I have a masters degree and my desk job pays me $14/hr.
I also have diagnosed major depression and the job is not helping.
I vented to a friend and he told me to get over it and that he made “$10 an hour at his first job after college.”
I saw red at this statement for multiple reasons:
No college educated person should make $10/hr (he graduated approximately 6 years ago).
He was comparing his first job out of undergrad to my third job out of graduate school – there’s no comparison to be made here.
He, like others, just accept the awful system that exploits its workers. I have a job using my masters degree and make the EXACT SAME as those starting at Burger King down the road. Obviously, there is NOTHING wrong with working at Burger King and honestly $14 seems low for that work too. But I thought after 6 years of college I would make more than fast food workers.
My family is legally homeless because we live with our In Laws. Am I just supposed to “accept” that we’ll never have our own home? Even though I worked my ass off for my two degrees?
I realize I’m mostly mad because now I feel guilty about wanting to quit this job. I just started and my boss really needs me because he can’t find anyone to do the work for $14/hr. I thought my friend would reaffirm that I should quit but instead I got “get over it” and now I feel stupid for wanting to quit.
My plan is to add a certificate onto my degree in the coming weeks and try to find remote work in a related field.
EDIT: this short comment section has taught me that there are STILL some of us who believe that jobs that require high degrees can pay low because of what field it’s in. Yeah maybe I chose teaching and not engineering (MY BAD) but I still don’t think I deserve $14 an hour in a job that requires a degree.