Got my salary review!



  • Well they told us that we probably wouldn't get any raises this year (I mean, they've only just announced their highest profits to date...) but they lied!

    I just got the letter from my boss..... and I got a raise! Wanna know how much?

    4p per year!

     
    Woohoo!
     



  • 4p? like, 4 pennies? congrats!



  • @TheRider said:

    4p? like, 4 pennies? congrats!

     

    Yup, 4 pennies. About 2 cents. Per year.

    I can't even see how it's a rounding error, as I know what my salary was before the last increase, and the percentage it went up by. It ends up as a nice round number (well, it could be a nicer round number).

    I reckon they used an OMGWTF calculator to do the sums... 



  • @valerion said:

    Yup, 4 pennies. About 2 cents. Per year...

    I reckon they used an OMGWTF calculator to do the sums... 

    OTOH you appear to be using it for currency conversion.
     



  • 4p in the UK is about 8c in the US. Yay for a really weak dollar, I can import stuff at low low prices. Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion? (I honestly don't know, I haven't bothered watching the news for a long time, but that's another story).



  • Sometime middle of last year (that is 2006) a discussion like this happened between me and my boss:

    Me: My salary has remained the same for about five years and I would really appreciate a raise.

    Boss: I need to talk to *my* boss about this.

    (a few days later) 

    Boss: You already reached the highest possible salary within the "salary bandwidth" assigned to your "function level".

    Me: Easy one. Just increase that "function level".

    Boss: That isn't so easy. An increase in function level can only happen after you participate in a "management development program".

    Me: Well, then, send me to one.

    Boss: I can't. Its too late. New development program participants have to enroll at least a year in advance. Then the management board decides whether the applicant is worthwhile and may do it or not. If the board decision is positive, then a year later, you can go through the management development program. And once you're through, the next january, a salary raise can be considered. Therefore, the earliest point in time for a raise for you is january 2008.

    Me: Thank you very much for explaining all of this to me. Here is my letter of resignation.

     

    The irony is this: I am working for a service company now (since january). For the first few months I had an assignment elsewhere, but two weeks ago, my (new) boss asked me if it was ok to go back to my former employer and work there as a contractor. I smiled broadly, thinking, oh well, then, I can still do the old work, but I got my raise of 15%. Fu.k you, old boss...  :-D



  • @Cthulhu reencoded said:

    @valerion said:

    Yup, 4 pennies. About 2 cents. Per year...

    I reckon they used an OMGWTF calculator to do the sums... 

    OTOH you appear to be using it for currency conversion.
     

     

    It would appear so, but that is actually the WTF calculator in my head. I think somebody swapped the mental division and multiplication buttons around... 



  • @Kemp said:

    4p in the UK is about 8c in the US. Yay for a really weak dollar, I can import stuff at low low prices. Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion? (I honestly don't know, I haven't bothered watching the news for a long time, but that's another story).

     

    To be honest, nobody pays attention to exchange rates or any of that stuff here in the US. Unless he's a manufacturer in the importing business, there's no reason for an American consumer to  buy anything internationally, or to ever use anything other than American money.  So  we leave the exchange rate crap to the financial people.  But we do think its cute that when we visit your countries we have to trade in our money for that funny stuff you use over there!

     



  • @shadowman said:

    But we do think its cute that when we visit your countries we have to trade in our money for that funny stuff you use over there!

    OMG! Really? I think exactly the same -- funny $ :)

    And yes - in every country people don't care about exchange rates, unless they're working in international trade or go abroad. People don't buy almost anything internationally themselves. Feel special if you want, but it's the same everywhere, you know? :)



  • @Kemp said:

    Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion?

    It's almost entirely unrelated to their tendency to invade people they don't like, partly related to the immense federal deficit (Bush has been spending money he doesn't have ever since entering office), but largely due to their habit over the past couple of decades of outsourcing all major production overseas and not producing anything that the rest of the world particularly wants to buy - so money is pouring out of the country rapidly, but none is coming in, and that trashes your exchange rate.

    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.



  • @viraptor said:

    And yes - in every country people don't care about exchange rates, unless they're working in international trade or go abroad. People don't buy almost anything internationally themselves. Feel special if you want, but it's the same everywhere, you know? :)

    Individual people often don't, but the industries that make up the bulk of the economy in the western world live or die by the exchange rates. Stock market crashes are usually closely related to fluctuations in the value of money, and the corresponding variations in the value of goods on the international market. The sheeple just don't notice until all their employers go bankrupt overnight.



  • @valerion said:

    @Cthulhu reencoded said:

    @valerion said:

    Yup, 4 pennies. About 2 cents. Per year...

    I reckon they used an OMGWTF calculator to do the sums... 

    OTOH you appear to be using it for currency conversion.
     

     

    It would appear so, but that is actually the WTF calculator in my head. I think somebody swapped the mental division and multiplication buttons around... 

    It's a difference of about 6 cents anyway. Let's not make mountains out of molehills here.



  • @asuffield said:

    @Kemp said:

    Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion?

