this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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Antiwork

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In 2022, 31-year-old Maggie Perkins quit her eight-year teaching job and got a job at Costco. She doesn't regret the decision, and she's never been happier. Here's a look at a day in the life working at Costco.

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[–] banana_meccanica@feddit.it 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A failed society of fools. Where there is a shortage of educators and doctors because the capitalist model is directed towards meaningless individualism.

[–] errer@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While I agree with the sentiment, my wife was a teacher for over a decade and the workload is insane. Easily 60+ hour weeks. At some point she burned out and took a normal job that pays better and works her less. She wishes teaching wasn’t such an insane profession but it is so…capitalism it is.

[–] ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say 60hr weeks are the norm. Low paid sure, but many teachers have normal 40 hr weeks.

[–] errer@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You can work 40 as a teacher, but then you’re prolly really bad at your job as it takes more than 40 to be competent in the current system. The bar is very low unfortunately and there are tons of teachers who phone it in.

[–] Letstakealook@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

We get what we pay for.

[–] ijeff@lemdro.id 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

In this case it's probably because teachers are underpaid. Costco happens to be one of the few known for treating their employees well and going beyond legal requirements.

Costco in my area pays less than Amazon and is also a hectic 8 or 10 hours on the floor with limited breaks.

[–] banana_meccanica@feddit.it 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That in any case, and not just that. Whether or not teachers or doctors get payed, ,basically we needs them, or we're back in the stone age. While Cosco's employee is not worth a damn for progress.

[–] RedNight@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks to Californias's government transparency laws, I'll just leave this here: https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Teacher

[–] punkisundead@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I dont really understand the numbers there. some teachers earn 500k a year?

[–] Tak@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Most of the highest paid public officials in each state are football coaches. For instance; Nick Saban is estimated to be paid a salary of 11.7 million as the head coach.

It's why this shit should be public knowledge

[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago
[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

I would love to teach again, but aside from the fact that, physically, standing and talking for 8 hours a day is outside my reach now, I would also take probably a 66% to 75% paycut to do it. :(

[–] albert@lemmy.sysctl.io -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you look into where she's from and where she moved to, the CoL Index is 50% higher. So... in relative terms, she makes roughly the same.

[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

She’s also working less and happier with the work.

Really this reads like paid advertising for CostCo because this person isn’t paid 50% more as an entry level Costco warehouse worker thank she was as a teacher. She’s now a corporate worker doing internal training for Costco.

Which is fine, and doesn’t somehow undercut the complaint that teachers are underpaid. But it makes this read more like an ad then some sort of honest comparison.

[–] An_Ugly_Bastard@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It really does, but She did compare it when she was entry level. She said she made a little less than when she was teaching. However, I’d take this over 20+ hrs of unpaid overtime a week.

[–] uberkalden@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The headline is definitely click bait. Makes it sound like she's a worker drone walking the floor at your local Costco. She took a corporate office job. The problems with teacher wages and hours are very real, but she also doesn't get summers off anymore. Not sure if she accounted for that in her 50% pay bump either.

[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Lotta teachers work other jobs over the summer to make ends meet, too

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] albert@lemmy.sysctl.io 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

yes, I agree. But the title shouldn't focus on the money, it should focus on how crappy we treat our teachers in the US. The title makes it seems like the money makes her happier - not the working conditions.