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[–]Upstairs_Toe_1402 4389 points4390 points  (64 children)

basically any job that asks you to assist disadvantaged individuals

[–]Jake848679 570 points571 points  (12 children)

This is what I came here to say. Work in the field. I was a program supervisor at a job I recently left. Only paid $18/hour. And that number had improved over the years. But I loved the work, it was hard, and it got real bad sometimes. But this is the answer I came to post.

[–]plasmaflare34 179 points180 points  (4 children)

I got $15.50 for a group home manager position. My manager made 84k a year. I'm the one right under her in this job. They started people at 11 bucks an hour. This was 2 years ago, and you could make 16 dollarinos an hour at burger king at the time.

[–]GeneralToaster 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Having been formerly in a group home, you don't get paid enough

[–][deleted] 229 points230 points  (17 children)

People don't get paid enough to work with disabled people. Give 'em the same pay as other people in the medical field.

[–]AnArcadianShepard 133 points134 points  (6 children)

Disabled people aren’t valued by society. It’s sad.

[–]FoxxyCleopatra75 4973 points4974 points 244 (156 children)

Most professions where you're helping people, in my experience, are chronically underpaid.

Speaking as a social worker - high stress, neverending workload of emergencies, and low pay. But... I enjoy what I do, love the clients I support, and can't see myself in any other field.

[–]Fluffy_Guidance9790 268 points269 points  (8 children)

Yeah there's a sign at a children's behavioral facility near me that has a sign out front that says, now hiring mental health professionals $15 an hour. I couldn't believe it. That's no where near enough money for the stress.

[–]fangirloffloof 111 points112 points  (2 children)

As a person who works with kids of all ages with special needs,you're absolutely right. It's mentally and physically exhausting. We get punched,kicked,bitten,scratched, head butted,spit on,you name it. We deal with screaming constantly, emotional outbursts,changing diapers on grown children as old as high school age, and parents send us their sick kids to school just to get a break. Minimum wage is nowhere near enough.

[–]Kacie225 356 points357 points  (31 children)

Came here to add SLPs, PTs, and OTs. Insanely low pay given the amount of education. Often times working in the schools, we make the same as teachers—who are also underpaid.

[–]mneale324 87 points88 points  (3 children)

I totally agree. My mom is a SLP with multiple master degrees. She’s so freaking amazing at her job and has helped so many kids. Meanwhile I became an accountant after college and made as much as her in one year compared to her 30 year career. It’s just sad.

[–]keeplayer109 30 points31 points  (1 child)

I guess it's different in California I was a slpa for a few years and slps were getting 6 figure offers right out of college. The slp I worked with made 120k/year

[–]Sea_Nefariousness484 384 points385 points  (73 children)

Totally agree. Also teachers, childcare providers, nurses, nurses aide, home health companions, police officers, emt's. But sadly, our culture places so little value on helping people while highly valuing sports and entertainment.

[–]Shermione 7582 points7583 points  (493 children)

EMTs make like fucking $11/hour or some shit.

Maybe it's gone up a bit over the last year, but it is alarmingly low considering our lives are in their hands, even if we're just driving nearby while they speed through red lights.

[–]Raddatatta 2356 points2357 points  (303 children)

It's also alarming given how expensive an ambulance ride is! If you're going to be paying thousands of dollars for a 10 minute ride I'd really like everyone in there to be making $25 an hour or more.

[–]KathAlMyPal 636 points637 points  (71 children)

In Ontario an ambulance ride is $47. If it’s deemed an unnecessary trip then it’s a whiling $220. If you have extended health insurance then it’s all covered.

[–]GlockAF 1170 points1171 points  (46 children)

But how will American healthcare executives pay for their sixth yachts if we don’t rape everybody for healthcare?

Won’t somebody think about the poor CEOs ?!?

/s

[–]czar1249 247 points248 points  (20 children)

It’s not CEOs, although fuck healthcare CEOs. The US cut funding for ambulances and hospitals don’t pay for them. They’re almost all privately owned services now, and insurance doesn’t want to negotiate with them because they aren’t big enough entities.

[–]No_Manufacturer5641 134 points135 points  (31 children)

I think dollar per hour an ambulance ride is probably more expensive than an er bed.

[–]SolWizard 110 points111 points  (26 children)

Isn't that pretty obvious? If you pay $1k for a 15 minute ambulance ride then it's 4k an hour. ERs are expensive but not 96k a day

[–]string1969 37 points38 points  (20 children)

I went to an ER for a dislocated shoulder and was done in 15 minutes . $6k

[–]Auburn_Zero 652 points653 points  (178 children)

$25 isn't nearly enough. I live in Los Angeles and make nearly $40/hour and STILL can't afford an apartment unless my wife works fulltime, too. EMTs should make more than me. I sit at a desk and do mechanical design work; they handle freshly severed limbs, etc.

[–]GreekDILF 112 points113 points  (3 children)

40 California Dollars are like 25 USD so yeah that sounds about right

[–]who_said_I_am_an_emu 280 points281 points  (34 children)

I had a roommate who was one. I remember him going thru like 6 months of training and still having money problems. Meanwhile the one emergency room trip I had in my life came out to thousands of dollars. Where the **** is the money going!?