    It's almost entirely unrelated to their tendency to invade people they don't like

    Probably, but I noticed that everytime they annoy someone the dollar drops through the floor. Maybe it's not cause-effect, just related reasons causing things.

    @asuffield said:


    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

    That's going to be awesome
     





  • @Pap said:

    I bet you didn't see this coming...

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070619/lf_nm/usa_economy_berkshares_dc

    These things have been popping up in most of the western world on a regular basis for the past hundred years or so. The large international banks do their best to stamp them out, primarily through aggressive anti-marketing campaigns and the occasional lawyer attacks. A few inevitably slip through - the major currencies are really quite bad, and we only use them because there aren't any widespread alternatives, so these things are usually very popular if they can dodge the banking cartels.

    The banks care about this because from the economic perspective of a bank, every dollar you are holding is making money for the bank that gave it to you, at the rate of inflation; "interest" on your bank accounts, from their perspective, is simply the absence of this profit. It's one of the more curious quirks of economics - inflation behaves more or less like a fee paid to the banks for the use of the currency they operate. Obviously the banks don't want to lose out on that by having people using other currency.



  • http://www.calgarydollars.ca man!

    It's like money, except it can only be used to buy organic food and all-natural homeopathy and other hippie stuff!
     



  • @Kemp said:

    @asuffield said:

    @Kemp said:

    Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion?

    It's almost entirely unrelated to their tendency to invade people they don't like

    Probably, but I noticed that everytime they annoy someone the dollar drops through the floor. Maybe it's not cause-effect, just related reasons causing things.

    @asuffield said:


    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

    That's going to be awesome
     

     

    Not so awesome if you live here... and aren't rich.  The rich have been climbing the social ladder and selling the rungs out from under themselves for a long time... anybody who happens to be at that level before it gets sold can climb up, but the rest go directly to jail, do not pass go, and do not collect $200. 



  • @TheRider said:

    Boss: You already reached the highest possible salary within the "salary bandwidth" assigned to your "function level".

    Me: Easy one. Just increase that "function level".

    Boss: That isn't so easy. An increase in function level can only happen after you participate in a "management development program".

    As you've discovered, this is a way to keep an artificial and distinct division between management and labor.

    It's actually quite common. It's by no means ethical, but a lot of managers use those lines as an excuse to keep underpaying workers, especially programmers. The response "you need to become a manager to get a raise" is deliberately chosen because most programmers want to write better software, not get promoted to a position where they write little to no software.

    You were wise to leave. There is no way to overcome this glass ceiling. It was already decided that programmers are worth no more than a certain amount, which is a reflection of the general attitude that programming is grunt labor, because the quality of the software has no value. The real value, it is reasoned, is in making the sale. Once that's done, they can ship a turd in a box and get away clean.



  • @rbowes said:

    man!

    It's like money, except it can only be used to buy organic food and all-natural homeopathy and other hippie stuff!
     



    If I remember correctly, at least one US state has their own official currency, but no one uses it.



  • @Kemp said:

    4p in the UK is about 8c in the US. Yay for a really weak dollar, I can import stuff at low low prices. Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion? (I honestly don't know, I haven't bothered watching the news for a long time, but that's another story).

    HAHAHA no, we didn't.  Anyway, smartass, war usually stops inflation/devaluation of currency (see Germany in the 1930s). 



  • @shadowman said:

    @Kemp said:

    4p in the UK is about 8c in the US. Yay for a really weak dollar, I can import stuff at low low prices. Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion? (I honestly don't know, I haven't bothered watching the news for a long time, but that's another story).

     

    To be honest, nobody pays attention to exchange rates or any of that stuff here in the US. Unless he's a manufacturer in the importing business, there's no reason for an American consumer to  buy anything internationally, or to ever use anything other than American money.

     One URL for you:

    http://www.ebay.com 



  • @asuffield said:

    @Kemp said:

    Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion?

    It's almost entirely unrelated to their tendency to invade people they don't like, partly related to the immense federal deficit (Bush has been spending money he doesn't have ever since entering office), but largely due to their habit over the past couple of decades of outsourcing all major production overseas and not producing anything that the rest of the world particularly wants to buy - so money is pouring out of the country rapidly, but none is coming in, and that trashes your exchange rate.

    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

     You are probably cackling as you type that, but you wouldn't be if it happened.

     
    I'm not much of a Bush supporter anymore, but he hasn't been deficit spending since he got into office.  The budget was balanced until this little thing called September 11th.  The .bomb he inherited was already making things dicey.
     



  • @Kemp said:

    @asuffield said:

    @Kemp said:

    Why is it so bad atm anyway, did you declare another invasion?

    It's almost entirely unrelated to their tendency to invade people they don't like

    Probably, but I noticed that everytime they annoy someone the dollar drops through the floor. Maybe it's not cause-effect, just related reasons causing things.

    @asuffield said:


    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

    That's going to be awesome
     

    No it won't.  I imagine you suggested that because you think the USA is evil in some way.  Well, if you really think so, try to think of what happened in other "evil regimes" when their economies tanked.  You will suffer.



  • @Cap'n Steve said:

    @rbowes said:
    man!

