I realise that cultural differences will play a part, here, as will generational change, but I just spent the evening hanging out with my cousin’s friends, roughly 5 years younger than me, and this was the main topic of conversation…
How much they earn, for how little they actually work. How “easy” their work is. How they can afford shit like house deposits, shitty anime subscriptions, and drugs… Seriously, their main topic of conversation aside from “how much I make” was fucking drugs, and how much they hate various portions of humanity that aren’t like them…
Growing up, I was taught that this sort of shit is to be kept to yourself. Discussing salaries/earnings was a massive no-no, and don’t get me started on the drugs shit…
Especially around strangers, which I was, for most of them…
I just find it a wee bit sad that such “social norms” have become forgotten, in an era of sheer narcissism and braggadocio…
Then again, these people were also arseholes, and scumbag druggies no less, so selection bias is of course at play…
But I just find it jsrring, I guess, that something as simple as “You don’t ask, or discuss, salaries, unless it is relevant”, has fallen by the wayside, seemingly, amongst “hype”-obsessed zoomers these days…
If you don’t discuss how much you earn with your coworkers then I guarantee the management will be taking advantage of that.
Had to sign in to agree with you. 100% when I started a new job and getting to know coworkers was to make sure they didn't screw me in the pay department. The managerial class is sleazy and retarded at the same time, at my previous job, they would always have meetings and dine with each other, yet upper manage would never let the blue collar supervisors as much as exchanged phone numbers in case they needed each other help when a situation arose, and they are working for the same fucking company.