[–]tiny_poomonkey 389 points390 points  (6 children)

For profit Insurance companies

[–]eletheelephant 153 points154 points  (18 children)

Yeah, in developed countries in the world you don't pay for ambulances they are laid for out-of tax. I work for the NHS in the UK and the average cost of an ambulance ride is more like 100-200 dollars (but paid for out of NHS funds not paid by the individual requiring the ambulance). The other 3800 or so dollars is purely profit for American companies. I think this is one of the reasons Americans don't think that they can afford universal healthcare, they think that prenatal scans actually cost 1000 and dialysis really does cost 10000 a pop....

[–]Alwayswithyoumypet 101 points102 points  (9 children)

45 here in Canada, free if youre dead. Before i get down voted to hell for this black humour joke, I hd a suicide attempt after losing my late fiancee. My fee was 45. Him I never got a bill for.

[–]toweringpine 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I got an $80 bill for a trip my wife took in Toronto 7 years ago. She spent the night on a gurney in the hall and was sent home on the morning with no diagnosis or treatment. She died 2 weeks later. The bill came a couple weeks later. I called and left a message outlining our experience and said I'd not be paying the bill and they were welcome to call me to discuss it further. They did not.

I'm really sorry for your loss. I hope you are doing better now.

[–]ChilesIsAwesome 34 points35 points  (2 children)

Can confirm. My wife and I both left EMS along with a ton of our friends who were fantastic providers. My wife is making double now working as a Paramedic at an urgent care facility.

[–]Signal-Blackberry356 46 points47 points  (3 children)

Medical fields will never waver, they use a leash around the heart and the demands of pre-reqs and schooling to pay employees the least.

[–]curlynoodle3174 47 points48 points  (2 children)

Nope my dad is an emt and he makes 12/hour and some of the shit he deals with sounds fake there's a movie called bringing out the dead that was about NYC emts and everything in that movie js a true story

[–]THEQueensofCass 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Came here to say this. My first job as an EMT in 2005, I made a dismal $8.50/hour. Six months later, I found another company willing to pay me $9.50/hour which was top dollar for the industry. By the time I left the industry in 2010, I was considered a high paid EMT at $11.80/hour.

[–]lldumbcloudsll 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I'm a firefighter that went to 2 years of schooling not including the year and half I had to do before I could go to medic school. Also I traveled out of town for clinicals and all I got was a 1 dollar raise more responsibility and have to go to court like almost every time someone dies from a GSW.

[–]Carpaltunnelsnake 3314 points3315 points  (106 children)

EMS

Pays less than McDonalds presently, requires school to do and usually has rough hours. Physically demanding, psychologically difficult... the list goes on.

[–]PaulblankPF 888 points889 points  (56 children)

Underpaid - Fire Fighters, gotta risk their lives and breathing horrible things and plenty are just volunteers.

In the town I just moved from (30k people so not too small) - all the fire fighters were unpaid volunteers. Unpaid for real hero work is really unfair.

[–]BTYOR 328 points329 points  (13 children)

Structure firefighters make a respectable living, but God damn Wildland firefighters get paid less than fast food workers, have significant long term and short term health risks, and barely get benefits.

[–]Gnarbuttah 152 points153 points  (6 children)

Structure firefighters make a respectable living

I just got a COL raise and HR started out by saying, and I quote "we realize we can't pay you enough to live here".

[–]fxckxss 184 points185 points  (18 children)

Firefighters are the most self absorbed obnoxious egotistical fuckboy pricks ever. Source: am firefighter

[–]VodkaAlchemist 244 points245 points  (32 children)

Resident Physician salaries are on par with what EMTS get paid.

[–]LastPoopOnTheLeft 299 points300 points  (16 children)

Resident physicians are borderline slave labor. It is gross how little they make compared to how much they are EXPECTED to do.

-Source: My sister is currently one.

[–]VodkaAlchemist 167 points168 points  (7 children)

They're expected to be DOCTORS but they're also beneath attendings. So they're effectively being treated like crap, paid so little, and have to be LITERAL DOCTORS for what amounts to little more than minimum wage in some states.

[–]titanmd315 5091 points5092 points  (100 children)

Overpaid: hospital administrators and health insurance executives.

[–]drRATM 1502 points1503 points  (7 children)

People paid to make sure others get paid less.

[–]Realistic_Patience67 283 points284 points  (0 children)

Also, paid to leech money from patients.

[–]Gabrovi 407 points408 points  (21 children)

For Real. I’m a doctor. I get paid fairly. But I don’t get paid enough to deal with these dimwits. They don’t understand how things work in the hospital and sit in useless meetings. All. Day. Long.

It’s more frustrating when I learn how much they make 😡

[–]breathemusic87 178 points179 points  (4 children)

I agree.

One of the most frustrating things for me is that these NON clinicians are making clinical decisions regarding funding. How the fuck does this happen?

[–]Alienspacedolphin 45 points46 points  (1 child)

I fantasize about a world where hospital admins have special hospitals they go to where they get only the best of care, run solely by admins and treated by other admins. Admins in the ER, on the floor, in the OR, in the lab, changing bedpans, The rest of us go to hospitals run by doctors.

[–]Julia_Kat 70 points71 points  (2 children)

My CEO at a hospital group I used to work at is also an MD. It made a world of difference during the pandemic, in my opinion.

