[Got an anonymous confession or rant you just have to share with the world? Submit it to I, Anonymous HERE!—eds]
My company, a well-known premier outdoor sports gear brand, just announced then quarterly profits and high-level actions and events. A slew of execs from the parent company came to our HQ for meetings. We know this by the paid breakfast buffet and lunches that were ordered for them, and the invitation for the rest of us to eat their leftovers. Always a special treat to nibble at their scraps!
I have to say that with only a little sarcasm, because we are paid only a little more than minimum wage, and $7/hr under a living wage in Portland, which is $27/hr according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. I actually need that food.
Our company’s profits rely on everyone on my team having a second job, a dual income household, or financial help from their families. We work a 40 hr week, managing the feels of rich people whose sense of entitlement, were we able to harness it, would power the whole city for a year. We are the front line of customer
service, every bit as much a brand ambassador as the marketers who make double our salaries.
Our labor is skilled, despite being labeled otherwise. We use a dozen active and reference tools. We are expert communicators for a broad variety of demographics, translating our communiques into French and Spanish using AI tools. We decipher the most convoluted requests into plain, actionable language. We have to grok a massive product catalogue that is constantly updated.
At any given moment, we act as investigators, therapists, instructors, and subject matter experts.
It is absolutely infuriating that we are not shown the respect we deserve through our compensation. I spend 60% of my take-home pay on rent. I spend 28% of my gross pay on taxes. I have to take LIHEAP for my energy bills . My copay for a dr appt is $50, or about 4 hrs of net-pay.
THEY ARE NOTHING WITHOUT US, AND THEY DO NOT GIVE ONE S*** about how we struggle, daily, especially now.
The “culture” is so inclusive. except when we have to pay the bills.—Anonymous