Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

There is no more awkward conversation than with someone who feels the world doesn't recognize their value. They complain they're not being paid commensurately with their high-priced college education, and exhibit a cross between daydreaming and a sense of entitlement that should long ago been extinguished. No employer is required to pay you what you think you're worth. Worse, immature people confuse where the responsibility for change lies: it's up to you to fix any perceived underperformance in your life, not someone else's. Where you fit in the pecking order of the world is not for you to say. You're only “worth” what The Market determines you're worth. Maybe your expertise is valuable someplace else; move. Maybe you're worth more at another company; change jobs. But most likely, you're getting paid what all the other Ethnic Studies college graduates are making.

This wage dissatisfaction is especially prevalent in hourly wage employees who try to make their job performance subjective, complaining they aren't being paid for travel or “set up” time, or their seniority, or something else they imagine they've done and should be paid for. Yet some jobs require years of difficult schooling, such and medicine and engineering, who pays for those years? Some jobs require practice; who pays for that? Many jobs are "exempt,” meaning they are not paid for overtime; how are those accounted for? Life is not fair, just look at the who-you-know rich-uncle aspect of the working world.