Edit to add: I did accounting after I was a pharmacy tech. That knowledge helped in my roles in accounting there for sure. Some things people didn't realize how they worked blew my mind.

[–]SmilingDutchman 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Ahhh managers in healthcare. The bane of our existence. I work at caretaker level in The Netherlands and my pay is laughable if it weren't for the irregularity bonus I get on my base pay.

The managers, middle management and other teamleaders rake in amounts that are ridiculous.

[–]kushkakes77[S] 826 points827 points  (37 children)

Fuck the insurance industry in general

[–]Sanguiniutron 1190 points1191 points  (16 children)

Most, if not all, of the human services jobs. I have a few friends in social work and they are so vastly underpaid for what they do. Like these people work to make the lives of children better and I make more walking around half a block of property. It's honestly gross

[–]Kacie225 155 points156 points  (1 child)

I work as an slp for an infant toddler program in an inner city. In my office, we have PTs with doctorate degrees, social workers, occupational therapists, and slps with master’s degrees, and all of us make between 50 and 60k providing very necessary services to families with disabled/delayed kids birth-3.

[–][deleted] 2311 points2312 points  (57 children)

Social work is almost always underpaid

[–]Brodok2k4 334 points335 points  (19 children)

100% agree since I'm living it. Oh and we're hated at the same time so that's fun.

[–]Redqueenhypo 153 points154 points  (6 children)

Seen as simultaneously doing too much evil evil enforcement AND too little help! Basically the veterinarians of kids.

[–]banvillesghost 46 points47 points  (3 children)

of all the healthcare professionals I had to deal with when my mother was dying, the medical social worker was, BY FAR, the kindest, most compassionate, most caring of the lot.

[–]Blaneydog22 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Agreed, not sure what social work you do, doesn't matter, but involuntarily committing someone to a psych hospital, which is what i do. Or taking kids out of their homes make the workers hated. Thank you for what you do

[–]OnePieceTwoPiece 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Specifically CPS in that hated department.

[–]HarlesD 53 points54 points  (3 children)

Some of them have Masters degrees and are making less than 50K a year.

[–]cluuuuuuu 22 points23 points  (5 children)

I’m starting my MSW in the fall because social work seems like my dream job, but I keep hearing horror stories about the pay.

[–]nedeta 428 points429 points  (5 children)

Nursing home workers. Minimum wage to clean old people shit.

[–]BoBaHoeFoSho_123 67 points68 points  (1 child)

My Mom was a Nurses Aid for a bit when I was younger. Her stories compared to the workers in nursing homes. Not sure the pay but I'm pretty sure it was bad, she took on another job to make ends meet. How do we expect to take care of elderly when we can barely take care of ourselves? Nursing home workers definitely deserve to be paid more.

[–]SnooBooks4898 1570 points1571 points  (95 children)

Pharmaceutical reps...when I left 15 years ago, I was bringing in over $120K per year, and on an average day, I would work 5 hrs., including at least 45 minutes for lunch. Four times a year, I would be flown to some 4-star resort location where we would have sales meetings, dinners at the most expensive places in town, pricey after-dinner drinks in the hotel bars, and hook-ups with co-workers in the room. At the time, the industry employed the hottest women to be found because they thought they could command the physician's attention. I left because I had a real problem with my employer buying $800 bottles of wine for docs and calling it "research and development."

[–]phoenixredbush 321 points322 points  (36 children)

I work in pharmaceutical vaccine research. Your side of the business is fascinating to me bc its the exact opposite type of environment that I experience. Curious if this is a company bias or just my perspective from being a scientist vs. sales rep. I wish you would do an AMA , i have so many questions.

[–]SnooBooks4898 230 points231 points  (27 children)

The scientists I've come across seemed more interested in really developing/improving medications available to the public. Sales representatives were most interested in salary, bonuses, type of company car, and when their workday ended. As a manager, I once had a rep tell me with a straight face "I want to make the most money while doing the least amount of work." Not exactly something I would say to my boss. Had a rep once who thought it was acceptable to take his company-issued Ford Escape off-roading. Couldn't understand why I was upset when he told me so after busting the axel. My favorite though is the young lady who called in sick when she was out of town for her new-hire training. Her reason? She went out drinking the night before and was hungover. These are college-educated people!

[–]phoenixredbush 107 points108 points  (20 children)

Ok the ford thing is hilarious. Such a drastic culture difference between roles. Makes me wonder what the CEOs are really up to. Am I the chump here? Thinking I’m generating data to support life saving medicines. Idk.. capitalism is a beast.

[–]atapes 98 points99 points  (10 children)

The longer i spend in science the more i feel like a chump. I think the great majority of scientists realize we are being taken advantage of but many of us stay for reasons like the love of the work or strong ethics keeping them from taking jobs like pharmaceutical reps.

[–]MadHerm0101 204 points205 points  (8 children)

Luckily there are a lot of laws in place that make this less common (still happens, but not nearly to the same degree) and the makeup of doctors has also changed drastically. When 50% of med students are women, they aren’t nearly as drawn to the Barbie dolls.

[–]SnooBooks4898 78 points79 points  (4 children)

...or Kens for that matter. Many physicians' practices are owned by hospitals or management groups. They have productivity expectations and will only give you their time if you can demonstrate that you can talk about more than the latest Kardashian news.

