Not a CPA, but an MBA, working as a Sr. acct. mgr. gov job in So Cal area. Earn low 120's. I like it generally. Sometimes gets on my nerves, but what job doesn't?
Not a CPA, but an MBA, working as a Sr. acct. mgr. gov job in So Cal area. Earn low 120's. I like it generally. Sometimes gets on my nerves, but what job doesn't?
Flight Attendant for Southwest Airlines.
Do work a tad more than the regular schedule (usually scheduled three days on, four days off). Topped off per our contract.
I can live anywhere...bases in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Chicago, Oakland, Phoenix and soon Las Vegas.
Best job in the world...sure you have to deal with customers, but nothing once you step off the airplane nothing to worry about except getting something to eat and get a good run in.
FYI wrote:
Flight Attendant for Southwest Airlines.
Do work a tad more than the regular schedule (usually scheduled three days on, four days off). Topped off per our contract.
I can live anywhere...bases in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Chicago, Oakland, Phoenix and soon Las Vegas.
Best job in the world...sure you have to deal with customers, but nothing once you step off the airplane nothing to worry about except getting something to eat and get a good run in.
You make 100K as a flight attendant? Serious? Don't mean that in a negative way, but that seems awful high. If so, more power to you.
elementary teacher...er...i work 30 hours a week and get summers off!!
yeah, that's pretty high for a flight attendant. i've done work for airlines before so i have a pretty good grasp on the salaries of flight attendants. $100K+ would put you in about the top 5% of earners. i didn't think southwest would have anyone making that much; must be a pretty experienced person.
in general, southwest has the highest paid employees in the industry (hence no labor strife) though they also work a tad more than other airlines (higher productivity)
not much of a union guy myself, but in this case union labor pays very well. Works out to be a tad over 50 bucks an hour.
chuck d wrote:
yeah, that's pretty high for a flight attendant. i've done work for airlines before so i have a pretty good grasp on the salaries of flight attendants. $100K+ would put you in about the top 5% of earners. i didn't think southwest would have anyone making that much; must be a pretty experienced person.
I find this unbelievable. [pause while I go look up some stats].
Damn! Here's what I found with some quick looking from 2004:
"Median annual earnings of flight attendants were $43,440 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $31,310 and $67,590. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,450, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $95,850."
So the highest 10 percent earned MORE than $95,850 in 2004. Wow! I had NO idea flight attendants made that much money. Glorified waitresses and waiters if you ask me.
The top 10 percent make more than I do, and I have an MA. Doesn't seem right. Holy crap, maybe teachers ARE underpaid.
My guess on the flight attendant is that he/she is bilingual. If you speak multiple languages and do international flights the salaries go up substantially.
oh flagpole...you have no idea.
also keep in mind, about 1 to 2% of those who apply at southwest actually get hired--so my guess is they wouldn't hire your sorry a$$ anyways!
like many other contractual union jobs the starting pay is ok, but after 10 years or so the job is very good....but also keep in mind MOST airlines have actually cut their employees salaries by 20 to 30%--southwest is a big exception
thinker wrote:
My guess on the flight attendant is that he/she is bilingual. If you speak multiple languages and do international flights the salaries go up substantially.
Southwest doesn't do international flights.
My 2 cents: it isn't right that flight attendants are paid double what good teachers are paid.
california dreamin wrote:
My 2 cents: it isn't right that flight attendants are paid double what good teachers are paid.
Two words: Supply. Demand.
On the other hand--who bears more risk? The employee in a boom/bust industry or the 30-hour/week, summers off, coddled, protected, lunchroom staffer?
The REAL crime is that private-school teachers (you know, motivated, credentialed, experts) are often paid less than their public-school counterparts...
IMO, of course...
perhaps--but people are always in a tizy about what teachers make, yet nobody wants to fund it either. Any "private" sector job is considerably different...there are tons of union type jobs that pay much more than people think, but the companies are still quite profitable. In fact as most folks know, Southwest is by FAR the more profitable airline EVER in the airline industry--they can keep their shareholders happy, keep their employees happy (again almost all levels of Southwest are among the highest paid) and keep their customers happy--Southwest has never been anything but #1 in the least number of customer complaints each year, JD power named Soutwhest most helpful in the industry. So why does it bother you that I am paid well to keep customers happy? It does not take anything from teachers--in fact you could argue that in the long run I am helping teachers because I am paying that much more in taxes. But it is always tough to figure out "what is fair" when it comes to salaries...is it fair that strippers in Vegas make 200K a year???
swa luv wrote:
perhaps--but people are always in a tizy about what teachers make, yet nobody wants to fund it either. Any "private" sector job is considerably different...there are tons of union type jobs that pay much more than people think, but the companies are still quite profitable. In fact as most folks know, Southwest is by FAR the more profitable airline EVER in the airline industry--they can keep their shareholders happy, keep their employees happy (again almost all levels of Southwest are among the highest paid) and keep their customers happy--Southwest has never been anything but #1 in the least number of customer complaints each year, JD power named Soutwhest most helpful in the industry. So why does it bother you that I am paid well to keep customers happy? It does not take anything from teachers--in fact you could argue that in the long run I am helping teachers because I am paying that much more in taxes. But it is always tough to figure out "what is fair" when it comes to salaries...is it fair that strippers in Vegas make 200K a year???
I am not bashing flight attendants. Some of you guys/gals are quite good. And I understand you might be called to travel on moment's notice. But 100K a year? To serve soft drinks and pillows 3 days out of 7? PILOTS at regionals make on half that (and many times less than that).
Southwest is a great airline. By far my favorite. I can honestly say that Southwest is the best.
