Getting What I deserve- Final Draft

 Getting What I Deserve...

              Another story about a typical privileged white American girl--If you look superficially at my life you would probably think I’m average and never experienced much struggle. I’m 125 pounds 5 foot 5 inches and white with brown hair and green eyes. I don’t exactly standout. I know that I am very lucky that my parents are still very in love and both have their master’s degrees. My parents have worked very hard to get us, our family, into the position that we are in right now and I know that because of their hard work that I am privileged. It’s not average to be a member of a country club. It’s not average to be a member of a sorority and have my college paid for. These are things that most people don’t have and I am very thankful for that. Because my parents knew that the only way to get what you want in life is to work hard for it they have taught me to do the same. Throughout my many work experiences I have encountered situations and even had to pay for a good amount of my expenses knowing full well that my parents would be able to spot me. It wasn’t until a recent promotion at a summer job until I realized that I would have to work hard if not even harder than my brothers and even my male counterparts. Because of the wage gap in America that was reflected in my pay during a summer job I have been motivated throughout my college education and my other jobs after to work hard if not harder than those around me to earn my pay and not be afraid to ask for it. (Here’s an entertaining and educating video about what the wage gap is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3YfMtgEdI )

            I had gotten my CPR/AED and Life guarding/First Aid Red Cross certification when I was 15 years old and I can honestly say that the following summer when I was hired, as a lifeguard was one the most influential moments of my life. Getting that first job, that first pay stub, I had never felt so powerful and in control of my own life before. I didn’t even have a driver’s license yet and I already felt so free. Something about working and earning money while getting a tan, hanging out at a pool, just made sense. It was the perfect summer job. I went on to work for that small country club in central, Ohio that hired me for 5 years. The summer before my last year working there the general manager of the country club called me mid-march to discuss with me a promotion. I hadn’t spoken to him much before simply because he didn’t spend much time at the pool and I didn’t exactly have a high up position. Apparently he had just fired the previous pool manager and since one of my co-workers and I had the most experience at that pool that if we were to do one thing we would get offered the position of Pool Manager. This was very exciting to me because I knew that I was ready for more responsibility at my job and felt very comfortable with majority of the members and the inner workings of being at a pool all day everyday.

My manager had one stipulation to being pool manager though; I had to get my WSI (water safety instructor certification) through the Red Cross. Not that many people get this certification because it takes a couple longer classes and costs a lot of money to get. What is great about it though is that once you have this certification you are certified to teach swim lessons for life and can make great pay. So I got it knowing that I would not only get a pay increase and a promotion but also a second job at the pool as a swim instructor. I spent the time and the money to go through the class feeling more empowered by getting more certifications and I knew that professionally that this would be a good thing.

A month in to my new position I started working overtime with my co-manager, Tyler. A couple nights a week after close we would have to stay to work on the pool to do maintenance and when we got paid we checked each other’s pay stub’s in order to make sure we got paid the right amount in overtime. Him and I both noticed that even though our positions, duties, and responsibilities are exactly the same he was getting paid thirty cents more than me. Even more so, I was more qualified in that I found out later on that Tyler never even got his WSI certification and the manager didn’t pressure him to get that as much as he pressured me. I didn’t even get reimbursed for paying to get that certification. According to Linda Lowen this is a national statistic in that, “compared to men's earnings, women overall earn 81.2%” (Lowen). That night I remember going home and crying to my Dad, who works in business, about being discriminated against as a woman. I know that the general manager was discriminating against me as a woman because of the way he both treated and talked to me in comparison to Tyler. Unfortunately I didn’t get much sympathy from my Dad and he basically told me to “suck it up” and that I would deal with this my whole life. Without getting the sympathy I wanted I went to the public library and immediately checked out a book about woman in business with their finances. I wanted to make sure that from then on I would be smart in my decisions in the workplace. I was surprised that even in my small summer job this happened to me.

From this experience on, I have grown to realize that salary isn’t something set in stone and that in order to get what I want financially out of my employer I must take the initiative to start that conversations with my superior. I am going to be graduating in the next year and my hope for myself is that negotiating a salary is something that I can confidently do and be successful with. I think that a job that isn’t willing to give me equal pay as my male counterpart is not a job experience that I should be pursuing but, how will I know if I don’t ask for more? At first this concept made me feel selfish and that I should be grateful for the job I earned but, according to an article by Levo League, “A woman who doesn’t negotiate her salary in her first job will lose an average of $431,000 by the time she’s 65.” (Gosn).  This is a shocking number to me because not only living on $50 budgeted a week for groceries I couldn’t even imagine having that much money. That is a significant amount; I won’t let myself be a part of that statistic. According to an article in Forbes magazine, “women are concerned about the reputational risks of negotiating” (Neale). I know that my degree is worth just as much as my male counterpart and I am willing to make sure I get the recognition I deserve for it. Even so, I have a unique resume of experiences that I know set me a part. Even going into an entry-level position next year I know that who I am and what I have to offer is valuable.

Works Cited

Gosn, Caroline. "Millennial Women Don't Believe the Gender Wage Gap Applies to

Them. Wrong." Levo League. N.p., 8 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Lowen, Linda. "Gender Wage Gap Statistics - Facts Reveal Women Earn Less Than

Men." About News. About.com, 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Neale, Margaret A. "Why Women Must Ask (The Right Way): Negotiation Advice

From Stanford's Margaret A. Neale." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 June 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.