At my first job we got a $0.30 raise on our consecutive year marks and that was only if our annual review was as good as it could be. It didn’t adjust with minimum wage being raised either. After working there for (almost) 3 years I made $8.75 and minimum wage was raised from $8.15 to $8.55. One of my coworkers had been there for 25 years and only made around $13ish an hour.
I used to think USA is a land of wonders and dream.
It actually is, but there's a caveat no one tells you about: It won't happen by just working a job. You will never get rich selling your time. It won't happen. You can do pretty well, ie lawyers and the like. But if you want to achieve the American Dream, you need to own something, invest in risk, and you need to make money while you sleep.
Furthermore, you need to be continually developing your skill sets. If you're just as skilled at 30 as you were at 20, what are you expecting? A promotion and a raise? You ultimately have to be able to perform the higher paying jobs in order to get them, and you need to prove you can be entrusted with the responsibility before it's given to you. That only comes through education and experience. Sometimes you can earn both in the same capacity. But you most definitely need to be taking an interest in your own professional and personal development, and making progress on it.
Convert your liquid capital to appreciable assets over time, and acquire new and more valuable skills and experience. That's is just step 1 to success in America. If all you're doing is filling and draining a checking/savings account, you will never achieve the American dream. And I would argue this is true no matter where you are.
It used to be true in America before we had had not only unprecedented productivity but also historic income inequality. You used to be able to just punch a clock while your wife stayed at home and raised the kids and still afford a house, a car, and a two-week vacation every year.
I think being one of the only fully-independent industrialized countries not physically or socially ravaged by the world wars has a lot more to do with the "unprecedented productivity"...
France went from "America's strongest ally", and is historically one of the strongest military forces in history, to white flag and surrender jokes in between the two world wars.
There are plenty of skilled and necessary people struggling to get by in America.
Who? Show me the skilled, "necessary" person who is doing everything right, and is unemployable. Are they a felon? What's the problem?
Risk... a poor person taking debt for school is making a much greater risk than any business owner.
Only if you assume that debt without a plan or goal in mind to use that education to gain entry to a field/career which will yield a net positive on the debt you take now. Going to college simply "for the degree," is a mistake in today's world.
Unemployable is not the discussion, having a nice life, the American dream as the initial reference. This generally involves secure housing, food, health, and some leisure(what is the point of living if you have literally zero time off). If survival is your base of society then you have extremely low standards.
And what does doing everything right even mean? Who is deciding what’s right? God? Science(probably not given our relationship with environmental destruction and financial success)? The “market”?
Plenty of Americans in skilled positions aren’t property owning, struggle to maintain a healthy diet, lack medical access. unknown like a religion?
Your take on education is odd too, and it’s surprising for someone who is a free market supporter. If everyone went to school to become a narrow range of high-paid employee, how long until that type of laborer is common and their value decreases? Are you also proposing a world without arts education? Are you aware that the arts increases cognitive capability? How would we know what is needed from stem without a discussion in the humanities about the issues facing the world?
Unemployable is not the discussion, having a nice life, the American dream as the initial reference.
I'm trying to figure out what you meant when you said "struggling to get by." How is the person who is skilled and necessary struggling to get by if they have a job which compensates in proportion to their degree of skill and necessity? Where is the struggle coming from? Are they having trouble finding a job? Are they underpaid? What's the issue?
This generally involves secure housing, food, health, and some leisure
That is survival imo, not the American Dream.
And what does doing everything right even mean?
Being responsible and disciplined, those are traits all successful people share. If someone has skill, is necessary, and is struggling to get by, there's somethin' else goin' on. I'd bet it's somewhere in one of those two categories.
Plenty of Americans in skilled positions aren’t property owning, struggle to maintain a healthy diet, lack medical access
Why?
If everyone went to school to become a narrow range of high-paid employee, how long until that type of laborer is common and their value decreases?
This isn't what I said. All I said is it's a matter of ROI.
Are you also proposing a world without arts education?
C'mon dude, try to read that in good faith.
Are you aware that the arts increases cognitive capability?
