Ok...since I am not a morning person and I am in rare form this morning, I have something to say... Maybe its because I dont pay attention to politics as much as I should, maybe its because I am busy trying to make ends meet etc. But the whole raise the minimum wage to $10/Hr has me scratching my head. I have been employed, full-time, mind you, since 1997. I came to Forsyth County in 1999. I am a trained professional with a college degree. After 15 years of service and numerous training courses not to mention continuing education, and other various certifications, I just recently started earning $17/Hr. I have had to have various part time jobs throughout the years. Some were to get me through college, some to supplement my income and some were just because I enjoyed it. Some jobs I made minimum wage, some jobs I made more. Some I had benefits and some I didnt. My point is this...while I would have liked to make more money, I couldnt resonate to people why I wanted more money for the skill involved in the job. I just wanted more money because I wanted more money. But who doesnt? I knew that if I wanted to make more money, I had just a few choices. 1. Work more often 2. Get an additional job to supplement the difference of the income I wanted to achieve 3. Find another, higher paying, job 4. Do what was necessary to find a better job or increase my hourly rate. For example, get a degree, earn a promotion etc. And I did those things. I make more money now when I started my career, but guess what? I still struggle. Some weeks I live pay check to pay check. Know why? Because I live outside my means sometimes. I want what richer people have. And you know what? If I get a pay raise, I will still continue to struggle, because I want nice things. If I won the lottery, I would struggle for some reason (unbeknownst to me as to why, but I would like to have that opportunity to try) because I, like most Americans, live outside my means because I want nice things. Now, I keep hearing people talk about fast food workers on strike because they want $10/hour. And I have no problem with them earning more money for the job they do, but in turn, we need to increase the pay of the people who do more than they do. Stay with me here folks...An Executive Chef makes anywhere between $34,000 to $98,000. They are in charge of prepping food, training their staff for food prep, cooking, and serving. They go to school for quite some time to learn how to make just about anything under the sun at the request of the patron. And for those of you that need it converted, that salary range is about $16-$47/hour. A Line Cook or Station Chef makes between $7.50 to $15/ hour. Now keep in mind a line cook or station chef is part of the team that follows the instructions of the executive chef. They are still skilled at their part of the food service and have highly specialized training and on the job training. I am looking at it like this...if a chef makes that little, then a fast food worker who has signs up to show them how to assemble the food they are serving shouldnt make as much as they do. Now again before everybody jumps on me. I have no problem with raising the minimum wage...IF it also raises what I make since I consider myself to be more skilled and trained at the profession I have chosen. I am trained to do things the average person cannot do. I have no problem with people wanting a better life for themselves or their families, but it needs to be justified and it needs to be across the board. If Congress is willing to increase my pay to reflect what I do and the training I have sustained in addition to raising the minimum wage to $10/hour, so be it. But, if you raise the wage and dont do so across the board, we as a nation are saying to people, dont worry about bettering yourself. Go get a minimum wage job and earn what a skilled professional with a college degree makes. Better yet, you will earn what they do and wont start out with the debt that most college students do! We used to get what was called a cost-of-living raise. They took that away and now any pay increase you receive is performance based. Is Congress basically saying they are going to give America a cost-of-living raise or are they going to just raise the value of minimum wage thus narrowing the gap between the unskilled and skilled? Depends on who and what the overall effect is if I am going to support it. We have become a nation of people who no longer want to EARN their way, but believe they are ENTITLED to their way. We use to say people were in for a rude awakening when they got into the workforce...but now, maybe it is those of us who worked hard to earn our living that are in for the rude awakening... end of rant. Have a Good Day Folks!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:03:12 +0000