I remember my very first job at Rite Aid. I cant remember if I was asked “how much I would like to be paid”, or “what do you think your worth?”
Either way, as I was saying this I felt a weird ammount of anger come over me.
It feels criminal to ask an underage kid how much they think their worth or deserve to be paid.
I had no comprehension of what my value was, and I didn't know how much the average pay range was.
I think in the end for my rite aid position, I had asked for something like 11? And then they told me they were unionized and I recieved a starting pay of 10.50? That or it was 12, and 11.50.
Either way. I feel like, even as kids graduate highschool and go into college, they will be entering the workforce at a starting level.
I feel like the fact that we are not taught our value before this question is asked of us, is almost criminal. I know for a fact that the woman interviewing me was someone who played this game countless times over her career, and successfully managed to get another underage kid to take base pay. Or played the game knowing the stores base rate of pay the entire time. And wanted to see what I would say.
But there's no class, or teacher, that ever taught me what my value in the workforce was before that question. I wish so much i had someone that commited to teach me how to have this conversation and recognize my base value. Even if they just said “You have no experience. But any business that does not offer a livable wage, is stealing your work. And you are more valuable than that. If they won't give you enough to cover the expenses we talked about in your notebook there, if they still wont budge after you've gone over the talking points we discussed, end the interview there. This is a conversation they will be way more skilled at then you, and you will have to push hard to be seen as someone who refuses to blindly accept any ammount of money offered- especially the legal minimum. Remember what you say to someone who offers you minimum wage? Good. Let's go over the talking points again.”
Teaching someone their base value before they go into an interview, would not only change ammount of power we have entering the work force, and a contract with a full grown adult as a 15/16/17 year old- but until this predatory system is abolished, it would also teach workers as they get older, how to adjust that value and go into interviews with the thought that their work is just as valuable as the work offer itself.
I imagine if this became common practice, how quickly the boomers that suckered countless kids into minimum wage for valuable work would be outed on Facebook over boisterous Facebook posts about how ungrateful kids are. But everyone would know their value already so they'd just be outing themselves.
It's so upsetting my parents never did this with me.
But on the infinitesimally small chance I ever have a kid of my own, they WILL know their worth in a capitalist workforce. You can bet my child will be asking the bootlicking millenial boss if the offer they just made was the lowest he could legally pay her, just for reference of course.
Until we abolish this current system with something fair, I think we should be teaching our youngers their value. Because they'll never think to ask until it's too late, and someone's assigned them the lowest they could legally get away with right now. And our kids deserve better than thinking that that's their starting value.
/rant over