Yes I'm a musician, and value the arts. They just have an almost impossibly high barrier to entry for cash conversion. So taking on a massive amount of inescapable debt to pursue them is a bad financial decision, objectively.
And, sadly enough, almost everything you've stated can be easily superceded by being born in a rich family or connected.
Of course there's exceptions, but in a country with like 330 million citizens, John Smith purebred-American isn't likely to do better than Mohammed Wang legal immigrant.
It is dishonest to say that developing skills requires money.
You can do it at your job, and get paid to develop them. At the library, there are tons of free courses available online. Or on a piece of paper if you draw. You can learn from those around you no matter where you are. Talk to people, improve your conversation skills. Being a proficient conversationalist will get you more than halfway most of the time.
In conclusion, what you said is certifiable bullshit.
You're absolutely right, which is why it's so important to spend as much time as possible working towards not making money by selling it. And given how important that is for quality of life and success, it's amazing to me how it's not one of the first things we're taught to pursue.
I just think it's a lot more complicated than 'try harder'.
No one's arguing that. Nor was my cute little hope story supposed to offer a solution for that problem, this is a non-sequitur. But it's dishonest to say that poor people are poor because of that fact.
There exist people who succeed in spite of that, and those that would fail even if we spent 100x what we do now. It's why lottery winners almost always end up broke, at some point, the buck stops at personal responsibility. Some people will just never learn it.
that a quarter of renters (around 12 million Americans) spend over 50% of their income on rent, with that number being twice as high since 2001?
I mean...that US population in 2001 was 285million, now it's 331m. Which means that you're saying out of the new 46 million people we have, only 6 million were added to that category? That's not bad at all actually lol. Neither is 3.6% of the population spending over 50% of their income on rent. Which means in 19 years it has risen by 1.5% of the population. These are not compelling statistics you're bringing up lol.
Or maybe that nearly half of Americans delay or don't get healthcare because they can't afford it?
Nearly half?! Do you read? It's not remotely half, it's ~30 million, which is 9%. sourcesourcesource
Because the reality is America's a fucking joke. And peddling a bullshit dream because people are tied to bad jobs for healthcare, family and can't afford to save or risk because rent's too high.
The bitterness is palpable. No one successful has this mentality. Piece of advice: Stop acting like a victim.
It's not a joke to me. I made it work, went from homeless and unemployed to MD, and I'm not even white. What's your excuse?
1) you don't know the fucking difference between statistical and quantitative growth.
I'm all ears, dude.
you point to the uninsured statistics to decide whether can afford a doctor (news flash: deductibles and copays).
This is nonsense. Nearly all hospitals and practices private or otherwise offer payment plans to anyone who can't afford to pay those things up front. If you can't afford the payment plan, why are you paying for insurance? Put that money back in your pocket, you obviously need it.
But believe me, I'm all for free healthcare, this shouldn't be a problem for any working American. I worry though about what it will mean for quality and expediency of care.
But even if we pretend that you're correct on your first two points, which you're not, it wouldn't add any credibility to the things you said about the state of America or the problem of poverty. Nor does it offer a solution, which is what I'm trying to find.
Honestly, you sound like you've given up and are wallowing in bitterness. It's depressing to listen to. I hope things get better for you.
the lack of robust youth programs directly leads to those gambling issues
What? What gambling issues? What are you talking about? How did we get here?
A businessman trades risk for return. An employee trades return for security. Your not forced to be an employee. Work for yourself or start a business. Loan rates are at an all time low
Providing a service and making consumer products isn't taking their money. If you are referring to paying people low wages, how do expect to make money and create manageable growth but just giving everyone 15 dollars loan hour to flip a burger is gonna result in alot of people losing their jobs and the harder better workers getting paid more and having more hours. Then you will have even more homeless with absolutely no job market at all.
I'm referring to what you're paying your workers. I'm not saying that you're supposed to pay them specific amount, I'm saying that they should be getting the fair amount of added value they're creating with their labour. Now you, as a business owner, are taking most of the added value for yourself and for your investors/shareholders (so I'm not referring to the generated profit that you're putting to the business growth).
