Fast food jobs are notorious for low pay, monotony, and poor benefits, to the point where "McJob" came to stand for dead-end employment.

A combination of those factors, along with "not enough hours," inconsistent schedules, and "disrespect," led some 400 fast food workers to go on strike Thursday as part of the "Fast Food Forward" campaign, Salon reports.

Unfortunately, the workforce as a whole can expect their jobs to look and feel more and more like the ones that have driven these workers to strike. Salon's Josh Eidelson spoke to Columbia professor Dorian Warren, who said that “we should think of these jobs as the norm, because even when you look at the high-skilled, high-paying jobs, they’re adopting the low-wage model.”

Because of a weak economy, the decline of unions, and increased management power, Warren expects that more and more American jobs are going to have erratic schedules and poor benefits, not just now, but "for the next few decades."

Retailers, for example, will classify workers as "part-time" or limit work hours to avoid paying for health insurance.

It's part of a culture where workers are seen as a cost to be minimized, rather than an investment.

Unfortunately this both creates unhappy workers and also reduces the pool of people with the skills employers actually need.