1mo ago

The harder I work the less I'm paid

41 comments

You're not paid for how hard you work, you're paid for how hard you are to replace.
- Only if your bosses are careful, and most aren't.
- True. If you get yourself an interesting skill set, either your employer will pay accordingly or you won't have difficulty finding one that does.
  "Act your wage" is just a poor excuse to normalize laziness.
  
  True. If you get yourself an interesting skill set, either your employer will pay accordingly or you won’t have difficulty finding one that does.
  The entire video game industry would love a word.
  
  When I got paid minimum wage to work at a grocery store, I certainly didn't give it 100% every day. They paid me minimum wage because they wanted to pay me less, but the law wouldn't let them. Why should I stress myself out for a job like that? Of course I shouldn't, and it didn't bother my bosses that it took it easy on a regular basis.
  The same general principle applies to other jobs as well. If you're fairly low on the totem pole and some the big problem comes up that could affect the company in a major way, you'd be out of your mind to try to tackle it yourself. They don't pay you enough to risk your job to tackle it yourself. It's your boss or your boss's problem.
  
  In theory, yes.
  I've painted myself into a corner with the skills I've acquired. The job isnt common so the few of us in these roles have to leave completely in order for a vacancy to open up.
  In theory I have transferable skills, but in a job that's more common there will be more people with those exact skills competing for those roles. So by comparison, I become a risky hire in a sea of perfectly qualified candidates.
  You'd think this means my "lucrative skills" are fairly compensated, but I assure you they are not. If I don't get a raise and I complain, they remind me that I can leave if I'm not happy.
  It's in my nature to work hard regardless of my salary or working conditions, so I'll never "quiet quit" or "act my wage", but I understand why a lot of people do.

Act your wage.
- Take your exployer as an example. They want to get the most return for the least investment. This is "good business."
  You just want to do "good business" for yourself. Since your return (wage) is essentially fixed by what the company is willing to pay you, the only way for you to maximize the equation for yourself is to work as little as possible.
- So just act like I'm worth 6 figures and I'll get it? Gotcha!

I found this to be true too. 16 years old minimum wage supermarket job: had to work every second of the shift and was micromanaged to hell.
Now a professional engineer earning almost 10 times minimum wage and I have to pace myself so that I don't run out of work during the 3 days I'm in the office, followed by 2 days WFH where I rarely have any work left to do.
- You should use those 2 days to maybe see a doctor... rectal cancer is no joke.
- Heck I'm just the janitor for a wealthy company and for the first time it's a gig where I don't hate everyone and everything because of my job.
  I still hate everyone and everything, but that has more to do with my pay than the work involved.

Yes. You either be a hard worker and you get exploited by an increasing workload without an increase in pay. Or you do exactly what you are paid for and no more.

I make the most I've ever made in my adult life and I am doing the least I've ever done in my adult life. Checks out.
- This is also a privilege, most people don't break out from endless toil for daddy
  
  Ain't that the truth.

I mean, yeah, that's the American dream. I get six figures and work like maybe 3 hours a day on a busy day. When I was 16 I was washing dishes for $5 an hour and it was 8+ hours of constant, hard work, every fucking day
- Yeah but in order to get a job like that your either need to be a nepo baby or you actually need to have a skill that is in demand enough to where it is cheaper to keep you around despite not squeezimg every minute of work.
  And only way to get there is to spend some serious time on studying and working hard.
  
  Even then, you need to have 10+ years of workplace experience coming out of school. The standards have been lifted to nearly unattainable heights for things that people with less qualifications would've gotten 30 years ago.
  
  And only way to get there is to spend some serious time on studying and working hard.
  Naw, you just need a skill that's in high demand with low amount of qualified or interested individuals. You had it right in the first half. I make decent money and learned everything on the job. I was just willing to do boring data and implementation work that others seem to shy away from.
- What do you do? (You don't need to be specific)
  
  Systems analyst

Sixteen Tons. Another day older and deeper in debt.
- Funny, a variation of this song came on my Pandora station immediately after I read this comment.
  
  Yeah he does good stuff
- reference for those who don't know

That’s why I do only what I deem necessary or interesting.

Seriously, nobody gives a damn how hard you work. Just be extra clear about what people want, what they actually notice, what you can do to get that done and what makes sense for you to do.
I learned that the hard way when I worked my ass off and nobody noticed but even worse thought I was arrogant and whatnot.
Nobody givea a damn about how hard you work especially if you make mistakes.

Sometimes I think about American Beauty. I love that film, but I always have to warn people that it's the "Best movie that aged horribly."
(I mean except for the films like Dazed and Confused which were intended to be contemporary, but are so of their time that they accidentally made a period piece)
There's just so many reasons why it doesn't line up with reality. (First time I saw it I laughed at the idea of "secret government weed" in a film that wasn't a stoner comedy, and the fact that they cast a busty actress for the girl who wants a boobjob and a not-so-busty one for the one who doesn't.. Which I guess could work as commentary, but the way the movie plays it not so much.), but two that really stand out
Kevin Spacey playing a man who not-so-secretly longs for his (teenage) daughter's (underage) friend in a lustful manner

At one point, after realizing he isn't happy working hard for an American Dream he has grown bored of quits his job. This is fresh on the heels of the realization that he can maintain his lifestyle (Suburban house, husband and wife have their own car, only one member of the household works) by working a stress-free no responsibility job as a McDonalds Fry Cook.
Honestly the second one is far more shocking and offensive.