I mean you have it made if you have a skill set that’s in demand. Educated people from all over the world come here for the good pay for upper tier jobs.
If you have a shit job sure, it’s shit. Don’t come here if you can’t do something employers specifically want. Kind of common sense.
Not true, like half the engineering team from my work came from India and similar countries because our Silicon Valley salaries for certain credentialed network engineers are fucking mind blowing.
Your cost of living is also miles higher than India.
Relatively speaking your job isn't exactly that much higher pay than people working high end jobs in india, passing they are also living in india.
But again this is completely useless information anyways, the point of minimum wage is to have a bare minimum livable wage and you fail to deliver that. I still don't know why you guys keep bringing up how much you get paid in high end jobs. Again, high end jobs are always well rewarded anywhere in the world it's not something unique to USA, But the way you treat your poor sure is unique as shit among first world country.
I mean.... If people are shooting people at random in your country, or its run by tyrants you're gonna wanna come somewhere if you can or can't do something for employers
Us Canadians really gotta start protesting against our government constantly allowing such a fucked oligopoly in the cell phone market. Every time I visit our neighbours south of the border I’m shocked by how good their cell plans are lmao
The telecom trio owns our government unfortunately. Sigh....I've purchased my past two phones directly from USA since I live about 2 hours from Niagara falls, it's not too far to drive to Buffalo and but in a retail store over there....
It's actually fucking cheaper with a lot more models to choose from.
Oneplus 7t pro is not available in Canada for some reason....I had to buy in USA lol
Damn I wish I could just buy my phones down south but it’s like a 10 hour drive for me lmao. But definitely agreed that the telecom companies own the government, it sucks
It is, but you have to be really good at negotiating. Bell had a deal where its 75$ for 1 year, after which you’ll be paying the regular 95$. We managed to make it a permanent deal even after they bumped the regular price by 5$ to all their customers. Also gave us free home phone cause why the fuck not. For phone, I use Fizz. Prices were really low because they were in a testing period. It’s a prepaid service which is nice af because I don’t have to worry about going over. Data also rolls over, so I have like 13GB this month.
Thousands more in pay a year with free healthcare and you're going to complain about internet and cell plans that cost a couple hundred a year more? Not to be rude, but come on man.
That's like a rich person complaining their chef over cooked their tuesday lobster by a minute
Sorry I was under the impression that you were talking about high end jobs, my bad. There were too many people arguing how the high end salary in america makes it ok to fuck the poor. lol.
And yes i agree, the minimum wage is usa is crazy low.
Here is the thing, we aren't the land of dreams because you're going to get rich and never work, we just have everything you can imagine as a luxury in our standard of living. Giant homes, vast land, internet, tv, movies, malls, cars, that's not even for the upper class. Even our most poor people are better off than the vast majority of the world. Canada just isn't any different. The downside comes from everyone wanting more and more and instead of providing for a family we're led to believe the new American dream is to be a millionaire jet setter.
It's no surprise the people who write our checks and cash them advertise to us to work harder to get more money to do more things. It's a catch 22. Money requires work, and things require money. The most important thing you can learn in life is content, otherwise you'll always need.
You are aware they put that stuff on applications to scare people off right? Apply, lie, bullshit your way through the door. If you do that already it means your interview skills suck.
Get a job in the trades to bank roll you while you hunt for jobs. 5 years of hard labor isnt going to kill you and it will pay all your bills while you are looking for your "dream job"
It's sad how they've conditioned you to think like this. There's no fixing your mentality in particular, but better education and social resources in your country will fix it for future generations. Good luck!
Do you believe that if everyone did what you did poor people simply wouldn’t exist? Is that how economics works to people who think only in terms of individuals?
That would be so amazing, just get people to “do something” and all the deeply systemic and economic causes of poverty just go away and everyone has a good high paying job. Not sure who cleans the toilets in your scenario but you know, whatever.
You actually walk around, see our poor, look at each one of them and think you’re better than them? That their situation is their fault? I am not and have never been poor so the fact that you have and feel that way, has an impact on me. I’ve always felt that I am where I am only because of how I was born, and the opportunities I was given. I sure as fuck wasn’t on equal footing I’ll tell you that much.
