Are friends/family shocked at your salary?

I hope you took the job.

 

No kidding, Mizzou. That's twice what I make in a different industry ... and to relate it back to newspapers, I'd have to take a $20K pay cut to sign as an entry-level reporter with either of the dailies where I live.

 

I left the newspaper business five years ago at close to its pay ceiling. My salary has gone up almost 50 percent in the five years since.

 

MTM, you have a number for that home-building guy?

 

Yeah and tell them you don't get raises but regular pay cuts and they'll hold a vigil for you rather than think you have a great job.

 

My former reporter was shocked when I told him what my salary was when he'd just gotten a PR gig.

When people find out how little I made, they are surprised. Of course, it's a lot more than I'm making right now.

 

My family was rather stunned over Easter dinner last Sunday when I told them I had a furlough coming up.
My niece asked what that was. My wife jumped in with "He doesn't work for a week and he doesn't get paid."

 

Since my parents were both working two jobs until my dad started getting social security (and my mom still is), they're actually jealous of me.

 

Was talking to a close friend who is in pharmaceuticals two weeks ago. I was telling him that my mother, who was laid off in January, was claiming more in unemployment than I was earning at my job. "If I would have known that I would have told you to run away a long time ago," he said.

 

As America's favorite sportswriter, Ray Baron, once said, "I don't make a lot of money. I write about people who do."

 

My mom was blown away when I told her what I was making when I was in the business. She could not believe that someone with a degree in a "skilled field" could be paid so little.

She is even more shocked that I make roughly 30 percent more in my current job.

 

I try to hang out with field reporters from the local TV stations. Their salaries make me feel wealthy.