Finances. - The Bear and Badger

Moto70

Some people are talking about it, some aren't, some are open and some act like they're guarding the state secrets.

To stop us derailing the 'Love' thread here I thought I'd start this one.

I had a good example of it here at work, during a discussion with the bloke they got in to 'help' me here I told him I was on Â£25k. He acted like it was a fortune and I was lucky to be on that with this company. I asked why, he said he was only Â£7 per hour (mine works out at Â£12ph) I pointed out that if I came here as an 18 year old for a job sat at a till I would pick up minimum wage (just under Â£7 or thereabouts), I asked him to explain how I am lucky to be on just Â£5 more per hour considering that I can design, I can produce the product, I can fit the product to a massive variety of different media, I can problem solve and I set this whole department up from scratch. I didn't take it over, I didn't adapt an existing department but I set it up. This department saves them money every year and yet I am told I am lucky to be getting Â£5 an hour more than somebody that could turn up in a morning and just spend 8 hours collecting glasses from tables?

Anyway this carries on across this company, nobody knows what anybody is on unless they disclose it and hardly anybody here would dream of telling you what they are earning, I have been told by the owners that I am on more than some of the managers so I know that out of the 100's that work here I am one of the top earners but I genuinely don't feel that I am on enough for the job I do. So by the workers being reluctant to be open about their wages I feel it costs them in the long run, they are unable to fight for a fairer wage given the job they do.

This then carries on with some people who wouldn't dream of discussing their mortgage with you, I've even met people who wouldn't tell you what their car insurance was!

Where does this reluctance to discuss finances stem from and what have the people who hold it close to their chest got to gain by doing so? There is a chance that you could save money by openly discussing your financial situation when such discussions take place...

Channel 4's Show Me Your Money

tigersgogrrr

I don't have a huge problem discussing finances, though it's not a subject I'm ever likely to bring up. It's not something we really talk about in my family and I always feel a tad awkward about the subject.Â

I do have a problem - which I highlighted in t'other thread - with other people mentioning my finances, or more specifically, my salary. The instance I was discussing involved my girlfriend bringing up my salary in front of her family at dinner. I was extremely not ok with this, because as far as I'm concerned what I earn is my business to disclose. She didn't think it was a big deal, but for me it's private information.

[Deleted User]

I totally agree with you about disclosure of money information Moto.Â
At the same time though I would only tell people who ask (and ask for the right reasons) or I know not to be offended or jealous, some people can get very jealous when it comes to wages. I imagine a lot of people don't disclose info as they have had bad experiences in the past from irrational idiots. Companies don't like people talking about it as it inevitably ends in staff wanting pay rises.

In regards to your particular situation and unique roles within a business, it is best to compare yourself to similar roles outside of where you work IMO. I know my pay before being made redundant was in line with the rest of the company however the company itself was generally under paying by about 10% across the board when compared to other, similar companies.

monkey

Petey pays me Â£1 per post. I have no qualms about disclosing this.

monkey

Yep.

beano

Could it not beÂ embarrassment of their financesÂ for most?

monkey

As said in the other thread, the only way total disclosure can work is with a completely rigid, transparent wage structure.Â

If two people are doing the same job they get paid the same. Or any difference is completely down to performance or time served.Â

But in my last job for instance, I (if the rumours were true) was earning as much as my Supervisor. There's no way I'd have taken the job at less than they were offering. So varying the rate companies pay enables them to get people in they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. They did eventually get rid of me so this point is rather moo.

mistercrayon

Karl Marx said that people are never paid the value of their work.

Lord_Griff

What you spend < What you earn.

Safety first.

n0face

It's a funny old thing money. I suppose I'm somewhere in the middle I won't volunteer financial information however I've found this feeling has increased the more I earn and the bigger my mortgage has become. In a way I find it mildly embarrassing and I feel a little awkward when it comes out that I might well be earning more then a mate. Don't know why but there it is.

Some people however are just tight bastards.

equinox_code

mistercrayon wrote:

Karl Marx said that people are never paid the value of their work.