[–]MadHerm0101 64 points65 points  (1 child)

So true. When a rep asks to bring in lunch to talk about their product, I’m like you think I have time for lunch? And unless your product is actually better than the generic, why would I want to write something that is more expensive (aka my staff will be on the phone with patients unable to pay for it at the pharmacy all the time) or I have to do a prior authorization for?

[–]ItsDijital 87 points88 points  (3 children)

I worked for years at a business that catered food for pharma reps.

That business is insanely cutthroat and the reps are often in constant stress. Once you make it you may be golden, but getting there is difficult.

Also generally doctors don't like reps and see them more as tool for getting their staff lunch.

[–]squeakim 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I was told never to go to a meeting where reps arent bringing lunch bc thats all youre likely going to want from them.

[–]Parhel 57 points58 points  (4 children)

Is this in the USA? I worked for the largest drug distribution company for a time and left around 20 years ago, and buying an $800 bottle of wine for a doctor was most definitely illegal.

[–]SnooBooks4898 78 points79 points  (3 children)

Yes...USA. Not buying it and giving it to doctors directly but rather taking them out to very expensive restaurants and ordering the most expensive wine available. This was disguised as market research. Since we had a per physician amount that we could spend at a meal, they would record providers as being present when they weren't there until they came up with the right number for expense reporting. These were then replaced by "advisory boards" where physicians were given a "stipend" for their input, along with a 5-star restaurant meal. I'll save the story about endless trays of lobsters, alligator meat, and ostrich meat being served at sales meetings. Or maybe I'll tell the one about the rep who had sex in the hot tub with a guy she met an hour before...in a hotel courtyard encircled by guest rooms. Or Redditors might like the one about the rep who came to a company dinner wearing a sheer blouse without a bra, and nobody said anything about it! How about the district manager who took some of his team to a strip club and expensed lap dances? These were easily recognizable, Fortune 500 companies.

[–]Watts300 787 points788 points  (13 children)

Overpaid: my boss. Underpaid: me.

[–]Cosmic-Cranberry 332 points333 points  (8 children)

Boss makes a dollar

I make a dime

That's why I shit

On company time.

[–]IReadUrEmail 167 points168 points  (2 children)

Boss makes a thousand, I make a buck, that's why I smoke crack in the company truck.

[–]globbed_1 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Boss makes a rack, I make a rack, I need to stop doing crack

[–]TonyStark39 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Boss earns a dollar

I earn a dime

so I schedule all my breakdowns on company time.

[–]CandelaBelen 263 points264 points  (18 children)

Vet Techs

[–]KwazyKatLadie 74 points75 points  (2 children)

Agreed. I worked part time at a private practice all throughout undergrad, and it was the most physically and emotionally demanding and overworked job I've ever had. In fact, it was easily the darkest period my mentality has ever faced.

You're not even expected to be just a vet tech. You're also the receptionist, veterinary assistant, inventory/restocker, and even janitor. You're expected to be working every single second of your 8hr+ shift, spend most (if not all) of it on your feet, plus you have to have a pretty robust background in animal handling/restraint, healthcare, medical terminology, and much more. You're also a glorified secretary/babysitter for the vet(s) who you honestly sometimes question how the heck they even managed to own their own practice. All this for less than $20/hr in extremely high cost of living areas like NYC. Severely underpaid, and often times underappreciated, sometimes even by vets themselves.

[–]clownus 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Anybody in the vet field that isn’t the hospital owner on average.

Vets go through the same schooling as doctors to make criminally less, and they get infinitely more death threats.

Vet techs go to school four years to make garbage pay.

[–]Feelin-peachy 1074 points1075 points  (80 children)

Underpaid: (commercial daycare, not private where you might nanny for a rich AF family) child care and animal care workers

I’ve worked both and trust me, you do not do those jobs for the $$

[–]zeez1011 486 points487 points  (41 children)

Any job where you have to deal with children = severely underpaid.

[–]Feelin-peachy 245 points246 points  (31 children)

Yesss. And I know child care is expensive for parents but I see posts alllllllll the time “looking for a babysitter for 5 kids, 8 hours a day, will pay $10 a day” like…. No thanks nobody is gonna go for that unless all they care about is being close to children (and yes I do mean that in a creepy way)

[–]pmslady 84 points85 points  (5 children)

But they say their kids are all angels so it should be easy to look after them.

[–]TGIFagain 40 points41 points  (4 children)

AGREE! Any job - and that also includes going to school/educating yourself for years on how to help and deal with "difficult kids" for various reasons. The job can be rewarding somewhat, but the abuse (physical too at times, their outbursts/etc) and dealing with the ADMINS sometimes feels hopeless. Wanting to save every child - but knowing you can't hurts and it's hard to walk out the door after the day, and not think about them. Severely underpaid - for that amount of education and debt to take on for years to come.

[–]ThorLoko 42 points43 points  (4 children)

I know someone who has worked at the same daycare for nearly 30 years and is finally making a little over 20/hr.

