Work: Raise or not?

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Eric L

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I've been doing customer service/purchasing/shipping/receiving/pc tech and everything else inside this store besides bookkeeping for 6 years. I am paid 16-17$/hr - I am paid nearly twice as much as when I started when I was 19. Considering the amount of responsibility I have, am I getting screwed? Are my competences being wasted? My high school is done and I have one year of theory and practice in a welding apprenticeship and I can do anything with computers, from building them to managing small networks, to typing up in Word and creating very useful spreadsheets.

The town I work in has a population of 10000 people. We are 5 at this store which 2 of them are on the road full time.

I talked to my boss for a raise today and he wants me to give him a break. He wants to give me what I asked for next year instead. But he said the decision was in my hands.

Am I being naive and underpaid? Or am I being a greedy sob?

Please give me your opinions.
 
What are others being paid that are in your type of position?
 
You greedy sob! No, I'm kidding.

Yeah it's always nice to get a pay raise. I mean it's entirely up to you on how much you're worth. At 17 dollars an hour is about 1360 every pay perioud of 2 weeks, which amounts to about 35K a year. You say you're living in a town of 10K people, that is very good money for that sort of population. In cities, you'd be probably lower-middle class. But I think 35K a year is very good money for someone who is 19, and depending on your area, you could be a very well paid person.

However, how much you're worth is 100% up to you. If you feel you could use more money, then put your foot down. Say I want X money, or I go. If he says no, then leave. Of course, that's up to you.
 
It comes down to supply and demand. Could you find another job in town with similar responsibilities for more money? If so go for it. If not, then you are probably being fairly paid. Also, if you left, could your boss easily replace you for the same or less money? Or would he need to hire 2 people to replace what you do? That also determines your worth in the eyes of your boss.

You could try to meet your boss half way and negotiate half now and half in 6 months. Perhaps tie it to something you can do for the business in that time-frame that is over and above your normal job responsibilities.
 
i think that's decent pay considering how the economy is right now. if you were to find another job, they probably wouldn't offer that much in these times. in my opinion i wouldn't consider you as being underpaid. here in NJ you are lucky to get paid that much performing those duties.
 
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IMO if it's money you're after you'll probably need to commute or move to a larger area. With such a small population you usually find that wages are low as demand for jobs is high, there are exceptions of course, depending on how skilled you are.

If you were to move to London for example (a little far to be realistic I admit), I imagine I'd be able to get you a job earning double that in no time as a network engineer or manager. However, if you were to move to a tiny town over here your wages would possibly be the same.

What your boss pays you is going to be directly related to how much money he has coming in and you sound like a small business so chances are the budget just isn't available so his hands are tied in relation to budget increases
 
Round here, a degree is king. Doesn't matter how much experience you have, or what you can do, someone with a degree will always be paid more and probably get the job first.
 
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