I just got a call about a job in a field closely related to my trade. The hiring manager was briefly discussing the type of work and what’s involved, and when I asked about pay scale, he gave me an extremely low number. I told him that with everything going up, that it was way too low. He said that I was the fifth person he’s called today that said the exact same thing. Understandably frustrated, he actually thanked me for saying that, because he’s trying desperately to convince his boss to raise their pay scale. He also said, unprompted, that “It’s not that people don’t want to work, most of ‘em don’t want to work 100 hours a week to make ends meet.” There are some good ones out there.