my life sucks.
so i've been at my job 90 days and was up for review, which meant i got to ask for a much needed raise (i make $14K after taxes. terrible). so i asked for my review and got put off for 3 days. then today, at 5 minutes until i got off, my one boss remaining in the office comes up and was like, 'well, M & F aren't here (again) so...here's your review!' which totally took me off guard.
he went on to talk about how awesome i am and how everyone loves me there and how they're going to start having me do more stuff (finally) and then sneaks in: 'and we're giving you a thousand dollar raise' and then keeps on talking. and i'm like WTF because i've done my homework and KNOW that that's bullshit (it comes out to about $65 a month...before taxes). i mean.. i have a fucking MASTERS DEGREE. and i do WHATEVER THEY TELL ME TO DO. but since he just kept talking and made it sound very non-negotiable, i just kind of sat there, stunned.
the average salary for my job in my area with my experience is like $18K (which still sucks). i'm barely barely barely making it at $16K (this is before taxes). my student loans are up in about 3 months. i can hardly afford to LIVE at this point, let alone pay LOANS off! and the main point is that i really want to start saving money, for, you know, my future. which i will have none of at this point. the thing is, they're really nice, and i somewhat enjoy working there now, but... i can't afford to work there!
my dad said i should go back in in the morning and very nicely tell them that i got taken off guard and that i have done my homework and know what the average salary for my job is and that i was wondering if that raise is negotiable. ok, so as if i wasn't terrified enough about just asking for a raise, now i have to look a gift horse in the mouth and say that the raise they're giving me isn't enough? i'm so fucking upset right now, i can't even function.
i actually got this job through my college's career services. the problem is that my MA is in photography, and i live in a sucky small wv town for now and there is no real...job in that area here. i mean, i still do photography, but i want to teach at the university level and honestly probably need even more education but i'm sort of stuck here for the moment and this is what i got stuck with.
i actually got this job through my college's career services. the problem is that my MA is in photography, and i live in a sucky small wv town for now and there is no real...job in that area here. i mean, i still do photography, but i want to teach at the university level and honestly probably need even more education but i'm sort of stuck here for the moment and this is what i got stuck with.
Understandable. What an awesome major!! Have you thought of starting your own business? An entry in the yellow pages paired with a good website showing some of your work could get big responses. There's a lot of work out there in industrial and commercial photography. I work at a printing company- all of the designers crave a good photographer for shooting their annual reports, corporate pieces, brochures, you name it. One of the guys I've worked with runs his own show and is very successful:
http://www.cademartin.com
sounds like you did well.. yay!
Good for you for sticking to your guns! I always have trouble with being assertive, so I know how scary it can be. But way to go! I hope it works out well for you.
PineapplePrincess - my hands were shaking as i gave him my printouts i was so nervous.
GreenT - i'm more on the fine arts end of photography, not commercial. i don't really have a head for commercial photography and what works for it... and don't really have a background in it, anyway. but i can take some artsy fartsy photos very well. unfortunately, they're not marketable except to galleries, and then only very few. i should work on my marketability.
p.s. still waiting on a response.
It sounds like they are a bunch of greedy people, who can more than afford to pay you what you deserve! So, good for you for having that talk with your boss. That took a lot of guts and I hope it pays off for you...no pun intended! ;)
I'm there with you AP, life sucking I mean. ::) But it can only get better, right?! Good for you for sticking up for yourself! If anything at least you will have the piece of mind that you did all you could.
If anything at least you will have the piece of mind that you did all you could.
exactly. i know nothing more than i did before i came to work today, but i feel a million times better. if it doesn't work out in my favor.. there will be other jobs. i just would like this one to work out.
Seems like they are really making you wait for your answer... Good luck with everything! Hope it all works out for you. I think it takes alot of guts to stick up for yourself in the situation you were in. You should be proud of yourself no matter what happens. But a raise would be great!
don't let them string you along, they should have an answer to you on monday...no excuses!!
Good luck to you!!! You won't get anything unless you ask!
I'm curious is the "average" salary you're asking for the average starting salary for someone just starting out and they are trying to cheat you?
