I can’t stand this person btw, and I don’t think they are a good person.
This family member is a nurse practitioner who I know pulls in at least $150k a year. They are sure that there all sort of people who are working in jobs that don’t require a degree or all that much training that are making total bank. This isn’t based on data of course, just from spending hours a day on Facebook. They will go on and on about they saw someone saying they know a server who makes $50 an hour when you include tips, that sort of thing.
I have never heard (or seen - I’ve worked at a number of different employers and my line of work lets me see payroll) of anyone who isn’t a doctor, software engineer, or high level executive who makes that kind of dough. I’ve tried explaining this it just goes in one ear and out the other.
Knowing this person, this serves two ideological functions. The first is that this person is also totally convinced the economy is great and that the only people who are suffering are “lazy”. Apparently there are just an abundance of high paying jobs that anyone can just have, so this fuels their sense of superiority. Probably no surprise to you all, but this was raging about SNAP benefit nonstop the other week. If there are good jobs out there for everyone, then of course no one needs any help and capitalism is just working great.
But also, despite how much this person makes, they actually think they are way underpaid. I have tried explaining to them that what they make puts them in like the top 5%-10%, but hear them talk and they are absolutely convinced that people stocking shelves at Costco are making close to what they make.
Social media in general and Facebook specifically is such a cancer on society. Folks can use it to just live in their own reality and absolutely nothing will convince them otherwise.
They will go on and on about they saw someone saying they know a server who makes $50 an hour when you include tips, that sort of thing.
Ok, why aren’t they quitting their nurse job to do that then?
They know it’s bullshit. They are creating an alternate reality to justify their classist behaviour.
If you only knew about the alternate reality this person lives in. Honestly while they were always classist and reactionary, it was a small part of their overall personality until they got hooked on Facebook a couple years ago. At this family gathering whenever they weren’t spouting this BS they were on Facebook. Like seriously, I would say at least 80% of the day today, they were on Facebook.
Bet they weren’t even posting
If they think they can make almost as much just by stocking shelves at Costco, why don’t they go apply for a job stocking shelves at Costco?
People like this know that they’re full of shit. Deep inside they rightfully feel exploited by the Capital class, but they are cowards who would rather punch down than be in solidarity with the rest of the exploited class.
I don’t know anyone IRL who hates poor people more than this person. They grew up rich too. They identify as a libertarian.
They identify as a libertarian.
That’s all you needed to say lmao!
They are sure that there all sort of people who are working in jobs that don’t require a degree or all that much training that are making total bank.
Gosh, supply and demand is working as intended? People are operating in their own self-interest? Leave it to a libertarian to complain about their own beliefs. :not-listening:
But also, despite how much this person makes, they actually think they are way underpaid.
Technically under Capitalism they are right! :marx-goth: Good luck convincing them of that fact! :marx-joker:
Gosh, supply and demand is working as intended? People are operating in their own self-interest? Leave it to a libertarian to complain about their own beliefs.
lol I mentioned this. We live in California where they passed a minimum wage law specifically for fast food, I think at $20 per hour. This person is blaming this law (“BiG gOvErNmEnT iNtErFeReNce!”) for being the reason for all these jobs they think are way beneath them paying “too much”.
I literally had a customer today come in and start to scream at me because we didn’t have a product that was in the flyer. I told her I was sorry but the product is actually discontinued and don’t know why it was chosen for the ad. She looked like she wanted to scream her face off at me for why I chose to put them in the ad… And it was like hey, go talk to customer service to try and figure out how to talk to head office because I make twenty fucking bucks an hour. I’m not getting yelled at because you can’t buy a fucking Lego set.
dollars to donuts they are either
- blowing their income to try and chase some marketed lifestyle they have been indoctrinated to believe is owed to them. they probably believe most people are out there in swanky houses with HGTV grade updates, driving a sweet new ride every 3 years, taking baller vacations. because if you watch the stupidest TV programming uncritically, it paints that picture of american life. i mean, the clothes alone on procedurals… public workers wearing a different $2000 designer jacket every day.
- an absolute dumbass with money and can’t wrap their mind around why they don’t have shit to show for pulling down a high wage, but their daily spend is like $250 on what most would consider luxury nonsense. every subscription known to god, delivered restaurant food daily, buy now pay later debt servicing out the wazoo
- some combo of both
People will believe a lot of things to keep from concluding that the system they benefit from is basically unfair.