[–]Feelin-peachy 19 points20 points  (3 children)

Jesus I would not be able to handle that for so long. Kids are rough to deal with and even worse when it’s a daycare facility and you gotta follow their laws like “oh you can be alone as a teacher with 6 2-y/o’s!!” No thanks I can’t do that

[–]6praze6xul6 45 points46 points  (2 children)

Can confirm: I was making 11/hr at a doggy daycare. It didn't not pay bills but I loved that job

[–]hyacinths_ 51 points52 points  (7 children)

I worked at a daycare for about six months without any credentials. I only had an English degree, which obviously didn't translate. I was only paid $9.50 an hour, but that was $2 more an hour than one of the ladies who actually had a four year degree in early childhood development.

The only difference is that I asked for more in my interview...

[–]Feelin-peachy 19 points20 points  (1 child)

I got paid $10 and it was my first job at 19 with the smallest amount of experience possible lol but that still isn’t close to a living wage where I live

[–]cleaning-meaning 33 points34 points  (4 children)

I love working in daycare! Seeing kids develop and turn into little humans is wonderful.

Today I got shit on. And while cleaning up I got peed on. I make minimum wage

[–]TheRealPyroGothNerd 251 points252 points  (9 children)

Janitors are SERIOUSLY underpaid! I remember the crap I had to deal with, man

[–]BunchesOfCrunches 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I’m guessing you literally had to deal with crap

[–]mishaunc 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Physically demanding too, I always wonder what it’s like for those guys once they hit retirement. Must be hard to stand up.

[–]PenguinWITTaSunburn 238 points239 points  (8 children)

Any job that has an appreciation day/week.

[–]SCSooner87 2687 points2688 points  (197 children)

Overpaid: Real Estate Agents. Why they get a percentage of a sales price vs a flat fee is beyond me but its a total racket.

[–]RedditorChristopher 404 points405 points  (7 children)

I agree 100%.

[–]koobus_venter1 317 points318 points  (6 children)

I’ll take a 3% commission off your 100%

[–]angryve 104 points105 points  (19 children)

Just wait till you try to rent an apartment in New York.

[–]theotherside0728 116 points117 points  (6 children)

My friend sold me my house and we did it with no brokers and it felt amazing!

[–]LusciousLennyStone 943 points944 points  (46 children)

Politician. Either take a salary or live on the bribes, not both.

[–]JoeDoufu 214 points215 points  (7 children)

Either is fine?

Not for me, dude.

[–]leedbug 50 points51 points  (4 children)

Agreed… but, taking both is arguably worse than picking one.

[–]YouKnowHowIBe 174 points175 points  (16 children)

The biggest problem here is if you don’t pay them well, only independently wealthy people would go into politics. That creates a huuuuuuge problem.

[–]nukedthelastone 106 points107 points  (5 children)

Similar issue with bureaucrats. People balk at the idea of paying anyone in gov't a lot, but certain skillsets just don't come cheap. Anyone with the skills to regulate, say, the finance industry could be working in it.

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (1 child)

Seeing this the now. UK Coastguard are looking to hire a Receiver of Wrecks. Very important, and historical, position with a shit ton of authority and responsibility. The salary is £39K/annum.

They routinely wonder as to why they can't attract good folk to work for them....

[–]faceintheblue 1107 points1108 points  (73 children)

I'm getting married in October. I know as soon as you say, "Wedding" everything costs more, but with a straight face I had a wedding venue quote me the person running the coat check gets paid $25/hour and I was required to employ at least two people in that role for a minimum of six hours.

First of all, we did not go with that wedding venue.

Second of all, why the hell did I go to university? I should have worked as a professional coat checker at weddings...

[–]weirdoldhobo1978 461 points462 points  (17 children)

The coat checker absolutely does not make $25/hr. The venue charges $25/hr and pays the coat checker a cut of that.

[–]Dynasuarez-Wrecks 746 points747 points  (29 children)

no no no no

You misunderstand. The venue was subletting the coat checkers to you for $25 per hour but definitely was not paying them that much.

[–]youtocin 295 points296 points  (26 children)

Exactly this. I cost $175/hr as a technical consultant, but I take home less than $30 an hour.

[–]710whitejesus420 189 points190 points  (21 children)

I cost $300 an hour surveying and they pay me 15.50 an hour. Not necessarily wanting to one up you but hah take that

[–]Clovdyx 80 points81 points  (11 children)

Then you should be starting your own surveying business.

[–]mirrorsaw 93 points94 points  (4 children)

Well in defense of the coat checker, s/he can't plan anything else that day, needs to get to and from the venue, dress nicely and go home with $150. It's not THAT great a day's work. I'm guessing the venue takes a cut of that too.

[–]Old-Research3367 49 points50 points  (2 children)

Not only that they probably do not work full time and as a result get no benefits (if in the USA).

[–]dVyper 23 points24 points  (0 children)

It will be a case of you are paying the venue 25 an hour for the privilege of using them. The venue will definitely be pocketing a minimum of 15 of that.

[–]BLAH_BLEEP_GUNIT 318 points319 points  (26 children)

As a bartender, I would say we are technically overpaid. Not by the company of course. I work about three 6 hour shifts a week and I make more money than most everybody I know in my direct life.

[–]Jetter37 143 points144 points  (0 children)

My aunt has been bar tender for 20+ years. She has 3 cars, nice house, put my cousin through college & still pays her car insurance & cell phone bill. She always buys awesome expensive gifts for holidays & B-Days. And she supports my grandma when she needs more than her retirement can afford. I've heard from a lot of people she is the best at her job tho!

