"There is no reason why someone can't make $50/hr..."

As said by someone today. We were having a discussion about the economy.

I said I knew a number of women who weren't getting any support from their exes. She said no ex will pay up so that shouldn't be expected to support a child.

I said that there aren't very many jobs in this area and that the pay is low. She said that McDonald's pays $10 an hour (not where I live) and that there is no reason why you can't get a decent paying job.

I mentioned a woman that I know who is an exotic dancer. She said that person is morally bankrupt. I said that at least she is supporting her child. Then she said,

"There is no reason why someone can't make $50 an hour, if they work hard enough. I do."

(This is from the same woman who used to lie to the state about how much she made. She said she made $600 a month-enough to get all kinds of assistance. She really made $3500 a month. And everything she owned was in a relative's name so she could get assistance.)

to make that if I was willing to prostitute myself, lol. The person I know that makes the most just graduated from nursing school and she might take a job making $30 an hour. It's funny how some people work the system like that, isn't it? My sister in law is like that; she is a master that way. :(

I don't see how. I have a friend who lives in the same city, has quite a bit more education and experience (like the person you know she's an RN and she makes $38 an hour) and she doesn't make $50 an hour.

I really think it there was something not quite right there. And like I informed her-I had no problems w/ the woman who danced for a living. At least she was doing something to support her family and she made decent money doing so.

the guys that work for the DOT only start at 7 or 8 an hour. Since the temp agencies took over the hard labor jobs some of the 'hardest work' jobs like roofing or bricking only start at minimum wage. She's probably never 'worked hard' in her life...in the sense of physical labor.

That's her profession.

that is kind of hard work, being on your feet all day and breathing all those chemicals. Too funny she's making that and only claiming $600. It's the American way, lol.

She constantly takes breaks.

Fast food stays on their feet alot more. Nurses are more. Lots are on their feet longer.

I had hope back in the 90's. :(

but I did decent in 1997.

If one lives in an area expensive enough that McDonald's employees are making $10 an hour, then $50 an hour probably doesn't go all that far anyway. Assuming a 40-hour workweek, that adds up to $104K a year.

She says there is "no reason" why someone can't make $50? Really? Someone has to do the low-paying jobs, right? Who does she think is going to do that if everyone is out working hard enough to make $50 an hour?

And I looked it up-fast food averages around $8 an hour there.

And according to a fellow friend, if she is making that much an hour she has nothing to show for it.

For a salon.

However, stylists often have to pay a booth rental fee, and buy their own worktools.

She's not including that in her fees.

She's also not including the fact that she doesn't have someone for every hour, eight hours a day. And I know she only works three days a week.

Lots of people seem to buy that myth that even McDonalds is paying something like $9 or $10 an hour. I think my sister told me that a few years ago.

Sometimes I look up stats too, and they always list unreasonably high wages. I think they are measuring cost to the business, so they add in things like the FICA tax that the business pays, and costs of benefits - vacation, holidays, insurance and leave. Back in 2002 when I was unemployed I applied for a job near KCI. They advertised 'competetive wages'. I called them up and asked why I had not heard from them. The reason was that I said my expected pay was $10 an hour and they only paid $8.5. This was a telephone customer service job, not a McDonalds. They were right next to Citibank too, which paid $11 an hour for the same type of job.

They are paying right at $7 an hour in my town and I'm about 45 minutes from KC.

Remember, minimum wage went up in Missouri to $6.50 an hour back in January. Quite a few places jumped up between $7-8 an hour because of that.

If you want a job at Hardees near Truman Dam and are willing to work weekends you can make $9 an hour.

she has already forgotten her latest lie that she makes $50 an hour, she has a different story for every day of the week i guarantee it!

But, y'know — tomato, tomahto. :shrug:

I've known her since I was eleven years old but I haven't seen her in a year.

If she makes that much it's getting blown on partying. Supposedly she's living in a slum.

:eyes:

I spoke to my best friend about her. She says "It must be nice to make that much."

She's a special education teacher. We know she doesn't make that much.

She's in KC.

since I'm just east but I don't get to KC very often.

Where I live, you'd have to have 6 or 7 full time jobs to make that much and it still wouldn't work out to $50/hr. It would work out to more like $7/hr working 24/7/365 with an android or two to handle the other 4 or 5 jobs. There are only 24 hours in a day and you'd have to sleep sometime or drop dead from exhaustion. Some people do not know how good they have it. They honestly have no clue.

My father is skilled and makes damn good money for this area. He doesn't make $50 an hour.

However, they were consultants who normally had either only two to three very short term (10 to 20 hour)jobs a month, or a whole bunch of 1 or 2 hour jobs.

Haele

if the whole cost of living is high in your area. It ceases to be 'good money' when a cheap ass bachelor apartment is $700+/month.

Wages are relative. However, don't people usually stop being hourly paid once they hit a certain point?