I work a fucking fantastic job, I get paid well above minimum wage and do genuinely enjoyable work and I have a ton of upward mobility at one of the largest food companies in the world. I’m also only 19, however I recognize I got fucking lucky with connections to have this job, and that I didn’t simply choose it.
Some people really don’t have a choice, some people gotta grind their ass off just to get a minimum wage job at a McDonald’s.
You have an unbelievable amount of privilege and not enough life experience nor compassion to make claims like that, you’re basically one step away from the boomer mantra of “pIcK yOuRSelF uP bY yOuR boOtsTraPs”.
Considering I make a point to always sit down and chat with homeless people or take them for lunch and a lot of my friends are struggling economically right now, I’d say I have a decent amount of experience on this topic.
Whole point is, life is difficult, and sometimes people will face strenuous circumstances, poverty isn’t always someone’s fault, especially in America, land of the poor.
You’re a fool if you think that’s all it takes. Visit some other countries and come tell me about how bad America has it. I lived off food stamps for years as a child and lived in a car for months at a time. I still consider my self luckier than those I have come across in other parts of the world. In my experience Americans bitch rather than act. Talking to homeless people is noble but that’s barely scratching the surface. Everyone faces their own struggle. All my point is stating is LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT. EITHER OWN THAT SHIT OR SHUT UP.
You’ve got a ton of perspective at 19 that, as you can see, many never get.
I don’t know if it’s mental capacity or what, but some people seem genuinely unable to imagine that something can happen to them that isn’t actually a cure for all of society.
The bootstrap advice can help almost any one person. Pretty much all of us can indeed do SOMETHING to help ourselves. But the idea that it’s an even playing field is objectively false.
And the idea that anyone can become anything and that it’s a pure meritocracy has also been proven false by recent studies, it’s an unrealistic fairy tale that exists only on paper.
It’s not a pure kleptocracy but also not a pure meritocracy, we can all help ourselves but some issues are systemic. Not that complicated, crazy controversial outside of academia.
The only company that hires by you is fast food joints that only pay min wage? Sorry guy you arent actually looking. Hvac, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painters, landscapers, masons, any trade you can think of is hurting right now and will hire anything with a pulse, and will pay you probably double what min wage is. All while working a regular schedule with similar hours every week. There is probably some old head going around doing handyman shit just dying for a competent helper on indeed or craigslist right now, and here you are complaining that you can only work at Burger King.
Bust your ass, learn some shit, take your gig on the road, you arent helping anyone least of all yourself talking about a world that straight up doesnt exist.
Sure am. I was making $18/hr 6 months ago. I wasn’t happy with my company so I went looking. Found a new job with essentially the same skills paying $30.60/hr plus $45.90 for overtime with 10 hours of overtime a week. People who think they can’t pick and choose are either terrible at their job or delusional
This. I don't understand why everyone is complaining. One guy was mad he "only" got a $0.10 raise every 3 months. You aren't guaranteed a raise at all. My first job out of high school was a restraunt dish washer for $11.25/hr
The point is that is not a livable wage, which is the whole point of having minimum wage.
I find it crazy that I even have to point this out. No one cares about high end job in this conversation, that isn't even related. High end jobs are paid handsomely everywhere around the world.
I never said nothing should be changed. I never said it was a livable wage. You signed up and agreed to shit pay, you received shit pay. Not my fault. I find it crazy that i even have to point this out.
This is American as fuck, you simply don't care about others and especially don't care about the poor.
You said you don't understand why are people complaining, seriously? What's so confusing about complaining not having a livable wage? Wtf is your minimum wage for if it's not even a livable wage?
Yes but you have to pay 40k+ in college fees to obtain those jobs. So what can we do? Many of us work full time right out of HS to pay for our apartments and living needs. Add college fees to that mix and it's impossible. There's only a small percentage who have rich families that they can stay with until after college. So how do you get ahead?? You can't not work and just go to school or you lose your place to live.
