It seems to me that working retail has gotten a lot worse since the recession. I worked retail after high school before deciding to go to college, and then worked the same job on summers home from school. What was interesting was that between when I started that job in 2005 and when I left for the final time in 2010, my coworkers went from being mostly high school and college kids to all sorts of folks of varying age…
They probably don't have to say that stores are closing everywhere. Every week there's news about possible store closings. This week it's Staples and Safeway, last week it was Guitar Center, before, Pennys, Best Buy, Disney Store etc.
I kind of did a double take at this: > Even though I was living rent-free in a guest bedroom, my every-other-Thursday paycheck couldn’t help me climb out of my hole, particularly after the state took half my pre-tax, $300 weekly salary for child support payments. > * got the opportunity to leave Sporting Goods Inc. for a temporary job as a communications director for a Capitol Hill nonprofit, a gig that paid twice as…
> twice as much per week as I’d earn in a month at the store 300 = retail pay per month. 300 * 2 = 600, which is twice the retail pay. 600 * 4 = 2,400, multiplying by four weeks to account for new job earning twice as much per week as per month in retail. 2,400 * 12 = 28,800, which is an estimate for the annual pay at his new job. Politico most certainly pays more than that.
I kind of did a double take at this: > Even though I was living rent-free in a guest bedroom, my every-other-Thursday paycheck couldn’t help me climb out of my hole, particularly after the state took half my pre-tax, $300 weekly salary for child support payments. > * got the opportunity to leave Sporting Goods Inc. for a temporary job as a communications director for a Capitol Hill nonprofit, a gig that paid twice as…
I'm not surprised that a journalist managing an 80-person team was paid $200k+.
What I am surprised by is how he ever ended up working retail with a salary like that. I'd expect him to have saved up enough to last a year or two of low expenses.
A lot of this is just "person who's had white-collar job for years doesn't get how difficult service jobs are", but making your already low-paid employees do unpaid overtime work is s-k-e-t-c-h-y, and actively illegal.
When I did retail & fast food work, I don't recall having to do unpaid work. Showing up "on the floor" at time was expected, but that was no more than stuffing my bag in the break room and going out. That said, if I was looking at the prospect of working in these shops long-term, I'd also be seeing what I could do to unionize the shop - they are a pretty crummy environment with abhorrent pay for anyone over the age o…
> That said, if I was looking at the prospect of working in these shops long-term, I'd also be seeing what I could do to unionize the shop - they are a pretty crummy environment with abhorrent pay for anyone over the age of 16 (as the author points out).
I respect your optimism, but standard practice at big retailers for anyone who even breathes word of unionization is to fire them instantly. If that doesn't do it, they close the store. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart#Labor_unio...
I kind of did a double take at this: > Even though I was living rent-free in a guest bedroom, my every-other-Thursday paycheck couldn’t help me climb out of my hole, particularly after the state took half my pre-tax, $300 weekly salary for child support payments. > * got the opportunity to leave Sporting Goods Inc. for a temporary job as a communications director for a Capitol Hill nonprofit, a gig that paid twice as…
journalism has a power-law income distribution where most earn nothing but a tiny few at the top can earn 7 figures or more. Well-known bylines are supposed to bring the audience and not just crank out anonymous content.
I kind of did a double take at this: > Even though I was living rent-free in a guest bedroom, my every-other-Thursday paycheck couldn’t help me climb out of my hole, particularly after the state took half my pre-tax, $300 weekly salary for child support payments. > * got the opportunity to leave Sporting Goods Inc. for a temporary job as a communications director for a Capitol Hill nonprofit, a gig that paid twice as…
> twice as much per week as I’d earn in a month at the store 300 = retail pay per month. 300 * 2 = 600, which is twice the retail pay. 600 * 4 = 2,400, multiplying by four weeks to account for new job earning twice as much per week as per month in retail. 2,400 * 12 = 28,800, which is an estimate for the annual pay at his new job. Politico most certainly pays more than that.
300 = retail pay per month.
That's pay per week, not pay per month. So multiply everything by 4.
It seems to me that working retail has gotten a lot worse since the recession. I worked retail after high school before deciding to go to college, and then worked the same job on summers home from school. What was interesting was that between when I started that job in 2005 and when I left for the final time in 2010, my coworkers went from being mostly high school and college kids to all sorts of folks of varying age…
They probably don't have to say that stores are closing everywhere. Every week there's news about possible store closings. This week it's Staples and Safeway, last week it was Guitar Center, before, Pennys, Best Buy, Disney Store etc.
I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, shopping in a physical store location is mostly a terrible experience these days and I greatly prefer to shop online. But on the other, these big box stores have long been the providers of many a teen's summer job or somebody's second income or just something to keep someone afloat between "real" jobs, so I hate to see that source disappear.
I kind of did a double take at this: > Even though I was living rent-free in a guest bedroom, my every-other-Thursday paycheck couldn’t help me climb out of my hole, particularly after the state took half my pre-tax, $300 weekly salary for child support payments. > * got the opportunity to leave Sporting Goods Inc. for a temporary job as a communications director for a Capitol Hill nonprofit, a gig that paid twice as…
> twice as much per week as I’d earn in a month at the store 300 = retail pay per month. 300 * 2 = 600, which is twice the retail pay. 600 * 4 = 2,400, multiplying by four weeks to account for new job earning twice as much per week as per month in retail. 2,400 * 12 = 28,800, which is an estimate for the annual pay at his new job. Politico most certainly pays more than that.
> 300 = retail pay per month.
No, that was his pay per week. His monthly pay in retail was $1200.
The guy was a reporter who made racist jokes and comments about people he was supposed to be covering, and subsequently got fired for it. And then, surprise, no one else wanted to hire him to do reporting. [1] "deserves" is a strong word, but actions have consequences. [1] Until now, I guess?
Racist jokes? Can you please link or quote some of these racist jokes? In the article, he quotes himself saying: “Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in town hall settings … But when he comes on ‘Fox and Friends,’ they’re like him. They’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.” Which I don't think i…
Sounds a little ridiculous, all right, but that's politics these days. I paid more attention to this stuff in the early 2000s, and was more on the right, so I remember what seemed like countless examples of Republican figures being hounded to the destruction of their careers for having made some statement that could be interpreted as being vaguely racist once in their lives. Now people on the center-left are getting the same treatment. I wouldn't say they deserve it either, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. Maybe someday we can all learn to back off from these ridiculous media feeding frenzies powered by dug-up dirt, but I'm not holding my breath.
My first job was retail, and I worked it for about four years total, including during college and after service in the Navy. At the time I had skills that translated into being valuable enough to not work in retail that didn't involve a lot of risk (police, security, etc), so it seemed about the best option. I don't think I quite experienced anything like this, but sometimes it was close. If I felt like a replaceable…
My impression is that retail has gotten worse over the last 20 years.
It definitely has, and I think the slide has accelerated within the last 5-10 years.