You can be salaried and not paid an hourly wage and still make shitty money. Trust me. :D

I just know that around here, most high earners tend to be salaried, unless they're self employed, and then it usually isn't an hourly thing either. You can also be salaried and have it work out to like, $10/hour, it's just more common for it to be more. And uncommon for high wage earners to be hourly.

unless it's the owner of the company. I don't know if that's a by-the-job payment or a flat salary or what.

edited to add - I know what you mean, though. People averaging, say, $100 an hour aren't likely to be "hourly" workers.

but usually around here, highly paid hourly workers are the exception. :) Sometimes people do though figure out their yearly pay and how it breaks down by hour. :)

but not around here. And that's another point I made to her-it doesn't matter how much you make if the cost of living is really high.

(And hourly? Depends on the job. My plumber made $45 an hour for an hour long job. Depending on the job it might be an hourly, like an emergency housecall, or it might be by the job, like a scheduled time to install a new drain. It really depends-some nurses can make an hourly wage of $40 an hour but others might be salaried.)

in the private sector since 1982, let alone since 2002. And fuck that "no ex can be expected to pay up, so women shouldn't expect child support" bullshit.

xmas--please do everything you can to avoid this person in the future. She is truly a fuckwit.

I don't see another conversation anytime in our near future.

I think I would avoid her like the plague.

what is your hourly? Just wondering since I informed her that most of the RNs I know make less than $50 an hour-unless they've been in the field for years or are very specialized.

(Just a point to prove that she's not as special as she thinks. )

parts of the country and the South is always at the bottom. There are nurses who make $50+ an hour, mainly
in places like NYC and Cali.

and I know she never made $50 an hour. Most of the ads I see in the paper in my area pay around $25-30 an hour to start.

Kinda makes you sick sometimes.

your life? The answer in America is your hairstyle - no contest.

I work in mental health. I take care of the mentally challenged day in and day out. I didn't go into the field for the money but a few dollars would help.

(I make less than $15 an hour-alot less. Yet I take care of people for a living and give them their meds. Oh, and compared to her-I've paid off all of my student loans. I'm debt free.)

Caring and responsible. People like her will never get it. Don't waste your time. :hug:

We used to be best friends growing up but now we're so different.

I worked my butt off to pay off my student loans. She doesn't care what happens w/ any loans.

And what is more morally bankrupt, taking your clothes off to music, or being the poor schlub that drops $100 to watch someone take off their clothes to music?

Maybe in the big cities it's a tad better, but I'm on a couple of discussion boards for my profession, and my husband works in the biggest gentleman's club in the largest city in our state, and it's really nothing like it should be or used to be. The economy is killing us too; although it can be easier to deal with on any given night.

Main problem is that it is not nearly as consistant as it used to be, and things like Girls Gone Wild does cut into our profits. However, internet porn does not, go fig. And, I haven't really worked consistantly in three years, so I may be a bit off.

should be praised. Dancing is a legal job so why look down at it?

I just don't see why she thinks she's so much better than someone who is not receiving any assistance and is supporting their child. This woman's (the dancer's) child has a mother who loves him, decent but not fancy clothes, healthy food that mom makes every night (she even makes their bread from scratch and all baked good-she even sent homemade pop tarts to school one time for a breakfast treat for the class), a mom who is very supportive and volunteers for even more activities than me(!)-she even owns a small house in town and has no debt. And she's raising her child to value education and to be civic-minded.

How can I look down at someone like that when there are others out there committing fraud?

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What an insulting remark. I don't know anybody who makes 50 bucks an hour but I know plenty who make around 20 - 25 bucks an hour who work their asses off. I also know people who make minimum wage who work their asses off.

And I spent 6 years paying child support so don't tell me no one pays it.

Who is this woman? Next time I'm in KC, I'll kick her ass. :P

I think that parents should pay it or be arrested for neglect (but that's just my opinion).

And as stated in a post further up, my plumber only makes $45/hour and look at how many years he trained for his job! (wish I'd tried plumbing...)

Comments like that just irritate me.

Tell her you think committing welfare fraud is even morally bankrupt.

I hate people like her because everyone seems to know of someone like that who cheats the system. They always provide a handy excuse for criminalizing and demonizing the poor.

She is bitching and moaning about the poor and treating everyone like trash when she is COMMITTING WELFARE FRAUD!

I'm a single mother. I don't make $50 an hour. I don't make $20 an hour. Technically, I am making poverty wages. (It wasn't that way a few years ago in my field but now everyone is poor.) But with my wages I don't qualify for aid of any kind.

Doesn't seem fair, does it?

assuming a 50 week work year and 40/hrs/week.

just for the record. if she makes $3500/month, she isn't even close to $50/hour. more like $22/hour.

She never could keep a story straight.

From what I figure, she has a couple of clients a day and works three days a week. She made 3500/month at her old job and claimed assistance.

and get a cashier job that pays $18 an hour. She is a programmer and was insulted when someone offered her a position for only $30 an hour. She looked at me and asked "How could they expect me to live on that?"

$18 for cashiering? Why aren't people stampeding to the door?

I suspect the friend is in retail management and has been there for 20 years- that would make sense. And it just killed me when she said "How could they expect me to live on $30 an hour?" because I make less than that, and I know many people who make less than me who support several other people on less than that.

