Hooray!! Hooray!! throws handful of confetti in the air Go go Olives!!
I had to respond to this. According to my calculations, minimum wage in the state of New Jersey is $7.25 per hour. That would amount to an annual salary of $13,920. Yes, folks, that is how much the poorest of the working poor have to live on. $30k is a privilege by comparison.
There was no way I was ever going to be able to help you out here, but I’m definitely glad you got the job!
I have never in my life uttered the phrase, “You go, girl!”.
But I came pretty close when I read you got the job.
So…umm…Go…uh…Olive!
mmm
Well done.
One thing is a bit confusing to me, though. I’d bring it up in the spot where it first arose, but it’s last month’s mini-rants thread, and I’d never post in one of those in the wrong month 
Anyway; in the mini-rants thread, you had a post mentioning that you were expecting a job-offer phone call; and you also mentioned that the position was a temporary one.
Is this a different position, or were you referring to it as “temporary” because it’s being funded by a grant, and is a closed-ended assignment?
kaylasdad, I think when she said, “it’s temporary”, she meant the stress and unhappiness she and her husband were feeling.
And I’m totally not stalking you, olives, I swear.
Hey, congratulations!
Does this mean we aren’t going to be getting any more threads on how to save each and every dollar? 
Here’s some completely unasked for advice. Feel free to ignore or laugh at it.
Whenever you get a salary increase, and it will happen over the course of your career, try to specifically set aside part of the increase as savings / increase payments for debts, etc.
In general, people’s expenses rise to meet their income. Often, people figure they make X amount and roughly spend it. When it goes to X + Y, for the first while, that Y is “extra” but surprisingly fast it just gets swallowed up.
'Neff said.
Congratulations!
You know, I looked at that and thought, “There’s no way the math is right on that.” That’s incredible and depressing.
I actually came up with a number about $1k higher than yours, but we’re probably calculating a different number of hours per week or something.
This is such incredibly cool news Olives! Congratulations!!
Wow, what great news! Congratulations!!!
Standard calculations for HR is 2080 hours, which would be 15,080. Whatever it is, that’s not a lot if someone has a family.
That’s the figure I used – 40 hrs/week x 52 weeks.
So you’re calculating assuming no vacation, sick days, holidays… and continuous employment. That assumption doesn’t compute.
I don’t understand why people are touchy about this subject, so I’ll ask…how much did they end up giving you?
It’s a rule of thumb, not an assumption. Many (most?) employers provide paid sick days, vacation, and holidays to full time employees. I think it computes just fine for these purposes.
mmm
I think that’s probably true for many employers, but remember, we’re talking minimum wage. I’ve had several jobs that paid at or near minimum wage (albeit not in NJ), and none of them offered vacation time, holidays, or sick days. If you weren’t there, you didn’t get paid. And if you weren’t there often enough, you got fired. I think one of them did offer additional pay for people who were willing to work on a holiday, but they couldn’t offer everyone holidays off, because they were still open. Remember, many minimum wage jobs are at restaurants, retail, and other service industries that are more or less always open. I didn’t start getting vacation time and so forth until I got a job with an actual salary. Come to think of it, I don’t know anyone with an hourly position, regardless of pay rate, who gets paid time off. I know someone in retail who gets vacation time, but that just means they’re allowed to schedule a block of consecutive (unpaid) days off.
Also, 40 hours per week is the threshold for overtime pay, and many employers use that as their threshold for offering health insurance and other benefits, so they’re careful to avoid giving anyone more than, say, 35 hours per week, which provides a buffer in case a few of their shifts run long. And in retail and other industries with seasonal fluctuation in traffic, an employee might see their hours cut in half in the “low” season, which might last half the year.
From my experience, and that of people I know, I think it’s fair to assume that if you make minimum wage, you’re not getting any paid time off, or working 40-hour weeks.
Hooray, **olives **- good on you. That’s really awesome; I’m excited for you.
Slightly OT, but under the HCR law, part-time employees are defined as employees working less than 30 hours per week. Many employers who don’t provide health coverage for part time employees are expected to now manage their PT employees’ hours so as to keep them under 30 per week, in order to avoid penalties (beginning in 2014).
You are right.
mmm
Yeah, that’s what I meant. Our situation, living far away from friends and family, him going through school - I know it’s temporary.
I love the new job, by the way. 2.5 days in and it’s the least stressful transition I’ve ever made.