Well yea. Profit n tax are both deductions from the real value of someone's labour. Shame the former's rarely viewed as such.

Sasukekun

We don't talk about our wages at work. Not allowed.
I know one of the team I am on is in the mid 20k bracket. I am in the 30s and there are 2 others who are in the 40s. I don't know specifics, but I know we have a big of a gap between people.

Dark Soldier

I get Â£280 a month to live on. That's me lot.

Lord_Griff

Do you get food stamps etc? Or does cÂ£70 pw have to cover food and bills etc?

Dark Soldier

Everything pretty much, hence why I still live with my dad. Don't wanna get my own place 'til I can fund it meself, not into grabbing more and more benefits. On the verge of going on even less.

fullspectrum

A suggestion DS - register with all the market research agencies in Manc. You can get game testing work sometimes, I've been with them for years and cherry pick things that sound ok - I did Wipeout on the Vita, got to try out a new phone for a week and just had to tell them what I thought, the most random was this (quite fit actually) girl came to my house and questioned me about beer for two hours..whist I sat there drinking beer.

You could easily double your monthly income with not much effort doing this, just an idea.

Moto70

I have had a strange one today.

I am with EDF and our electric bill is Â£120 per month, this month they put it up to Â£160 so I rang them and said WTF are they doing increasing my bill by 33%, they said not to worry and it would revert to Â£120 again. Today I get an email saying I have a message on my account online, I log-in (I never use the online side) and the message is there saying it would stay at Â£120 but more important is a bit on the left hand side that says we are Â£492.86 in credit!

I rang them and asked what is going on and if there is going to be any credit being held I'll hold it thank you very much. They have now dropped our bill to Â£95 per month with a review taking place in June, I said they'd better come up with something fucking good as to why I am so much in credit...

Dark Soldier

fullspectrum wrote:

A suggestion DS - register with all the market research agencies in Manc. You can get game testing work sometimes, I've been with them for years and cherry pick things that sound ok - I did Wipeout on the Vita, got to try out a new phone for a week and just had to tell them what I thought, the most random was this (quite fit actually) girl came to my house and questioned me about beer for two hours..whist I sat there drinking beer. You could easily double your monthly income with not much effort doing this, just an idea.

I'll have a look into it, cheers. Got a few 'life' things to sort, then I'm gonna be looking for work (with minimum qualifications YAY GOOD LUCK) whilst kicking the writing into full gear.

Tempy

@Moto I could bore you with why but it's boring and they're still probably wrong.

[Deleted User]

@moto
I had that, noticed I was heavily in credit. My plan ran out so I just picked the next closest one and they didn't bill me for a month and sent me a cheque for Â£133.

Just bill me for what I use dickheads!

Tempy

Ugh, NOT THAT SIMPLE, DICKHEAD

[Deleted User]

SHOULD BE THAT SIMPLE DICKHEAD.

Tempy

I wish it was too, but it isn't.

Lord_Griff

I invoice EDF for all the static I generate.

n0face

Aren't the EDF the ones who keep marching about immigrants and muslims?

[Deleted User]

I am going to set up a system where I estimate how much Ham you eat in a month then average it out for the year then you will be in Ham credit during the non Ham months to ease greater Ham usage months or simply refund you the Ham at the end of the contract terms.

Failure to keep up Ham payments will result in Ham collection services and fitting of pre-pay Ham meter.

Tempy

They have to estimate how much ham you use because until smart meters are out they can't reliably assess how much ham you've used until they get a quarterly ham read, and if they don't get one for years then you may owe them outrageous quantities of ham.

Skerret

One of my relatives is a millionaire. Â I feel comfortable pointing that out. Â A close mate of another relly is worth close to a billion though so small potatoes.

n0face

I heard if you drill a hole in you're ham then stick a coat hanger in you get free ham.

[Deleted User]

Here is my quarter 4 reading

[Deleted User]

I'm on a Ham and Cheese joint tariff.

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