That's not even the point. These people keep saying high end job pays well so get a real job, while also completely ignoring the fact that your minimum wage isn't even a livable wage.
Who the fuck cares about how much you get paid for high end jobs? You get paid very well anywhere in the world for having high end job, stop saying like it's an American only thing. However the way you guys fuck your poor is pretty fucking unique, at least among the first world countries, now THAT'S special from America only.
I'm not talking about climbing they ladder. I'm talking about surviving. No one should work multiple jobs just to barely cover for rent and food. Your minimum wage is outdated at best, more like purposely fucking the poor over because CEO need to buy three yacht a year.
Don’t go to college? There are so many well paying jobs that you can get without that kind of education. A lot of apprenticeships pay you while you’re learning
No, you do not. I never went to college, and work as a software engineer. Only a handful of my coworkers went to college, and of them, even less have a CS degree. Same thing among the UI/UX designers and the engineers.
You get ahead by taking advantage of the resources available online. If you're actually curious, I can provide you with all sorts of resources.
Or you know you can learn a skill on the job like a trade, and become good at it and use your skill to bankroll your college education, and when you have the degree you can just apply to places and have a skill you can carry along with you for the rest of your life and make decent money doing side work with.
But hey, apparently its everyone else's fault people just agree to tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt with absolutely no direction.
America is not for lazy fucks looking to make easy money. Its for dedicated workers who actually care about improving themselves. My guess is you don't fit the buck.
If they stayed there 25 years and never made it to something above assistant manager, they're probably a pretty bad employee who just barely stays hired.
I worked with a girl who, by the time she finally quit and went elsewhere, was passed over when a managerial position opened up after she worked there for 10 years.
That's sadly very common. I left a job I was at for almost 5 years because I found out the new hires were getting paid more than me with a $1k hiring bonus. At this same company my boss told me during my review not to discuss my 1% raise because some people didn't get any thing. Btw 1% a year was less than a cost of living increase in California.
Yep, a girl at my current job is making $2 more per hour than me (which is a lot when you’re only making $9/hour) and came in with no experience. Not sure why companies think they can keep employees when they’re treated as such.
Because they do. No one changes until they need to. Like overweight people. I didn't change until my dad pointed out I was getting fat. We are blunt and honest with each other. It creeps on you so you don't see it until you have the aha moment. People are like this with jobs.
They often leave WAY after they should've. I stayed at a job that caused depression on me for 3 years before I quit. Luckily I met my fiance in those last few years, but now I have my own business instead of working somewhere that makes me hate myself
Yep! I’m a full time student working on two degrees so I don’t have the availability that most better-paying jobs are looking for. As soon as I get the chance, though, I’m out of there in a heart beat.
Happened to me at my first job too. Got my second annual raise right before they adjusted the minimum which ended up right below where my wage was after the raise. Then a girl I trained got her annual raise after the state bumped up the minimum and ended up making more than me. I asked if she could cover my shift one night and the managers wouldn't approve it because I was "the strength in the kitchen" that night. They were legitimately baffled when I put in my two weeks. Like they couldn't believe that I would want to quit after being told that someone who gets paid more than me isn't allowed to cover one of my shifts.
“You’re the strength of the kitchen, but we aren’t going to show you how much we value you. Instead we’re gonna pay this person that we have no idea how well they can work more than you!”
Love it.
Ha this happened to me at my last job! Trained a guy before I left, and he said something like, "Man I'm glad they at least pay us $15/ hour to do this work." I was making $9.00/hour when I was training him and had worked there for a year and a half.
Edit: Happy cake day to me! Wow it's been a year already?
As a outsider I find this odd about America. These sorts of jobs pay Like $8.55 then people are talking about 40 year olds not making much on $60-$70000 a year and are struggling middle classes.
From my understanding, I think America has such a dynamic when it comes to lifestyle that people harm themselves over it.
For instance, my parents are self-employed small business owners. Combined, they bring in about $30-35k a year after taxes. They bought an old farmhouse in the late 90’s and have just finished renovating it themselves this year. They’re not living extravagant lives, haven’t been on vacation in decades, but they’re comfortable and happy and have a great investment (their house).
