# Jesus Fucking Christ. A NJ toll collector can earn $31.58 an hour?!?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412 "2011-02-24T03:04:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/121 "2011-02-24T18:17:34Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > So why is the solution to fuck over the toll-takers as opposed to trying to get your mom, and other teachers, a better wage? because paying teachers properly wouldn’t change the fact that no-skilled labor is being overpaid for. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/122 "2011-02-24T18:32:15Z")
And telling toll-takers to suck it up and try to make it on minimum wage does fuck all for Senora Beef … so why bring that argument into the equation at all? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/123 "2011-02-24T18:34:39Z")
Please try to speak in a way that makes some sort of logical sense if you want a response from me, because I don’t know what it is you’re trying to say other than making an excluded middle fallacy (lots of room between minimum wage and $32/hr). ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/124 "2011-02-24T18:49:09Z")
I know this is the pit and all, but most New Jersey toll workers _do_ make something between minimum wage and $32/hr. They may be overpaid right now, but it’s not 3 times what other toll workers get. The state is asking for a 15% pay cut, the union is pushing back with 3.5% plus cuts in other areas. I imagine they’ll end up somewhere in the middle there, which would put NJ toll workers on equal ground with public toll workers in nearby states. If the pit-worthy part is that wages peak at $32/hr versus $27/hr, then fine, valid (but pathetic) pitting. But I don’t think that’s the case. You think that they should be getting paid closer to $10/hr, and I’m just not sure that reality would bear that out. At least, I’ve seen no convincing evidence that the private sector could independently sustain a workforce at that wage level. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/125 "2011-02-24T18:52:36Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > At least, I’ve seen no convincing evidence that the private sector could independently sustain a workforce at that wage level. of course you have evidence of it, you just don’t want to see it. Take a look at the prevailing wages for whatever truly awful, non-skilled job you can think of. It ain’t 32, or 27, or 20 an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/126 "2011-02-24T18:53:41Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Please try to speak in a way that makes some sort of logical sense if you want a response from me, because I don’t know what it is you’re trying to say other than making an excluded middle fallacy (lots of room between minimum wage and $32/hr). Well what language do you want it in then? This thread is about toll-collectors in New Jersey and how they just make way too much money for **Rumor\_Watkins’** delicate sensibilities. The counter argument of, “Yeah, well, gee whiz, my mom the teacher doesn’t even make that much,” speaks to your mom’s problems with getting a decent wage for a hard job and has fuck-all to do with how much Bob the Toll Taker makes. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/127 "2011-02-24T18:57:04Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > This thread is about toll-collectors in New Jersey and how they just make way too much money for **Rumor\_Watkins’** delicate sensibilities. so you think they’re appropriately paid? i’m not asking if you think that’s a living wage, but rather whether you think it’s an appropriate wage for the job they’re performing, considering the labor market as a whole. that’s the reason he’s bringing outside jobs into it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/128 "2011-02-24T18:59:00Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Well what language do you want it in then? > > This thread is about toll-collectors in New Jersey and how they just make way too much money for Rumor\_Watkins’ delicate sensibilities. The counter argument of, “Yeah, well, gee whiz, my mom the teacher doesn’t even make that much,” speaks to your mom’s problems with getting a decent wage for a hard job and has fuck-all to do with how much Bob the Toll Taker makes. They are paid way out of line with what the market on unskilled/easy jobs generally pays. This is due to political factors. I bring up other jobs as a point of comparison. Really, you guys all seem to be childishly arguing “well, everyone should make a lot of money! So get off their back!” implictly, without explictly saying it and facing the consequences like… well, that we can’t give every person in the country jobs that pay several times as much as unskilled labor typically earns. You aren’t really making a coherent point, nor a defense of the toll workers specifically. You hint at points with greater implications, but fail to address the impracticalities of that issue. I think my posts so far in this thread address your concerns. Good job being a douchebag with the “senora” thing though. I haven’t insulted anyone - I’ve been, I think, level headed and polite throughout. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/129 "2011-02-24T18:59:22Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > Doing an unfailingly repetetive job for hours on end and dealing with all the assholes allowed to drive vehicles? Hell, sounds fair enough to me. Agreed. And dealing with the public (especially assholes) is skilled labor. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/130 "2011-02-24T19:01:57Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Agreed I’m curious as to what the two of you think the toll collector has to “deal with” ? I’ve been through several tollbooths in my life. I’ve never had occasion to ask much of anything other than extremely rudimentary directions like “hey, which way is Toledo?” I can’t see what there would be to complain to a toll collector about? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/131 "2011-02-24T19:08:18Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > of course you have evidence of it, you just don’t want to see it. Take a look at the prevailing wages for whatever truly awful, non-skilled job you can think of. > It ain’t 32, or 27, or 20 an hour. Well now we’re left arguing about just how crummy this job is when none of us have ever done it. I mean, at first blush it sounds like a cake job, but the more I think about it the more miserable it sounds. Maybe it does take a lot of money to keep asses in the booths. I dunno. There’s enough private toll roads in this country that there ought to be a way to get a solid answer, though. Right now $32/hr sounds too high, and $10.60/hr sounds too low, based on the two extremes we’ve found. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/132 "2011-02-24T19:08:38Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Good job being a douchebag with the “senora” thing though. I haven’t insulted anyone - I’ve been, I think, level headed and polite throughout. The rest of the argument set aside. I wasn’t being a douch-bag with the senora thing. I was trying to speak Spanish. You’re **SenorBeef** ; I was referring to your mother with what I thought was the proper title for a married Spanish woman. No offense was intended. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/133 "2011-02-24T19:11:50Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > The rest of the argument set aside. I wasn’t being a douch-bag with the senora thing. I was trying to speak Spanish. You’re **SenorBeef** ; I was referring to your mother with what I thought was the proper title for a married Spanish woman. No offense was intended. Aha, you’re right. My bad. I didn’t understand the point you were driving at, so I thought you were referring to me in a (presumably) insulting way. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/134 "2011-02-24T19:12:03Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Well now we’re left arguing about just how crummy this job is when none of us have ever done it. > > I mean, at first blush it sounds like a cake job, but the more I think about it the more miserable it sounds. Maybe it does take a lot of money to keep asses in the booths. I dunno. There’s enough private toll roads in this country that there ought to be a way to get a solid answer, though. Right now $32/hr sounds too high, and $10.60/hr sounds too low, based on the two extremes we’ve found. How many private toll roads are you aware of? I count only 3: Chicago Skyway, Indiana Toll road, and the Dulles Greenway [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private\_highways\_in\_the\_United\_States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_highways_in_the_United_States) also, why do you need to keep the same person in the booth? constant churning of the employees as they burn out isn’t really going to change the operation of the booth (assuming there is a burning desire to quit a non-skilled job in exchange for… another non-skilled job?) ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/135 "2011-02-24T19:12:08Z")
Apt summary from an article in the New York Times: > [@](#): > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/magazine/27christie-t.html?pagewanted=6](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/magazine/27christie-t.html?pagewanted=6) > > They pointed out that despite all Christie’s talk of shared sacrifice, he refused to renew a tax on millionaires in New Jersey that would have raised about $800 million this year — not enough to solve the state’s fiscal problems, certainly, but enough to restore most of the school aid that was slashed from the budget. They noted that they already made concessions on teachers’ pensions in 2007 and 2008, when they agreed to increase contributions by 10 percent and to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. They mentioned that the average salary of a New Jersey teacher is about $67,000, and the average pension is between $35,000 and $40,000. “Try living on that in the state of New Jersey,” Giordano said. “I don’t see why we’ve suddenly been identified as fat cats.” > > In the union’s view, Christie is simply trying to exploit the downward spiral of the American labor movement. First, greedy companies, claiming pressures from the new global market, began rolling back the pensions and benefits that private-sector unions negotiated over a period of decades. And now, instead of trying to find a way to restore those hard-earned benefits for all workers, politicians like Christie are using corporate America’s bad behavior as an excuse to take benefits away from the last set of union members who managed to cling to them — those in the public sector. Christie is pitting one set of middle-class workers against the other, perhaps in the hope that private-sector unions will ultimately turn on their brethren in the public workforce, or that the public unions will turn on one another. And the end result will be that everyone loses. So we go after the toll takers. Then who’s next? Most ordinary working people are being fucked and fucked hard in the workforce. Meanwhile the idiots at the top grab an ever greater share of the pie (with a system that privatizes profits and socializes losses) and tell us to get mad not at them but at the public worker who isn’t being fucked over quite as much. Sorry but I am an NJ taxpayer and I am not going to play that game. I am so god damned sick of the demonization of public workers. The bankers get bailed out to the tune of millions, hand out huge bonuses and ordinary taxpayer gets told we should ignore that behavior. Christie is the perfect example of this kind of idiocy. He sends his kids to private Catholic schools and then tries to make demons out of hard working public school teachers who help make sure the public schools are actually an option here and a good one at that. Screw him. Let’s give tax breaks to millionaires and lower wages on the working class. There’s a cause we can ALL get behind! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/136 "2011-02-24T19:17:36Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Apt summary from an article in the New York Times: > > Sorry but I am an NJ taxpayer and I am not going to play that game. I am so god damned sick of the demonization of public workers. The bankers get bailed out to the tune of millions, hand out huge bonuses and ordinary taxpayer gets told we should ignore that behavior. Christie is the perfect example of this kind of idiocy. He sends his kids to private Catholic schools and then tries to make demons out of hard working public school teachers who help make sure the public schools are actually an option here and a good one at that. seriously. stop fucking threadshitting with Christie, NJ budgets, and not sticking it to the rich enough, for fuck’s sake. there are _plenty_ of other threads for that. if you don’t agree that $32 an hour is indefensible for a toll collector, at least try to fucking stay on point with your contrary points. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/137 "2011-02-24T19:21:42Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Don’t know why **clairobscur** got away with inflating the hourly rate to $39, though, when the OP is estimating it at $32. So let’s divide by 39 and multiply by 32. 3445 Euro/mo. Probably a mistake on my part. Thanks for everybody who bothered to do the maths. Well…given that it’s presumably a gross income, I suppose the net income would be in the € 2500 range. Frankly, it doesn’t look like an absurdly high salary. Of course, if I were jobless or had a lower pay for a worse job, I’d probably try to get it. But regardless, that isn’t something people should be all worked up about. As many others have said, the OP seems outraged that someone would get an acceptable salary for a non-qualified job. I’m not going to follow him in such a crusade against people who unjustly get an over poverty line income. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/138 "2011-02-24T19:25:06Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Aha, you’re right. My bad. I didn’t understand the point you were driving at, so I thought you were referring to me in a (presumably) insulting way. Well, I wasn’t very clear in who I was referring to, so sorry, but trust me, when I act the douchebag, you’ll know. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/139 "2011-02-24T19:25:22Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Probably a mistake on my part. Thanks for everybody who bothered to do the maths. Well…given that it’s presumably a gross income, I suppose the net income would be in the € 2500 range. Frankly, it doesn’t look like an absurdly high salary. > > Of course, if I were jobless or had a lower pay for a worse job, I’d probably try to get it. But regardless, that isn’t something people should be all worked up about. > > As many others have said, the OP seems outraged that someone would get an acceptable salary for a non-qualified job. I’m not going to follow him in such a crusade against people who unjustly get an over poverty line income. ok you are aware that a full-time minimum wage salary in this country pays, in gross €876 a month, right? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412/140 "2011-02-24T19:35:17Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > seriously. stop fucking threadshitting with Christie, NJ budgets, and not sticking it to the rich enough, for fuck’s sake. there are _plenty_ of other threads for that. > > if you don’t agree that $32 an hour is indefensible for a toll collector, at least try to fucking stay on point with your contrary points. As an NJ driver and taxpayer who helps pay for said salaries you have yet to explain why I’m supposed to join you in your hissy fit that some people who work hard here aren’t being utterly screwed over. Lowering their salaries will not lower my property taxes nor will it result in a greater quality of life for the average NJ resident. Fifty to sixty thousand dollars a year is still not a lot of money for a full time job in a high priced state no matter how unskilled. But halve their salaries if it makes you feel so much better about your life. All you’ll accomplish to lower their salaries and nothing else. There are literally hundreds of things far more wrong with this state than your OP, many of them induced by the current idiot governor. If you don’t like that I said so I don’t care. Hell you praised Scott Walker in your initial post. Well screw Walker and his ilk. All they do is the biddding of spoiled rich assholes like the Koch brothers while willfully screwing over the ordinary working person. If you’re going to side with them and their minions in the government you cannot whine when called on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-fucking-christ-a-nj-toll-collector-can-earn-31-58-an-hour/572412.md?page=8)