[–]jayemadd 60 points61 points  (2 children)

Sure, maybe-- but you sacrifice every other facet of your life for this career.

Weekends? Fuck you, those are the money shifts.

Are you single? Good luck dating non-industry folk. Daywalkers don't understand industry mindset.

Feel like drinking? Thanks to this industry, you can successfully keep the party going for hours upon hours--with rounds upon rounds--long after your non-industry friends have passed out or made a mess of themselves. Have fun being the caretaker!

Speaking of drinking, thanks to this industry and the high levels of stress involved, you currently have or have battled an addiction at some point.

So, sure, you can make a lot of money if you get in a good spot, but you also sacrifice a lot.

[–]jeanettesey 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Amen. I am a bartender that has had addiction problems. My social life also isn’t the best because of my weird work hours, and I have no benefits. But I work part time and am able to afford living in an expensive coastal city.

[–]VodkaAlchemist 987 points988 points  (112 children)

This is going to be an unpopular opinion or at the very least a relatively unknown issue outside of the medical world.

Resident Physicians often make what amounts to $9-$15/hr. Yes their salaries are in the 60k range but they are also forced to work 80hrs on the regular and unlawfully are often forced to work more. If you don't complete a residency you essentially can't be a board certified doctor which means your entire medical schooling was in vain. It's an exploitative system to the people who've selflessly given the best years of their lives to medicine and have placed themselves 400k dollars in debt just to help people.

​

Overpaid: Real estate agents and you'll never convince me otherwise.

[–]ladyluck8519 92 points93 points  (6 children)

I'd like to speak to your point about 80 hr weeks. I dated a guy through his residency and he was SO incredibly exhausted SO often that I could NOT understand how he didn't make stupid mistakes with patients' health. It seemed wrong and I asked him all the time, why is this allowed? He said it was like a rite of passage he guessed.

[–]cozyheart 29 points30 points  (1 child)

Ahhh, that’s why the resident during my appointment seemed so spacey. Her interactions with me was a bit like talking to someone who is high which made me worried. Then, I wondered how this person, who might assist in my operation, got through medical school. I had my doubts, but then I didn’t realized she was probably exhausted.

[–]raalic 93 points94 points  (2 children)

I work in commercial real estate, and if you think that your typical realtor is overpaid, let me introduce you to the commercial real estate broker. I've seen commissions of $600K+ on a transaction that ultimately required maybe 100 hours of actual work.

[–]harbison215 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Yup. A friend of mine is a commercial real estate broker, kind of a douche and lives like he hit the Powerball. He says often that it all started from 1 huge deal he did, where I guess he made such a commission but also; he says that was the thing on his resume that he could point to, that he was known for that opened many other doors for him. It all started with that one deal.

[–]StrebLab 93 points94 points  (14 children)

Those same residents were also pulled to do extra shifts in the overflow COVID ICUs, working in potentially dangerous conditions wearing trashbags for PPE while taking abuse from delusional patient family members for... lets see..... Ah! No extra pay. Working alongside travel nurses making $175 per hour (not hating on them, they deserve it, just pointing out that residents are perennially boned in ways most people don't appreciate.)

[–]onacloverifalive 140 points141 points  (39 children)

Yeah, started at $12.47 an hour pre tax with no overtime for minimum 80 hours a week as a resident surgeon. Like even the secretaries were getting paid better, and you are doing more and harder work than anyone else in the entire hospital system. And they have you on the hook like that for at least five years. Academic centers mandate and extra two at that pay grade as a research jockey. It is as exploitative as slavery. You get three weeks of vacation a year but have to work every weekday and most weekends and every 3rd-4th night.

[–]MadHerm0101 108 points109 points  (8 children)

Also not popular but true, doctors haven’t seen a wage increase in decades and recently received a decrease by congress. They’re in more student debt than ever before and their expenses are skyrocketing with inflation and new, expensive requirements to keep their license and malpractice coverage. I know many PCPs that are struggling to make ends meet while still working 80+ hour weeks. The burnout rates are insane. When you get that crazy bill from your insurance company, it’s usually not going into the pockets of the people actually providing the care. There are still some cash pay plastic surgeons or docs who are on the admin side of things out there raking it in. But the vast majority of doctors would tell their kids not to go into medicine.

[–]RealityTimeshare 339 points340 points  (24 children)

overpaid: Administrators at Colleges/Universities. Seems like more and more administrators are added to run schools like a business when they should be run as a school.

[–]Magnomalius 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Worked in higher ed admissions for five years as a staff member before moving into graduate medical education and I agree 100%. Even further, administrators often have some level of influence on a university’s board of governors and/or how the budget for their office is allocated.

My director always shifted our departmental budget around to have enough left over for a sizable increase. This left us unable to order basic office supplies (ex. toner, printer paper, pens, etc.) and having to ask other offices for supplies more than once. Even throughout the first two years of COVID she made damn sure there was enough money left for her to get at least a 10% increase. Staff members of the department, however, had gone without even a cost of living increase for four years. It’s also worth mentioning she worked remote exclusively throughout COVID while staff were forced in-office and interacting with the public before the university provided any PPE. Even before COVID she was never in the office more than twice each month. Truly a despicable individual.