I'm wondering because when one is starting out it's unrealistic to expect the "average" salary for your field because people have to work a while to get that.
i'm going to ask on monday about what they've decided. i know that my pay is not going to be great, guys. but i'm making about 4K less than the LOWEST quartile in my payscale. and it's less than $10/hour. i know they don't really care about my masters degree... but i feel that it should count for something at least. like, if they thought i was overeducated for the job, they shouldn't have hired me. i know for a fact that plenty of people with associates and bachelors degrees interviewed for my job.
i just want to be paid fairly, that's all. and i don't think that 16-17K a year is fair. yeah yeah life's not fair. whatever.
AP...did they ever give you an answer?
yeah, what the hell? what a bogus deal that is. I mean, I'd love to be making more than $6,000 annually, but my living expenses are relatively low and I don't even have a BA yet. You definitely deserve better than this crap.
I admire you for doing all the research and confronting your boss with it! If the people in charge don't get their heads outta their asses, you can tell them you're taking your work elsewhere, to somewhere you'll be appreciated and paid fairly.
AP... I'm dying to know what happened!!! :o :o
You are SERIOUSLY UNDEREMPLOYED and sadly there are millions of others in your exact situation, complete with student loan bubbles about to burst. >:( WHY DO SO FEW IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE MOST OF THE WEALTH WHILE SO MANY HAVE NOTHING? The middle class is being destroyed in America. The "trickle down economics" we have seen for years on end really translates to "breadcrumbs for the peasants," and the peasants are supposed to be happy with their breadcrumbs. Why do the CEOs here make 100 to 1000 times the annual wages of their average employee? Is this social and economic justice? Is this ethical? Moral? There was not such economic disparity in previous generations. Why does the gap between rich and poor get wider and wider, while the middle class continues to shrink? Does anybody care? Perhaps I am the only one outraged...
A young receptionist has no parity when bargaining with management at a law firm. You have done everything you can do under the circumstances.
The higher education institutions (i.e. our wonderful universities and colleges) also share much blame, as they have no real concern if their grads can obtain employment related to their degree, or whether they can repay huge amounts of student loan debt. The same can be said for "vocational schools." The schools have already been handsomely paid for your education. Why has the cost of a college education risen much higher year after year than the rate of inflation? I submit that because of federal student loans, our universities can charge artificially high and unjustifiable rates for tuition. I predict the student loan market will soon collapse, just as the home mortgage market recently collapsed.
Democracy... shouldn't this mean "the greatest good for the greatest number of people?"
THIS IS OUR COUNTRY, TOO!
mr.C - this has been an ongoing conversation in my household a lot as of late. not much i can do about it now though. except vote.
everyone else - i posted this in the chitchat thread too, but i haven't heard anything yet. i was going to ask yesterday because it had been a week since i'd talked to him, but he was in and out of the office all day and with a client when i left. i'm going to try to find out what's going on today. so i'll let you know later!
...WHY DO SO FEW IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE MOST OF THE WEALTH WHILE SO MANY HAVE NOTHING? The middle class is being destroyed in America. The "trickle down economics" we have seen for years on end really translates to "breadcrumbs for the peasants," and the peasants are supposed to be happy with their breadcrumbs. Why do the CEOs here make 100 to 1000 times the annual wages of their average employee? Is this social and economic justice? Is this ethical? Moral? There was not such economic disparity in previous generations. Why does the gap between rich and poor get wider and wider, while the middle class continues to shrink? Does anybody care? Perhaps I am the only one outraged...
...
>:( arg, tell me about it! There are plenty of us who are outraged by now, but even my youthful optimism dwindles as I become more and more cynical about what change could actually happen in this country, in this age...
I guess AP is right, all we can really do is exercise our right to vote, continue to try to make our voices heard...
AP, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!
i just asked and was told that they've been really busy this week and haven't had a chance to discuss it.
i feel like crying.
maybe you should call their bluff and give a 2 week notice. really if you don't get more money you should get something else anyway. They don't respect you at all.....calling you "that girl", making you run stupid errands, talking to yo like you are a kid, etc. You are an educated woman and you deserve so much more!!!!
Pages