A few years back I worked for a place that refurbished various assembly line machines at factories etc. I was 18 and had worked summers there for years before going full time. I was given more responsibility and was often dropped off and factories (I didn’t have a car) and left to read plans and repair these machines all alone for the whole day. I often worked 60+ hours a week to get jobs done.
I was paid $8.00 an hour which was a tiny bit above minimum wage at the time. I discovered I was being billed to the customers at the same rate as actually engineers- like ~$100 an hour! At this point I had been working there a bit over a year.
The same week I learned of this I was asked by the boss to meet him in his office before heading to my job for the day (hmmm). I come in and he complimented my work and drive etc. I’m never late, I work any hours needed and so on.
I sit down and he says “I’m giving you a bump”. At 18 y/o I actually didn’t know what he was talking about at first. But then he showed me my pay rate on his computer. $8.25!
Wow a 3% raise! I told him I was a little insulted that I would be making a solid extra $2.50 a day given the work I’m doing and what he charges for my labor. He had the most sour face I’ve ever seen. Like I took a shit on his desk. He even mentioned I lived with my grandparents and it’s not like I had a lot of expenses!
I quit a couple weeks later and joined the Navy, which worked out well for me. Funny thing is he tells people he pushed me to do that by paying me next to nothing for a long time!
I understood I didn’t work as fast as real engineers but damn!
Don’t know why this memory popped into my head today but I thought I would share.