I have a relative who sincerely told me he thinks guys standing by the stoplight asking for money are secretly middle class and make more money doing that than a full time job would pay.
(This is why it’s wrong to help them by giving them money)
I have a relative who sincerely told me he thinks guys standing by the stoplight asking for money are secretly middle class and make more money doing that than a full time job would pay.
Ok so why doesn’t he do that then?
Another one that doesn’t actually believe it. They know they’re spouting bullshit, they have different reasons for spreading this bs.
I’ve heard this from many people. I saw a news expose on this once. I don’t know if it was real or staged, but it worked if you saw it and you were enough of a boomer. The homeless people are scamming you, not the news.
If you overcome some atomization, which isn’t easy, you could get to know some homeless people. It’s pretty obvious they’re not raking in money by begging for change.
I had a roommate that did pretty well that way but he was the exceptions. He also had 20 years experience, a cute dog (who just died a couple weeks back RIP) and a consistent spot/consistent donors who got to know him over time. He made enough to not go into withdrawal and cover dog food and some people food, but he was also out there all damn day, 10 hour days. He’s doing good now tho, has a place, has a job, clean from hard stuff
The “Panhandling makes $300 a day in DC” talking point comes from Fox News some 20~30 years ago and they’ve been citing themselves ever since. I’m sure other news outlets have cited Fox News on this topic. It’s Radio Free Asia shit, but for homelessness.
I probably saw that, but being replayed by some other network.
Even non-chuds that I know take it as a rule that you should only donate food directly to beggars because if you give them money they’ll 100% use it on drugs (as if staving off withdrawal was a bad thing). Even had someone tell me that money should only be donated to charities because they’ll actually know how to spend it, unlike the homeless people themselves.
It’s ridiculous.
Sounds like their watching a bunch of grindset videos and thinking that its real and the norm.
Also there’s something about people who work in a hospital and being a facebook grandma.
some servers are, the majority are not. used to be a very good career for an uneducated person, now? pretty shitty even if the money can be decent.
edited: forgot a word
The servers who do pretty much won the genetic lottery and also work in a popular/high end place.
Yes. The exact example they said was they saw a server on Facebook who makes $300 on a 6 hour shift regularly. I was like yeah, at a high end restaurant maybe. But that’s not likely 40 hours a week and more importantly, for every server who makes that there’s another 10 who aren’t. And those $50/hr gigs aren’t thick on the ground so anyone can just walk in and get one.
Also likely no retirement, no insurance, and no sick days or paid vacation.
It’s often only seasonal, too. One of the cities not far from me got a ton of people flying in from all over to do conferences. During a three month window, yeah, servers and bar tenders would be pulling $300+ per day. But once the season was over? Back down to $80 or less.
I think only Vegas has high earnings for the food industry because it’s Vegas and people are throwing money around they probably shouldn’t be. But it involves living in Las Vegas where a bunch of people in serious financial trouble are constantly stealing your stuff or being employed by people connected to organized crime.
I’m a restaurant worker who’s only managed to save $6k in the last year. I wish they were right 😭
I’m a geospatial engineer who’s managed to save negative $6k in the past year lol. I’m also not someone who spends above my means. I live in a 1200sqft rental, but take care of a disabled mother in law. Groceries alone for the 3 of us are so wildly expensive, I don’t know how anyone can do it with kids.
Same guy probably thinks people on welfare are making $200k a year and living like kings
Why are there so many reactionary medical workers? I’ve known so many chud nurses over the years. I don’t get it!
Is it any more reactionary than any other American economic sector? It’s a pretty heavily unionized sector (relatively speaking in the US)
I don’t know if it’s necessarily more or not, but intuitively I would have expected that an occupation that is ostensibly all about caring for people would be less reactionary than other parts of the economy
This seems to be a very American phenomenon.
People grossly overestimate how much bosses pay people and how reasonable landlords are. In their fantasy world everyone makes six figs and there’s plenty of jobs to go around with no saturation whatsoever. Landlords actually are willing to pay YOU for the privilege of staying in their apartment.
NP on at least 150k?? How did they get that job?
It’s not out of the ordinary where I live (high cost of living)
I feel this, same in my country. People that are well set also overestimate workin class wages, or fail to take into account the wage they assume include absurd amounts of overtime for extened durations that is not possible to sustain over time