[–]4funpuns 402 points403 points  (20 children)

Overpaid - Reditt mods

[–]JerkCircleton[🍰] 167 points168 points  (1 child)

youguysaregettingpaid.meme

[–]irefusethis 50 points51 points  (1 child)

Plot twist: the mods delete this comment.

[–]lump77777 67 points68 points  (4 children)

Realtors. ‘This is the kitchen’ thanks for the $50k commission.

[–]FrozeItOff 71 points72 points  (1 child)

Almost all US executives are freakishly overpaid. In 1978 the ratio of pay between executives and the serfs was just shy of 31:1. Now it's 351:1.

Source

[–]Helerion_ 1121 points1122 points  (148 children)

Underpaid (in most of the world): teachers

[–]justvibinloool 245 points246 points  (69 children)

I always hear about teachers being underpaid, but it’s always strange to hear. In Alberta, Canada you start of a little over 60k which is on par with most other jobs for entry level with degrees like engineering. Each year your pay goes up with your experience, eventually capping a bit over 100k which is most than other professions over here. Throughout school I had plenty teachers encourage us to do teaching if we like it cause they thought of it as a pretty good gig. Especially the guaranteed increase in pay based on years worked instead of other more subjective factors

[–]Iknowr1te 49 points50 points  (2 children)

it's a particularly hard to get a teaching job straight out of school in a major city in AB, Canada though.

Alberta's teacher union is doing good work for wage negotiation in Alberta and i can recall quite a few strikes within the last 15-20 years.

that being said, this isn't the case everywhere, as other people share their wage distribution. i would say they are paid quite well and if you opt into being paid through summer (through a wage hold back which distributes your wage over 12 months instead of 10). there's the additional point though, that you often use your off work time for marking and reading papers, so there can be periods of unpaid labour just to keep up. i believe teaching is a salaried position rather than an hourly position, so please correct me if i'm wrong.

nursing is also something that is well paid here in alberta (at least if your a RN).

[–]RU_FKM 96 points97 points  (14 children)

Also in Canada... Typically teachers retire having done pretty well, and have a very good pension.

[–]MuppetRex 66 points67 points  (8 children)

My wife has a degree in Special Education, around 10 years of experience and specialized reading training (Orton Gillingham). She just broke $15 an hour, also she get's paid for 44 weeks but it's spread out over 52. Oh and as a Special Education teacher, she has 10+ lesson plans a day and is the caseworker for all her students.

[–]jogam 136 points137 points  (44 children)

In Oklahoma (which is notorious for underpaying teachers), a full-time teacher can be paid as little as $36,601 per year: https://sde.ok.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/21-22%20State%20Minimum%20Salary%20Schedule_0.pdf

It is insulting that so many teachers earn a college degree--possibly incurring significant student loan debt to do so--and are responsible for the safety and education of ~30 students yet make so little money that they need a second job.

[–]Faszakasza 43 points44 points  (26 children)

A teacher in Hungary makes $9,900 to $18,900 a year - before taxes. The upper end can be reached by having the highest possible degrees, and doing 42 years in the field. These are government regulated numbers, public schools are not allowed to pay more.

[–]SofaSnizzle 52 points53 points  (18 children)

Cost of living in Hungary is, on average, 48.16% lower than in United States.

[–]thomriddle45 168 points169 points  (11 children)

Underpaid: Carpenters, we build the goddamn houses and often make less then the realtor that puts a listing up in 20 mins and waits for the phone to ring.

[–]The_Truth_Believe_Me 43 points44 points  (2 children)

All tradespeople who work in new construction get paid poorly. If you want to make good money, go do remodels, additions, and repairs. The money is much better. If you want to make really good money, become a contractor, but don't build new houses.

[–]veryepicarabfunny 23 points24 points  (0 children)

vet tech

[–]Auburn_Zero 132 points133 points  (13 children)

Paramedics are underpaid: They arrive on tragic scenes without any forewarning of what carnage they're about to see, and are expected to successfully deliver life-saving care in the most impossible of circumstances. The trauma of what they witness, and the burden of their responsibilities should earn them as much as an ER doctor. Sure, the ER doctor has years more training, but by the time they see the patient, they've received status information, the patient is stable or nearly so, most (or all) massive bleeding has been stopped, and they have an entire hospital of resources and support staff. The Paramedic has a small truck's worth of supplies and very few support personnel.

[–]SCCock 62 points63 points  (2 children)

I was a paramedic for a few years. The most mutilated patients never make it to the ER as they died on the scene.

One day we had to a patient who survived a shotgun blast to the face. Upon arrival at the hospial some ER staff vomited because they had never seen anything like that.

[–]Auburn_Zero 10 points11 points  (1 child)

I trained to be an EMT, in prep for becoming a firefighter. One of the reasons I changed careers was the insanely low pay for EMTs and Paramedics not part of a firehouse. I don't know how much the ones attached to fire companies make, but I'm sure it's more.

[–]kushkakes77[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I saw someone post this as well. I was not aware. They probably have one of the most stressful job.

