tomato coupe

You want to replace one unfounded sweeping generalization with another?

"won't get you the same standard of living" is a much different statement than "is grossly underpaid."

urbanknight

I disagree. It’s the former that makes me think the latter.

I can’t fathom something a person could do to earn 10 mil, and if I could it would probably be in the medical industry and not retail or commodities.

SpedFast

Or sports or entertainment... Just saying

Russ Roth

Living in the Albany area tips were a regular occurrence, but only given for work done quickly, on the spot, or for a job done extra well. In Rochester the people were stingy and in 5 years I received 3 tips and even that was surprising to people who worked there longer. But at Christmas time in both locations no one ever just brought in a tip. What was done is that people would bring us Christmas cookies, beer and lunches. Nothing like having a couple cheese pizzas and a 2l of coke dropped off at 11:00 on a Sat when everyone was there but it wasn't so busy we didn't have time to enjoy it.

Koyote

Ah, yes, you are correct. It seems that argument was another of urbanknight 's, and you were correcting him. And I agree with you. Sorry about that.

And yeah, it is pretty funny to see someone argue that $200k/yr "isn't as much as it sounds." It sounds like a helluva lot of money to about 90% of the population, I'll bet.

Koyote

I'd sure like to see those numbers. Why don't you start by telling me (with evidence) what a trash collector got paid in the 1950s...? If you can't provide that data, then you are (again) just making things up.

indyfabz

It sounds pretty damn loud to me. It would sound even louder if my cat didn’t eat so much.

urbanknight

it has been a few years since I looked up all those numbers. I’ll try to look them up again when I get the chance, but I am kind of sorry I turned this into a P&R post.

I thought I was agreeing with you that jobs that once paid decently are no longer doing so, and that it’s a shame, but it seems I misunderstood you?

Koyote

If you're just going to make stuff up, I'd rather that you not agree with me. You undercut your own point by making wildly inaccurate claims.

70sSanO

So anyone here not want to get $10 for the holidays just as a token of appreciation?

John

urbanknight

The comment on the trash collector is based on what the man who sold me my house said in a conversation with me. He was a trash collector and he owned this house with a housewife who didn't work, and raised his family of 5 in it. I found it amusing how he felt he had an easier time affording it than me and my wife with our college degrees and dual income. I chose to compare it with an engineer's salary (googled average engineer salary and consulted multiple engineer family members) instead of my and my wife's because our careers historically have low incomes for their level of education. I understand that's anecdotal, but that's where trash collector came from.

The crunched numbers comment came from me looking up the cost of various expenses (homes, transportation, groceries) and comparing them with the average income. It has been a long time since I did this, and I don't even recall the original sources, but they came from sites like this:

Housing prices: $7,354 (1950) vs $119,600 (2000)
https://www2.census.gov/programs-sur...lues-unadj.txt

Income: $3.300 (1950) vs $42,148 (2000)
https://www.census.gov/library/publi...0of%20Commerce.
https://www.census.gov/library/publi...20respectively.

I also sought to make adjustments for the fact that more households have dual incomes than back then, but I can't remember what exactly I searched for and used to calculate that. This shows the considerable difference, but is useless to make any calculations from.
https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_dual-...s-1960-2012-2/

Sorry, but that's about the best I can do in recalling crap I looked up over a decade ago... or at least as much time as I'm willing to spend searching for it again.

Vintage Schwinn

I don't think it is warranted or even remotely necessary! They are fairly and adequately compensated by their employer (the local bike shop proprietor). Frankly, all you are essentially doing is rewarding mediocrity and fostering a further degredation of customer service by contributing CASH T.I.P.S. to these employees that do not rely on tips as part of their wages as restaurant servers do.

I BELIEVE THAT IF YOU DO HAVE A SMALL AMOUNT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE MOST GOOD BEING DONE WITH YOUR CONTRIBUTION, YOU SHOULD INSTEAD THINK ABOUT GIVING THAT SMALL AMOUNT TO The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis Tennessee. They are without a doubt among the finest charitable organizations in the world. Actor Danny Thomas founded it in 1962. St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes.... No family pays anything. Children have a chance at survival where just a generation ago, there was no hope at all. It is just a suggestion. There are certainly other worthy charities that you might consider too. Rewarding the doofuses on staff at your local bike shop with CASH T.I.P.S. is beyond stupid! Customer service has been on the decline for at least a decade or more here in the USA because of this misguided mentality of regular hourly wage employees that believe that somehow that they are not only entitled to T.I.P.S. from clientele, but that they damn better receive them because their boss does not pay them enough......oh boo hoo !!!
You as the customer already fairly pay enough..... the shop's retail parts & labor charge, and thus that markup more than accounts for all the business operational costs, including salaries and hourly wages.
Just Say No To CASH Tipping Undeserving Doofuses that are NOT employees who rely on TIPS as servers/waiters do!!!
I also find it extremely distasteful for people to pimp for TIPS such as the example mentioned where the mechanical trash arm truck driver had placed envelopes on front door knobs. I'm not saying that a very fine paper delivery person in the old days that always got you the paper in your yard early everyday and completely dry, wrapped in plastic bag on rainy days, did not deserve some possible consideration for doing a superb job all year long, but in that case, you were rewarding great customer service and extraordinary performance over and above the norm. Rewarding the mediocre or half-ass customer service of a regular employee with a CASH gift (tip) is dumb and will do nothing to improve their poor attitude and poor customer service!

diphthong

seems simple. take care of the people that take care of you regardless of your pastime(s). cycling. dining. car builds. home mods. cleaners. gardeners. personal services. boutique special order gatherers...

Trsnrtr

OK, this has run it's course and much of it is threatening to go to P&R.