime pay—are totally fucking reasonable. The only reason $15 an hour seems crazy is because working class expectations have degraded over time through poor treatment, as the cost of living goes up and wages stagnate. And it's bullshit. If you make $10 an hour and work full time, you make around $20,000 a year. As Dom pointed out recently, the average studio apartment in Seattle costs you almost a thousand dollars ($991, to be exact). So if you're spending $12,000 a year on rent, you're living on $8,000 a year for food, transportation, bills, and living your fucking life. You fucking do that, see if it doesn't tire you out. I've done it, and it's exhausting. And the idea that some people should just accept that their lot in life is to toil miserably forever so you can get cheap burritos is a shitty argument.