to be fed up of hearing 'I've worked hard for my money'

[newbluesofa]

Lots of chat on MN recently about taxes on high earners. So heard lots of 'we have this money because we work bloody hard for it' and honestly I'm sick of it and think the people who say it are selfish.

Nurses work incredibly hard, long shifts, difficult job. Carers provide absolutely essential service, again shift work, difficult hours, difficult job. Teachers provide essential work, I know multiple teachers and they all devote evenings, weekends, school holidays to the detriment of their own families. All of these jobs also have huge emotional tolls. So 'I've worked hard for my money' means nothing to me, because a lot of people work a lot harder for a lot less.

But they are paying more! It isn't immoral to think it doesn't need to be vastly, infinitely more.
By all means volunteer more of your own money to the tax man if you think it's so important.

Look up compassion fatigue. Many of us don’t have any fucks left to give.

“If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.” – George Monbiot

Nursing and teaching are not easy idle jobs, but they are also not exposed to any risk. Your employer is the NHS or the local education authority, so you are going to be paid whatever happens. Small businesses can fail, and might fail very suddenly -- when a big customer doesn't get paid what's owed to them.

To the people (unbelievably) saying that anyone can earn a high wage no matter their background if they just work hard enough, can I suggest you read Hired by James Bloodworth for a really good insight into how systems are designed to keep poor people poor. Yes there are exceptions, but they are just that - exceptions.

I dispute that there is anyone in these jobs not putting in hard work. They are bloody hard jobs even if you are not going above and beyond and chasing promotion etc.

This, in spades

I agree with the sentiment, but there's plenty of lazy people in Africa I assure you.

I do think we need to find a new adjective away from ‘poor’. People are not routinely poor anymore. Yes they might be disenfranchised by their education or lack of it and yes they might be the subject of chaotic and less than ideal home lives. Their communities or surroundings might be in an area of deprivation because of low employment or high crime but to keep banding around the word ‘poor’ is trying to elicit the kind of Victorian era sympathy one might extend to Tiny Tim.
Let’s be more language specific.

No @newbluesofa I'd have to disagree on that one. Systems are not designed to keep people poor. Systems are designed to filter for talent, like football. The really good ones become stars. Those of us who have no talent for sport or beauty just have to work our butts off, doing learning, degrees and honestly just getting up to work every single morning. Every single day. Rinse and repeat, until you can afford the house you want and the holidays.

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Another good point. Relative poverty (as we measure it here) does blurr the lines in my opinion.

It would never be through the sheer power of hard work

re read your post

You sound very entitled

cant believe the comment about nurses and teachers!

Would you be happier knowing some people didn't work hard to be well off? Money comes to money like a magnet for some people

Agree op

dorn forget they have made sacrifices too 🙄

Sorry? This is kind of my point exactly? I dislike people acting as if wealthy people are wealthy because they worked hard. Partly because plenty of non-wealthy people work hard so that's irrelevant, and partly because so many people have inheritance, family money, high up connections etc.

A free market does reward profit yes. And implicitly skill. Because if something was low skilled it wouldn't be massively profitable as everyone could do it. Nurses get paid decently. £31k is plenty for a starting salary. I know some grads who just about make do on £28k in London.

And since we talk skill there's a reason doctors make more money than nurses. They are more skilled.

I know not everything should be privatised as I'm a realist. I'm a believer in a market economy with government regulation when things run amock.

Omg we live in a structurally oppressive society for people of colour

take a look at how dark the skin is of the people doing the menial jobs in your local supermarket or delivering your food….its not often very white

gosh if only they just worked harder. How blo*dy offensive and sick of hearing that they must be as am I

getting up at 3-4am and working 2-3 jobs is hard work - wow they should all be on the way to being CEOs

i don’t think so…

The latest figures I can find are from 2021.

“For example, in 2021, a UK household earning less than £17,760..”

If your whole household has an income of less than £17,760 you’re very likely in poverty.

Also, do we really need to distinguish between relative and absolute poverty? This isn’t a 3rd world country, surely we’d just prefer that we tackled… poverty.

Over simplified

you have forgotten the social inequalities which are massive

wake up!

So tired of people whining about what other people have. What a jealous, bitterly obsessed backbiting society UK has been deliberately moulded into by the politicians and billionaires in charge.

The only thing you can control is yourself. First thing is to stop obsessively watching other people's lives to the point where you post bitter threads about total strangers.

Next step is to enjoy your own life right now, this minute, as you could drop dead right now, this minute.

There are loads of resources out there to help you stop making yourself agitated about things you cannot control and never will be able to control.

Venting is actually bad for your mental health, and going on and on and on about what other people think, do or have will make you feel far worse, not better.

No, this comment does not count (at all) as venting as I will immediately move on and have forgotten about this very quickly, certainly will not obsess about it or worry about this thread, or discuss it any further unless someone replies.

See Self dot com Venting Doesn’t Work, According to Science. Here’s What Does

You think it’s completely reasonable that a nurse gets £30k while your husband earns 4x that for… doing maths?

You’re not being serious. Surely.

Anyone who says that, is either boasting or feels guilty at earning so much that they feel they need to justify imo.
But it's like that with anything in life.

Many people have imposter syndrome and they can't quite believe their luck at earning a high income as they weren't cleverer than the people around them and weren't the most hard working but then they forget that it was a combination of hard work, the right skill/qualification and luck and start thinking they must have worked harder than the teacher or nurse for example.

My hardest job was working as a carer and it paid the least.
Easiest was working at a university, good holidays, shortish hours and so many benefits, you can attend lectures, workshops, access to the uni library, interesting people, seeing the students full of hope is always inspiring, anyway, it also paid the best 😂

Interesting take! I hadn't considered imposter syndrome being a factor

There was quite a derogatory comment about sales assistants on another thread and I really felt the need to defend retail workers who apparently have a stressless job. I am no longer in retail but when I was it was no picnic.

You don't know how little we both had growing up. We came from nothing and from a developing country as well. And oh boy, being poor there is a whole other world.

Starting pay of £30k plus is reasonable isn't it? If I'm wrong about the numbers tell me.