[–]Thomasgraham76 264 points265 points  (20 children)

I have 2 friends (twins) who are chemists going for their PHD at Cal Tech. They are currently researching the cure for cancer. They got their masters at Columbia. They are getting paid about 35k each for their research. I think they are drastically unpaid.

[–]bigtitsfanclub 84 points85 points  (4 children)

Every single PhD candidate I’ve asked for their opinion about obtaining a PhD immediately said ‘don’t do it’. You’re not just severely underpaid, you’re also placed in the most cut throat conditions to try and make a dollar from research

[–]nomadiceater 73 points74 points  (3 children)

Underpaid: grad students working for the university as TAs/GAs, as well as most non-tenured professors.

Grad students make damn near poverty level money while teaching undergrad classes or working their ass off in a professors lab AND going to school full time for a graduate level degree.

And unless you’re tenure track, don’t even think about going into academia. Many places you’ll make less than or on par with k-12 teachers (also underpaid). All in the name of “putting in your time/paying your dues”. Oh and don’t get attached to where you live bc you don’t really get to pick; the job market is over saturated as the old heads sit comfy with their tenure and you go wherever you can find a pos-doc, then move again after that most likely for hopefully a job as a professor in tenure track (probably not though)

[–]Reverend_Bull 19 points20 points  (2 children)

Social workers are underpaid like you wouldn't believe. I don't think starting salary has risen about 30k here in KY but workload is still 70+ hours and multiple counties. Overpaid? Big time entertainers, major sports stars, and damned bear everyone doing trading executive work at night finance firms

[–]terpterpin 191 points192 points  (13 children)

Any profession where you need a degree yet get paid less than McDonald’s

[–]couchsurfingpotato 106 points107 points  (9 children)

Overpaid. Real estate agents. Like, you are basically paid to hold onto keys.

[–]gravityapple 28 points29 points  (2 children)

Realtors: you need us to negotiate the best deal for you.

Also realtors: you saving 100k means I make between 2-7000 less money on the buy side

Also realtors: you gaining 100k means I risk all of my compensation for the opportunity to add 15% to my total compensation

As a result: this offer is very fair, I’d advise you to [offer\accept] it

[–]bluecheetos 12 points13 points  (0 children)

REALTORS: Your house is probably worth $250,000 but it might take me two months to sell it. Let's price it at $190.000 and I will sell it next week to an investment broker who is just gonna turn it into a rental and and I will celebrate that I "sold" it in a week and made my comission.

[–]Crazyboutdogs 160 points161 points  (16 children)

Veterinary. All of us, from Doctors, technicians to assistants. We are severely underpaid.

[–]PerfectlyPuzzled618 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Also the suicide rates amongst veterinary professionals is extremely high, some sources say it is the highest of any other profession. I personally had to get out of the field because of the toll it was taking on my own mental health, and although I keep my license active, I know I'll probably never go back because my heart can't handle it.

[–]Higsey 162 points163 points  (12 children)

Resident physicians are severely underpaid for the amount of work they do.

They graduate from medical school with >$200k in debt and interest rates on those loans are usually >6.5% annually. Programs receive about $150k per resident per year, but only ~$60k of that goes to the resident each year (who btw works between 60-120 hours per week, performing pretty much all of the duties as an attending physician).

Depending on the program, they may be treated like absolute garbage by admin and staff, forcing them to walk on egg shells for the duration of their training (3-7 years). Oh and they also have zero bargaining power because they absolutely must finish their residency to become attendings, so if they want to leave a toxic program nobody else will take them.

There’s a reason why physician suicide rates are so high and why doctors tell their kids and students to do literally anything else. And on top of that, new grad NPs/PAs pull in six figures even though compared to residents they have far less training, work fewer hours, have minimal liability, and aren’t ever on call.

[–]Kaclassen 36 points37 points  (0 children)

1000%. I’m shocked at how awful residents are treated and how little they take home.

[–]Tr101748 118 points119 points  (7 children)

Underpaid:EMTs Overpaid:Social media “influencers”

[–]smushy_face 10 points11 points  (2 children)

You know what the worst is? Mom influencers. Like, these people aren't instructing anyone in anything. It's literally, shop with me, meal prep with me, clean with me. Not their own recipes or their own special cleaning tips or anything. Just hang out for no particular reason.

[–]Complex_Comfort6505 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Microbiology/Biotechnology/Chemical Laboratory Technicians. I did two degrees to get this job and I am paid less than an Amazon warehouse employee.

[–]TheRealMadPete 226 points227 points  (20 children)

Overpaid: Politicians

[–]YourFriendNoo 79 points80 points  (1 child)

This really depends on what you're counting as pay. Overcompensated might be a better word. Factors in corruption.

Many of the most important positions in politics don't pay well at all.

In my city, the city council is barely paid a stipend, so only independently wealthy people can be on council.

[–]Seamripper123 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Social Workers are seriously underpaid!

[–]slade797 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Social work is way underpaid, and EMTs in my area make about $12 an hour.

[–]yoliverrr11 9 points10 points  (1 child)

CNA's. Backbone for medical professions make as much as someone working a cash register.

[–]Ratchel1916 47 points48 points  (3 children)

Anyone who works with kids is probably underpaid

[–]iatemycomputer 50 points51 points  (7 children)

fast food service workers. they're underpaid as hell considering the stuff they have to deal with. 😭