    It's like money, except it can only be used to buy organic food and all-natural homeopathy and other hippie stuff!



    If I remember correctly, at least one US state has their own official currency, but no one uses it.

    Article I, section 10 of the US Constitution prohibits states from coining money. 



  • @operagost said:

    @Kemp said:

    @asuffield said:


    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

    That's going to be awesome
     

    No it won't.  I imagine you suggested that because you think the USA is evil in some way.  Well, if you really think so, try to think of what happened in other "evil regimes" when their economies tanked.  You will suffer.

    It's more likely to be a repeat of the events of the Great Depression of the 1930s - history tends to repeat itself. The result around the world was the creation of minimum wages, unionisation, welfare states, unemployment benefit, etc - when about 25-30% of the population becomes unemployed, governments start to think about doing something about the problems.

    Or in more vernacular terms: the US needs to be repeatedly kicked in the crotch to get them to stop humping the secretary and do something useful, and wrecking their economy has worked in the past. In the long run, these things tend to be good for society (although they wouldn't be necessary if rich people weren't so damned self-centred and arrogant in the first place).



  • @asuffield said:

    @Pap said:

    I bet you didn't see this coming...

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070619/lf_nm/usa_economy_berkshares_dc

    These things have been popping up in most of the western world on a regular basis for the past hundred years or so. The large international banks do their best to stamp them out, primarily through aggressive anti-marketing campaigns and the occasional lawyer attacks. A few inevitably slip through - the major currencies are really quite bad, and we only use them because there aren't any widespread alternatives, so these things are usually very popular if they can dodge the banking cartels.

    The banks care about this because from the economic perspective of a bank, every dollar you are holding is making money for the bank that gave it to you, at the rate of inflation; "interest" on your bank accounts, from their perspective, is simply the absence of this profit. It's one of the more curious quirks of economics - inflation behaves more or less like a fee paid to the banks for the use of the currency they operate. Obviously the banks don't want to lose out on that by having people using other currency.

    I highly recommend watching Money as Debt for more information on the basic nature of money in modern society, and what's wrong with it - the bizarre behaviour of inflation is just one of the lesser consequences.



  • @asuffield said:

    @operagost said:
    @Kemp said:

    @asuffield said:


    When the exchange rate drops to the point where US dollars won't cover their overseas manufacturing costs, the implosion is likely to be spectacular.

    That's going to be awesome
     

    No it won't.  I imagine you suggested that because you think the USA is evil in some way.  Well, if you really think so, try to think of what happened in other "evil regimes" when their economies tanked.  You will suffer.

    It's more likely to be a repeat of the events of the Great Depression of the 1930s - history tends to repeat itself. The result around the world was the creation of minimum wages, unionisation, welfare states, unemployment benefit, etc - when about 25-30% of the population becomes unemployed, governments start to think about doing something about the problems.

    Or in more vernacular terms: the US needs to be repeatedly kicked in the crotch to get them to stop humping the secretary and do something useful, and wrecking their economy has worked in the past. In the long run, these things tend to be good for society (although they wouldn't be necessary if rich people weren't so damned self-centred and arrogant in the first place).


    I do think this happens to be a major job qualification. Rich people are generally rich because they (or some they that eventually inherited to them) did not care about taking the candy from the baby. The probably didn't feel a thing right up and until the people revolted. At this point the they usually say something like "But we've done so much for them!".

    But the real stickler is that money does not exist. You can not eat money. You can not use money as a construction material (easily) for clothes or buildings (Especially if the money is currently a set of bits in a computer). Money is very difficult to burn these days. The value of the metals making up money (in coin) is worth less than the value on the face. The only real reason that money works is because people believe. They believe that it can store an amount of good will (like the amount of good will needed to recieve a loaf of bread) that sometime in the future can be recieved from someone else.

    All you need is for one person to turn around and make the money disappear... Really you have to hand it to the inventor.

    But that is sane beside the phenomena that is tax.




  • @Kain0_0 said:

    You can not use money as a construction material (easily) for clothes or buildings

    There was a time in Germany when they found it made reasonably good wallpaper (and was a great deal cheaper than actually buying 'real' wallpaper, since their economy was pretty much dead at the time).





  • @TheRider said:

    Boss: You already reached the highest possible salary within the "salary bandwidth" assigned to your "function level".

    Me: Easy one. Just increase that "function level".

    Boss: That isn't so easy. An increase in function level can only happen after you participate in a "management development program".

    I got something similar once at $SMALL_COMPANY.  My manager told me I'd reached the top of my salary grade, and the only way to get more than a token raise was to go into management.  I'm a techie, not a manager.  I don't *want* to be a manager.

    Then we got acquired by $REALLY_HUGE_COMPANY.  They actually have a technical path up to a level equivalent to Senior VP or something like that.  I can actually get raises again, without going to the Dark Side.  Yes, there really are some good points to working for a large company (they're few and far between, but they're there!).



  • @shadowman said:

    Canadian Tire Dollars, anyone?

    I signed up just for this one!   Right now, there's more Canadian Tire money in my wallet than Canadian money. 


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