In HS I worked at Best Buy, where "I was paid (not well) to keep customers happy." I can't say the same for all my collegues, but I did my job well. Yet I got paid $9 per hour, not 100K. Just because you do your job well doesn't mean that you should make more than 99% of the population.
You're not taking anything away from teachers. If anything they are underpaid (not you = overpaid). I know teachers that work their asses off, have an important job educating youth, and are paid 30K a year. Just doesn't seem fair. That's all.
swa luv wrote:
But it is always tough to figure out "what is fair" when it comes to salaries...is it fair that strippers in Vegas make 200K a year???
I think you hit the nail on the head: your pay is subject to, oh, COMPETITION, whereas competition is only just beginning to noticeably affect teachers (homeschool movement, charter school movement, vouchers, etc.).
Do I care how much a flight attendant makes? NO; I care only how much I paid for my ticket.
Do I care how much teachers make? YES; either because I think pay=quality (apparently not) or becaus higher teacher pay means higher property taxes.
BTW, my mother was a (NON UNION--one of two that she knew) public school teacher for more than twenty years--she thought she was overpaid (or, more accurately, she thinks her job was "plenty easy,") and now enjoys a mighty hefty retirement plan... She still laughs about the "mediocre complainers" that she had to work with (she taught a specialty subject--and very well).
But that is another topic entirely...
Other jobs that make $100+ include management consultants, technical consultants, and investment consultants--lots of opportunity for the highly motivated.
swa luv wrote:
oh flagpole...you have no idea.
also keep in mind, about 1 to 2% of those who apply at southwest actually get hired--so my guess is they wouldn't hire your sorry a$$ anyways!
like many other contractual union jobs the starting pay is ok, but after 10 years or so the job is very good....but also keep in mind MOST airlines have actually cut their employees salaries by 20 to 30%--southwest is a big exception
You're right, I had no idea. I already said that.
No way would I ever want that job anyway. Too much travel. Too much time away from the wife and kids. Too much having to serve a bunch of self-important passengers. No thanks.
Home Improvement Sales
Phoenix, AZ. Cover the state.
110-140k/Year
I f***ing hate my job. I'm the best at it, but I can't stand it. I keep to myslef about it though, Don't want to spoil it for the others in my office.
The money is great, but there's more to life than that so make sure you're where you want to be and doing what you want to do.
I'm currently looking for work back in my hometown of Boulder, CO. I'll gladly take the 1st 30k job with a good company just to be back home.
In HS I worked at Best Buy, where "I was paid (not well) to keep customers happy." I can't say the same for all my collegues, but I did my job well. Yet I got paid $9 per hour, not 100K. Just because you do your job well doesn't mean that you should make more than 99% of the population.
but at every Best Buy I have been to they are looking for help...as mentioned, about 1% of SWA folks actually get hired. Now don't get me wrong--I agree that I make a ton of money (and as mentioned I do work extra--the three day a week schedule probably pays 65ish thousand a year) but it works with the Southwest culture--meaning work a tad more than other airline counterparts, keep employees happy, and try to hire the best in the industry. We also get profit sharing--SWA's best year we all got almost 15% of our salary as a bonus because of a huge year. Now keep in mind, regional carriers make TERRIBLE money. Flight attendants make somewhere around 10 bucks an hour, and pilots? not much more than that to start...though for them it is basically paid training until they can get on with a "major" carrier and then make 200K+ as a captain someday.
But am I fortunate? you better believe it, but I do also take pride in my work, and continue to strive to make Southwest a successful company...most truly buy into the team culture at Southwest, and this is one of the key reasons the company has been so successful.
Florida
Developer (Land Acquisition, Site Development)
LOVE my job!!!
Good gig for those PE or Urban Planners with a few years experience.
rarely work over 50h a week.. plenty of time for a lunch hour run or after work speed workout with the group. putting in about 50 miles a week right now and will crank it up to 70-80 before my next fall marathon
swa luv wrote:
In HS I worked at Best Buy, where "I was paid (not well) to keep customers happy." I can't say the same for all my collegues, but I did my job well. Yet I got paid $9 per hour, not 100K. Just because you do your job well doesn't mean that you should make more than 99% of the population.
but at every Best Buy I have been to they are looking for help...as mentioned, about 1% of SWA folks actually get hired. Now don't get me wrong--I agree that I make a ton of money (and as mentioned I do work extra--the three day a week schedule probably pays 65ish thousand a year) but it works with the Southwest culture--meaning work a tad more than other airline counterparts, keep employees happy, and try to hire the best in the industry. We also get profit sharing--SWA's best year we all got almost 15% of our salary as a bonus because of a huge year. Now keep in mind, regional carriers make TERRIBLE money. Flight attendants make somewhere around 10 bucks an hour, and pilots? not much more than that to start...though for them it is basically paid training until they can get on with a "major" carrier and then make 200K+ as a captain someday.
But am I fortunate? you better believe it, but I do also take pride in my work, and continue to strive to make Southwest a successful company...most truly buy into the team culture at Southwest, and this is one of the key reasons the company has been so successful.
Because of hard working people like you (and the relatively low fares), I choose to fly Southwest Airliners. Pilots don't make much when starting out, but if they make it to the top (lots of competition!) they make LOTS LOTS LOTS!
california dreamin wrote:
In HS I worked at Best Buy, where "I was paid (not well) to keep customers happy." I can't say the same for all my collegues, but I did my job well. Yet I got paid $9 per hour, not 100K. Just because you do your job well doesn't mean that you should make more than 99% of the population.
You're not taking anything away from teachers. If anything they are underpaid (not you = overpaid). I know teachers that work their asses off, have an important job educating youth, and are paid 30K a year. Just doesn't seem fair. That's all.
Why do you think that what people are paid has anything to do with fair?