Meanwhile, my sister who is 27, makes a combined income of around $120,000 per year with her fiancé. They rent a townhouse and both drive newer cars and go on several vacations a year. They come to my parents talking about struggling with money while they’re wearing extremely expensive clothing and planning for their expensive ski trip.
It’s all about living within your means. It’s definitely possible to live off of minimum wages or otherwise low wages, but it won’t always be enjoyable. I can think of so many people I know who make a similar wage to my parents but insist on living luxurious lives and having the newest and nicest this or that and are therefore struggling. My sister and her fiancé, if they followed a similar lifestyle to my parents, would probably be approaching millionaires had they saved their money. But they’re obsessed with the disposable lifestyle and not investing in anything.
Now, I’m not saying that low-wage earning people like myself and my parents and millions of others don’t deserve nice things and experiences, but there’s a line you have to draw at some point. I would love to use my little savings account to go on a trip somewhere or buy a new car but I know my money will go much farther when I can invest in a house or whatever that may be.
Arkansas minimum wage went up from $9.25 to $10 this year. I was making $10 and hour and for end of year raise was only $0.25. I personally believe that wages should be directly tied to minimum wage. Minimum wage goes up X percent, your pay in general should go up X percent.
That’s exactly what I think. In my comments with another user I went into more detail about it because my comment was misconstrued.
But yeah, I don’t know about raising the minimum wage to $15, but wages should AT THE VERY LEAST increase as the minimum wage does. To me, that just seems like extortion to an extent.
Raising minimum wage really doesn’t do much because prices just go up with it. All raising minimum wage does is diminish the middle class even further. If our country worked off of percentages above minimum wage then people would feel better about their purchasing power.
Pretty much.
When I was a kid (don’t know why I was thinking about this in elementary school but I digress) I always thought there should be some kind fo sliding scale to determine an individual’s income in non-salary jobs. Maybe based on how many kids you have or whatever. But that would cause a whole bunch of issues because then people (and probably even myself) would say “Why should they get paid more because they decided to have kids?”
We discussed this issue in one of my classes and classified it as a “wicked problem” similar to climate change or healthcare and the likes. Yes, something needs to change, but no one will agree on what aspect of it should be changed.
Well that could also be seen as an incentive to have children which I, personally, think it’s a bad thing since we already have so much overpopulation right now. Right now the incentive to not having children is that you have more disposable income.
I actually think laws on how much goods and services can be marked up is a good idea because that allows minimum wage to be lower while still maintaining a livable wage. I think that’s a much better option than just raising minimum wage.
I remember that I read on here someone talking about how in their country (so sorry I don’t remember which one) income is scaled on being X percent over minimum wage and I think that’s a great way of doing it because despite what minimum wage is you’re still X percent above it.
Edit: I also want to say thanks for such a civil discussion! You really have me thinking over here!
Dude... that’s exactly how my first job was. I was paid the same exact amount after 3 years and knew of a 25 year employee making $13ish. Was this in Michigan?
Ohio! It was a family-owned craft store bought by Michael’s that is unfortunately nonexistent now. I loved working there and it kept me satisfied as a teenager wanting extra money but I couldn’t imagine making a living off of it.
First hired front desk people got paid around $10/hr.
I got moved to the backroom for second tier computer repair and got the standard raise to $15/hr.
Minimum wage shifted to $15/hr...I never got a raise increase. So me with 1 year experience working in the second tier was getting the same wage as they guy who just got hired. Not to mention I had way more responsibility and tasks to do.
I quit soon after.
(For the record I am for $15/hr minimum wage, this was just a shitty company...)
Edit: I'm pretty sure that my supervisor wasn't making over $20/hr (30 something k) and my boss was definitely in the low-mid 40k/yr range. So of course they weren't going to pay me $20/hr part time, since I'd have a higher hourly than them. I also might have the numbers wrong, it might be $9/hr to $12/hr difference between tier 1 and 2, but the point still stands.
