I am one of those people that absolutely love what I do, but at the end of the month I have bills to pay. So where as some of us do love our jobs, we all still need the electricity on, food on the table, gas in the tank and perhaps a bit of savings. A former employer once told me they sought after only those persons who wanted to work for the passion involved, and wouldn’t even consider hiring anyone looking more for the money. I thought to myself that’s all well and good, but here you are meanwhile withdrawing close to a thousand dollars nearly everyday. He shopped at the very best stores, went out to dinner at very pricey restaurants and drove a car which was worth more than some peoples homes.

I do believe that people should be paid what they are worth and I do believe their skills should be rewarded, but this person was living handsomely as he paid his employees pennies. I was always told how valuable of an asset I was to the corporation, but my weekly paycheck was barely enough to meet my monthly bills. He tried to keep us in check by keeping the fear that at any minute our paychecks could disappear at any minute. There was always stories about a new guy he met that is just itching for a job. The loyalty my fellow staff members and I was unquestionable, but his loyalty was derived from how much work he could get out of us for how little pay. Our reviews for pay-raises came once a year and I will never forget how hard I worked for them that year.

I continuously was told how I went above and beyond what was expected. The praises came in every day. I took the business from virtual mom and pop status to International Mega-Stardom. Every day leading right into review time I was ranked the best among the best. You’re going to go far, stick with us, blah, blah blah. The company originally promised me a large salary and loads of benefits, however, since the office I was taking over was situated in a repressed area of the country, what I was currently making as a floor manager (the lowest on the scale in New Jersey) far exceeded anything anyone made in West Virginia, where they were transferring me to. I took it as an opportunity to prove my value and just how much I believed in what I was doing, after all I was a team player. Back then I had so much loyalty for the companies I worked for that I put them before everything else including myself.

I’ll never forget that fateful day when the national manager of the company came into town to review my performance over the past year. Exceeded all expectations! I was given the task to get the companies largest office, missing every company goal, failing miserably, a 250 seat facility operating with 25 employees turned around. I had one year to do it or the office would be shuttered. The owners brother personally told me that he didn’t believe I could do it. Not only did I do it, but it was completely overhauled and we excelled in every area within three months. I was operating with 500 employees and if you weren’t there at least 2o minutes early you would lose your seat for the shift. Where we used to have 2 shifts we took it up to 4 shifts and operated 17 hours a day. It was an amazing turn-around and I was awarded Manager of the Year out of 60 other offices. I was expecting a raise that spoke of my achievements. Needless to say that when the National Manager said their were certain changes in the industry that were proposed before congress that might hurt the industry if passed I knew there was going to be a BIG disappointment.

The national manager told me how I was going to be compared to all the other managers pay in the region and my pay would commensurate with the average of this region. The very same region that was struggling with the same managers that had not only failed in their offices, but were the very same ones who had previously ran my office into the ground. I was in for a HUGE shock! I was told with the current deductions in pay that all the other managers had received in the same position I was in that my pay far exceeded ever other manager. So you’re telling me I’m not going to get a raise, not based on the merits of my work, but based on the margin of error (the bell curve) of every sorry excuse of a manager that you hired and trained, that has nothing at all to do with me whatsoever? His answer threw me for a loop especially considering by this point I was not going to get a raise. Well no JunkyFungus, I’m afraid you are making to much money for your position in this region and I am going to have to deduct a percentage of your pay to bring you into fair standards of other managers in the same region.

That wasn’t the only smack in the face that day though. I guess when he saw my jaw drop, my fist clinch so hard, knuckles turning white, my nails digging into my palm cutting into my skin, drawing blood, he felt obligated to say that I was still considered amongst the best paid in the area. All I had to do to remind me why my pay was still awesome in this area was to drive into town and take a look around to see how others were living and the disparity of how they lived and what they earned to my own pay. I left that job and last I heard that office was closed within a year after my departure and just last week all the managers who put loyalty towards the company first, even before their own selves were fired. From what I understand the owners sold out and the company wanted young fresh talent to take the company even further. I think its important to always remember that the company will always try and sell you the dream. Its the big-picture you’re after. Its the reward at the end that drive you forward. It should never be about your paycheck, anyone working for their paycheck is at the wrong job.

I’ll never forget that day when I was told to go check out how others were living, because in fact it did teach me something worth incredible value. First and foremost be loyal to yourself, but even more important you should love what you do, but never settle for the absolute nonsense that the owners of these companies are working because they love what they do and would do it even if it didn’t make them rich. If that was the case why are they becoming rich off all your effort and toil and not turning around and providing the proper means for you to earn a living. It always seems very funny that they are making so much money and yet their employees live in squalor all the while being sold the dream. The dream that always seems a bit out of reach. The dream that does not provide the family with enough food to eat, enough money to take the family to paradise when paradise is right down the street. They tell you to love your job and be happy at what you do, but pay them pennies. I’ve seen Cancun today, I’ve seen the huts where families of 7 sleep with dirt floors. Both mother and father and any children old enough all work because they LOVE what they do, bringing home their weekly earnings rarely enough to make it through a few days let alone the week. I hear those that tell you to keep working hard all the while withdrawing thousands a day. Times are tough, don’t work for the money, work because its your passion. I am bewildered how if its passion that drives you how can you allow those that are so poor to be in your employ?

If ever you don’t believe there are those who work for so little, a whole lot less that you do, take a vacation to paradise on Earth like Cancun. Drive to the areas that tourists are encouraged to never see. Your eyes will open up to just how some people really do live. and yes most of these people are very happy. Not happy because they love what they do, they are happy because they have integrity and honor and family and most importantly they have faith. There are some very good companies and people out there making the world a better place. These are not the companies that make the world better for their customers by indenturing those that work for them, they empower those that work for them so that they may empower the customers. A cycle of progressive forward thinkers willing to share not only the opportunity to make money, but actually sharing the money. If you want to see poverty go see it so that you can build a better world by empowering others to make a better world. Take the lessons you learn so that we can together make a better world and provide not only words of opportunity but actual opportunity.