The republican who said this has 5 horses, 3 dogs, 2 cars, a paid for home of her own, kids are grown and on their own.

If that were the case I'd be at Home Depot first thing tomorrow morning.

And I'd love to find out how to live on $30 an hour!

My daughter almost got a job there, and that is what they offered 4 yrs ago....probably less now.

(and she had 3 years cashiering experience)

I knew a girl who had to wear a pricey little outfit from the boutique she worked in. It sold for $600 and she got to buy it for $300, and she wore it every day. She earned $6 an hour, so it took her more than 50 hours of work to pay for the damn outfit which was really her uniform. The store paid for it to be dry cleaned a couple times a week. I told her she was NUTS. But she liked associating with rich people and I think she thought that some of the rich women would want to introduce their sons to her.

One could work two $13/hr jobs... for 16 hours straight... it's still $13/hr.

Maybe $26/hr if it could be doubled into an 8 hour shift... and that's not going to happen.

Oh, if you have proof that woman lied on her taxes, turn her in.

But there was a time, when we were younger, that we were best friends.

I hate the thought of turning her in. There is still a bit of loyality from that time.

:eyes:

I defy her to try and blow that smoke up my ass. you'd have to look long and hard to find someone on the face of this earth that has worked and continues to work as hard as me. If hard work was really equal to more pay, I'd be making $500 an hour. Instead, I'm making about $17 and have had to once again scratch and fight my way up from the bottom rung at a company to get this far, like I have done many times before.

This woman really needs a reality check. :eyes:

If hard work were equal to good pay quite a few of us would be better off. And if all things were equal working in human services would pay well too, compared to getting pampered. (As you can tell I work in human services.)

She cuts hair for a living. She probably makes that much per person but that's no guarantee that she will make that much continuously throughout the day.

now THAT is a compassionate conservative
:eyes:

This person was my best friend growing up-proof that we change as we get older.

My best friend said if she was making that much, where was the money going?

Seems to be going on partying and clothes and a big 4x4. It's not going on a house, not into savings of any sort, not on family vacations (she has a child), not for any clubs or anything for her kid, etc.

If I made that money I'd own a small house, a fuel-efficient vehicle and would make sure my daughter was involved in more activities. We'd have money for a vacation every year and I'd probably put the rest in savings.

$50/hour x 40 hours/week x 50 weeks/year = $100k per year

Yeah, anyone can walk right in anywhere in America and make $50 an hour. :rofl: Shit, it has taken dh YEARS to work up the corporate ladder as an engineer to get to that point. YEARS.

Your "friend" is a fucknut.

As someone pointed out earlier, she could make $50 for a style. But I bet she doesn't actually work 40 hours a week. You can bet that she doesn't have enough customers to fill that order.

As to walking in-you are exactly right. That's what blew my mind-anyone can make that if they work hard. Bullshit! My dad is a machinist w/ 30 years experience and he doesn't make $50 an hour (though he makes darn good money). My aunt is an RN w/ nearly 40 years experience. She doesn't make $50 an hour. My best friend has a masters in education. You guessed it-she doesn't make $50 an hour.

Let's see-my cousin works w/ computers. Nope-not $50 an hour. Another is a carpenter-not $50 an hour. All the relatives listed above have good jobs that pay well but they don't pay $50 an hour. The only one I know that makes that (actually $60 an hour) is my cousin the electrician. Now he'd kick her ass in money and he's constantly busy.

Myth number one: That everyone's experience is the same as hers. It isn't.

Myth number two: If something goes wrong or right, there's an inherent justice in it. For example, my supervisor at work declared that rich people are rich "because they work harder." Horse manure. Some are rich because they've worked hard, some are rich because they were born to or slept with the right people, some are rich due to luck and timing, etc.

Sometimes I think people desperately need to explain everything away, pass judgment, and prove that life and the universe are fair. At best there seems a kind of insecurity behind that point of view. At worst it's callous or immature.

You can spend 20 years of your life in formal education and still make too little to afford a house or a vacation.

You hit the nail on the head.

get to deal with all the overhead (health insurance, etc) yourself, and you almost NEVER get 40 billable hours per week. (That's why I never tell anyone my hourly rate, because as soon as I do, I can hear the gears working in their brain, multiplying the number by 40 hours per week, then by 50 weeks a year, and arriving at an exaggerated figure that doesn't factor in the $2,000 per month I pay for health insurance.)

If she meant you could make $50 per hour with a "normal" job, she's clearly delusional.

You are right on this one.

Redstone

I enjoy being "right" on occasion, especially since it doesn't happen to often!


She meant that there is no reason why anyone couldn't get out there and just grab a job making that amount. She also made it sound as if it were a full-time job.

Making $50 an hour in one setting? Sure I've done that. I used to sell Mary Kay, Tupperware and Pampered Chef. I'd do a consultation or a two hour party and walk out of there w/ over $100 in profit. Did it happen every hour? No. Was I able to keep it up at a full time pace? No. (And that didn't include the cost of long distance telephone calls to set up appointments, gas for my vehicle, party prizes and additional hostess prizes and so many other things.)