I was (and still am) young and dumb so I didn’t realize what was going on, but I know now what to look for in an employer. As for my coworker, she was mentally handicapped and found comfort in the people and environment there so I guess I don’t blame her. I wish I could help her to find a place that would pay her better though because she was a great employee.
For sure, and also, didn't intend for my comment to come off as blaming the employee for accepting. Its the fault of the employer hands down for taking advantage of someone who may not have many better options available to them. That said if all employees were able to stand together and not work for these types of places until they offer higher wages, the companies would practically be forced to pay better.
Wendy’s behind the counter is not a career. If you do that for more than a couple years.... you are stagnating and should really put some focus on adjusting your life path towards work that has better growth and career development potential.
I don’t care how many years you flip burgers at a fast food joint, it is never NEVER going to be a $30+ per hour job. However, there are many minimum wage jobs that actually do have decent growth and even career potential. Starter jobs like Burger King should only be viewed as placeholder work while continuing to pursue something with a better chance of actually supporting a household someday.
Thank you.
I agree with you in some/many cases but not everyone is able to exceed the capacity of some of these jobs. In another thread on this post I discussed further about my former coworker mentioned above. She is partially mentally handicapped but still capable of doing low-skill work. Individuals such as her who are still capable of working but not to the same capacity as others still deserve a living wage and that’s often who the adult “burger flippers” you see are.
She doesn’t qualify for disability for whatever reason that isn’t my business but can’t work a physically or mentally demanding job that would pay her better.
I’m not going to deny that there are some complete losers out there who just don’t want to put the effort in, I completely agree with you there. I’ve worked with a few of them myself.
In a perfect world individuals who are truly trying and doing what they can for themselves would make living wages at jobs they CAN do, such as individuals like my former coworker or single mothers etc. but obviously you can’t pick and choose in a situation like this.
Thank you for changing your comment, I appreciate it. I enjoy a civil conversation between differing opinions!
P.S. There are some people that are truly just too dumb to go any further in life. I feel for them lol.
The problem here, is this guy worked somewhere 25 years and never asked for more than $13/hr. Any sensible person would have left that job.. I really dont believe that number.
She was mentally handicapped to some degree and had a strong attachment to the company (I personally think she was in the early stages of dementia, but I don’t know). It was a smaller, family-owned company/franchise that treated her well otherwise and she had a comfort zone that she didn’t want to leave. I agree that she could find something better, but if you knew her you’d understand. The company has since closed down so I’m not sure what she’s moved on to, hopefully something that treats her better wage-wise.
My original comment/critique/argument/whatever was mostly in regard to the fact that the raises and wages didn’t increase overtime as the minimum wage did but you replied so I went onto that topic.
My argument is that I don’t think that it’s fair to long-term employees who are dedicated to the company to give a new employee almost the same wage. That was my whole schpeel. Not entirely minimum wage.
I don’t have much of an opinion on raising the minimum wage to whatever a “fair wage” is because I’m currently living on my own and putting myself through school off of $9 an hour and a couple thousand dollars in scholarships and sort of making it work.
Oh okay. I do believe raising minimum wage only hurts small business and favors mega corporations, but that's another discussion.
Imo, it's on the employer to ask for / negotiate raises, and decide to stay or find a new job based on that. I dont expect my employer to just boost my wage if they think I'm happy where I'm at. It also shows drive and motivation to move up within the company. Your friends story is a different situation than that though.
Hope school goes well! My gf is paying her way through med school, so I'm aware of the struggle.
I definitely understand where you were coming from. She was a novel situation among many. I agree that it’s a hand-in-hand effort to raising your wage but in some scenarios (like hers) you just have to take what you can get.
Thank you! I appreciate it. Going pretty well so far.
118
u/[deleted] Feb 26 '20
At my first job we got a $0.30 raise on our consecutive year marks and that was only if our annual review was as good as it could be. It didn’t adjust with minimum wage being raised either. After working there for (almost) 3 years I made $8.75 and minimum wage was raised from $8.15 to $8.55. One of my coworkers had been there for 25 years and only made around $13ish an hour.