I used to work as the manager of a shoe store(yeah i know it's kinda homo) and the owner threatened to fire me if I told anyone else my wages, due to the fact that I was making more, but hadn't been there as long as the other managers. I was more "Qualified" but to tell ya the truth, how "qualified" do you have to be to run a damned shoe store!

 

How do you know that you were making more than the other managers?

 

what, we're not supposed to do that either?

 

Ah ha - now THAT is a good question, clawhammer. He probably told that to ALL the managers.

Personally, I don't tell anyone here what I make. It is against company policy but I happen to know what the guys around me make and I'm almost 50% higher than some of them (with one year of extra experience). If I told them that, it wouldn't be good.

I was in Argentina a few weeks ago and was asked what I made (we were discussing cost of living and naturally, income comes up in such a discussion). We had four people at the table and I was asked in front of all of them. I didn't answer directly for a number of reasons:

1. A co-worker from Texas was there, so I didn't want to tell him.
2. I make nearly six times what one girl made (she told us her salary) and about three times what a fairly senior manager made. I'd have felt bad telling them what I make (even though they're well paid for the area).

In the end, I just said "I make quite a bit more than that" and left it at that.

 

i worked IT at a company in college that had full timers making around 40-45k.
we hired a girl that was at a local bank making 25-30k and offered her 35k.
she was very happy and took the job.
if she knew that everyone else was making 10k more, then she would expect 10k more, but in the end, the company got a good employee and the employee got a good raise.
that is why i think salary shouldn't be discussed, because it would price some people out of the job.
you arent going to give a 100k job to a guy making 30k, but he might be a good asset at 40k.

dave

 

When my friends ask me how much I make, I tell them the range for my position. The difference between the low end and high end is $20/hour.

 

In the oil business (Drilling) salarys and day rates are pretty much common knowledge. Depending on what you do, people have a pretty
good idea what you make.

 

I generally don't tell people what I make because I've found people to inherently make correlations between income and lifestyle. You make 'x' and you are driving a lowly 'y' car? Or you only make 'y' but you can afford a house in the 'z' neigborhood? What I earn and consequently chose to do with those earnings is my business.

 

JonBoy, you must know how to negotiate well

 

I'm blessed, for sure. It had nothing to do with negotiation, really, since it wasn't a negotiation. They wanted/needed me and it was that simple. The other guys here are great workers but they needed the job more than the company needed them at the time.