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Can of Worms: Should servicepeople get preferential treatment?
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Post by
255458
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
ElhonnaDS
I can understand what Xara is saying. Police officers, firemen and women, soldiers, etc. put their own lives on the line to keep people safe. That's kind of a different level of service. Sure, many people have jobs that save lives or make them better, but it's a different level of commitment to put yourself between a guy with a gun and the general public, or to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. I appreciate the sacrifices that people in these fields make, and the danger they put themselves in, so I approve of the occasional free coffee, cookies, beer etc. that a lot of businesses give them. There's something more than money involved for people who take dangerous, life-saving jobs. Especially ones that pay decently, but aren't going to make anyone rich.
Doctors do save lives, but it's not at the risk of their own. They make a significant contribution, and have a great skill that they bring to society, but they're not really sacrificing much to do it. They in fact have a lot of incentive to become doctors, financially and otherwise. They're doing themselves as much of a favor as anyone else by entering that profession. So, while I appreciate what they do, I don't see it as self-sacrificing work.
Now if we're talking about doctors who spend a lot of their time at free clinics, volunteering overseas or in other low-paying or non-paying areas of the field, I consider them as actually sacrificing something for the greater good. I would totally give them cookies too :)
Post by
Jubilee
If you're basing it off fatality rate or overall deadliness of the job, you need to count a lot more jobs than just the few mentioned.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/04/12/deadliest-jobs.html
Post by
Orranis
I feel like sometimes, sure, they deserve people being nice to them--and even helping them out.
Case in point, my mother had a broken rear end light once when I was like 12. I remember a cop pulling us over. When he leaned in to give her a ticket, etc., he saw she was in her nurs'es uniform and had a nurse badge hanging from the rearview mirror. He didn't give her one, he instead talked about how she should fix it and such. She fixed it later that month. It was nice of him, but she explained to me--who wasn't understanding of why we got away with it--that service people tend to do service people favors. But since she was a single mom, and while nurses make decent money, it was really a help to not give her a ticket for a very stupid violation.
See, here she should be let off the hook because she's a single mom and has to work hard to support herself and her child, and the fine for such a stupid offense would not make it any easier considering she would have to pay to get the thing fixed as well, not because of her job. There are plenty of none service people that work incredibly hard.
Post by
Heckler
I voted no, but only because I would be against
requiring
such things.
I don't have an issue with things like cops letting people off, because they probably let people off about half the time anyways, so at least this is a pretty noble reason (as an example of an ignoble reason, let's say breast size). Focusing on the military for a moment, they already get pretty good treatment (how many other jobs can you get immediately hired with just a high school degree, work for 20 years, and then retire with a paycheck for the rest of your life? Keep in mind their paychecks are taxpayer funded, so they're already getting a pretty good deal from the People).
When I was in the military, I sincerely appreciated any "preferential treatment" that I got (which included the speeding ticket thing, 3 upgrades to first class airline seats, multiple store discounts, maybe a couple 'head-of-line' things while in uniform... that's probably about it), but I definitely never
expected
it. If anything, I felt wrong for accepting it.
I think the "wisest" thing said in this thread was the bit by Skreeran: Respect is only meaningful when it's unforced.
Post by
xaratherus
I find this a little curious why you think doctors aren't considered service people because they make more money.
When it comes to "mumping" a doughnut, or getting a free beer under the counter, I see it being done as a courtesy for people who provide a very valuable service but who are under-compensated for their jobs. That just doesn't apply to someone who makes $140k a year.
I didn't actually say that doctors were not servicepeople, by the by. In relation to the question, including them makes the category so broad that I have to answer "no", since the category then includes those who I consider under-compensated for their services as well as those who are fairly or over-compensated.
Post by
324987
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Post by
Pwntiff
When you factor in the minimal education requirements to be a firefighter or teacher or even worse an enlisted service men their salaries fall in line to what they should.
Yeah...them's fighting words.
Post by
Adamsm
I find it interesting that you think other service positions are under compensated when I view the outrageous salaries of teachers to be over compensated when you figure they have half the days off every year.
If people were really under compensated then naturally their salaries would increase to attract new people. When you factor in the minimal education requirements to be a firefighter or teacher or even worse an enlisted service men their salaries fall in line to what they should.Um....what? Since when do high school or elementary school teachers have outrageous salaries? Maybe those teachers who work at private schools or colleges can pull in the big bucks, but the rest of them? Not so much. And if by minimal education requirement for a teacher being between 4-8 years depending on what they are doing then sure. As for the Firefighter and Soldier comment well...I have nothing to say to that.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Adamsm
When you factor in that teachers only work half the days a year, get a conference period off a day (which is equivalent to 1/4 the day) then yes they have an outrageous salary. Most teachers have 4 year degrees and I have never heard of a none administrator or professor having an 8 year degree.
Half the day? What? Elementary school teachers are there for the entire day, and high school teachers may have one period a day to themselves, but they are still there for the other 3-5 periods or however many there are. And since most of the time, when the Teacher's union strikes, they are after more pay, I'd say their salaries aren't as huge as you think they are.
Post by
Monday
Most teachers I know work 8-10 hours a day, and only get two months off.
And guess what else? They don't get paid during those two months. Their paychecks are made smaller and spread across the year to compensate, but they are literally making no money during the summer break.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Adamsm
You misread what I said. I said teachers only work half the days a year, meaning out of 365 days they work half of them >.<. I then said that of those days they work they get 1/4th of it off.
They work Monday to Friday, possibly Saturday if they are forced in for weekend detention; but they are just like any other worker for the most part. And as Funden said, they get 2 months off for summer that are unpaid, as are any holidays....just like any other worker for the most part.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Interest
I would say no, but they definitely deserve some* respect for what they did.
*Amount of respect varies from person to person.
Post by
Adamsm
You misread what I said. I said teachers only work half the days a year, meaning out of 365 days they work half of them >.<. I then said that of those days they work they get 1/4th of it off.
They work Monday to Friday, possibly Saturday if they are forced in for weekend detention; but they are just like any other worker for the most part. And as Funden said, they get 2 months off for summer that are unpaid, as are any holidays....just like any other worker for the most part.
That argument doesn't make sense though even though most teachers pay is spread out during the year. Whether I pay you 30 dollars an hour for 10 months or 26 dollars and hour for 12 months the teachers still get paid the same (not using exact numbers).
What's not to make sense? Teachers, unless again, they are professors or admins, don't make a large amount of money per year; they also don't get paid for holidays such as Christmas, Spring Break and the like, as well as the fact that they don't get paid for their summers.
Here, found
this
as of August 2011 in the States...yeah they are just rolling in the dough.....
Post by
Squishalot
It entirely depends from teacher to teacher. The ones putting in the bare minimum hours have conditions similar to what vikingboy is saying. However, any teacher worth getting privileges will be working significantly longer hours. I used to have a maths teacher in my final year of high school who would turn around 26 3hr maths papers in the last period of school, mark them all overnight with comments, and have them ready to abuse us with in the morning.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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