Main Entry: [1]wage
Date: 14th century
1 a : a payment usually of money for labor or services usually according to contract and on an hourly, daily, or piecework basis
It's Monday. Our regular happy hour night. Steve and I were the only two who showed up tonight (although we already had a hunch this would be the case since the other two diehards -- David and Michelle -- are out of town). We met at RFD as usual, only this time the place was not deserted as usual and we were joined by two others, one being Steve's friend from grade school who now lives in Scotland. We had a very good time (particularly hearing about the peanut butter, cigs and toilets). And we got into this discussion about salaries that just mystifies me.
The two have doctoral degrees in Science and are now doing post-doc work as scientists. They informed us that a normal starting salary for a scientist (studying such things as malaria) is a mere $35K. The profession maxes out at around $80K. I had a similar discussion recently with a pilot from the Israel trip, who said I'd be shocked to learn what commercial pilot's starting salaries are. $20K??? I don't understand this. A writer or webeditor with roughly 3 years of experience (and a BA degree) makes around $45K. Add three years of experience and that salary jumps to around $75-$80K. The cap being about $120K. How is this possible? Someone trying to find a cure for cancer makes half what someone posting useless information on the internet makes? The person I trust to fly me from coast to coast makes half what I make? We certainly have our priorities out of order in this world.
I heard from my new friend Adam this weekend, whom I met at Steveoween. I am very impressed with the follow-through. It's been nearly a month since I met him and yet he still called. People just don't seem to understand the integrity of follow-through these days. For every 10 people you meet (and that's a high number) around 2 will actually call. At least I've learned this lesson and don't really anticipate the follow-up call anymore, but kudos to Adam for calling.
Thursday is a big event -- if anyone's interested in something to do. A bar in Cleveland Park and a Vodka company both owned by my coworker and bartender extrordinaire, Ric, are hosting a grand opening with a 5-piece swing band and free admission. Sounds cool.
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I'm continually amazed at the salaries we pull down here when on a regular day-to-day basis we aren't even using all of the skills we possess. You never get to properly edit, and I never get to properly do web architecture stuff. It's silly/amazing.
Having said that, money is nice.
Having said that, I couldn't believe it when you said pilots start at around $20K. That's kinda scary.
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