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Question of ethics
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Denise,
You should probably read the respose I posted to Mark. I’m sorry I didn’t explain myself better. I am actually talking about my full-time job, not a client of mine.
-Aaron
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Chris,
I understand your point of view, but like you said, you don’t know me. It took 3+ years to get a raise from these people, and they always tell me “you’re the best editor we’ve had”. In all fairness, my raise was substantial (18%), but with that, I am still making far below what someone in my position should make. From an employers standpoint you may “hate” an employee who feels their being taken advantage of, but an employee may feel resentment toward someone taking advantage of them. My original post is taken one of two ways. An employee will see it and feel sympathy, while an employer will see it and think “oh, another ungrateful underling”. Maybe if more employees were unhappy being taken advantage of, this country wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in now, which after all, is a direct result of corporate greed.
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[Aaron Cadieux] “I feel it’s unfair to me”
Life isn’t fair. It really isn’t and the sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be. If you’re complaining about this now, you’ll be complaining later when you’re making $60,000 and the guy next to you is making $65,000.
Let me tell you what’s not fair. Building a business with a partner for three years, then having said partner lock you out of the building, remove all equipment from three edit suites, the entire tape library and then turn around and sue you to pay off the remaining half of said equipment. To the tune of almost $50,000 and leave you with absolutely zero. So then you have to invest $30,000 to get your own equipment and get your own company up and running. $80,000 in the hole after three years of building your own business is not fair. But it happened.
Here’s what I would do in your case. Business is slow as you said. So get your work done as quickly as possible and start learning as much as you can about the equipment and software you have access to. I mean the gear is free, the software is free, it’s all sitting right there in front of you. Gear is expensive and once you start paying for it yourself you realize just what a money pit you’re getting in to. Take advantage of all the free gear and free time you have and learn as much as possible about everything you have access to. I’ve always done this in prior jobs and continue to do this today. This makes me more valuable to my clients and in your case will make you more valuable to your next employer. Knowledge is truly power.
If you want to “slow down your work to match your supposed low pay” then by all means do it. But taking advantage of the slowdown to learn new things about your craft will pay off dividends down the road.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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I actually still give 100% in my job, because I, like you, don’t feel it’s right to give less than that. That being said, I sometimes wish I could give less than 100% when I feel taken advantage of, but I’m sure all of us have felt that way at one time or another. In a forum moderated by mostly employers and not employees, I was not surprised by the responses to my post. But anyway, I thank you all for your input. If my boss sees my posts, so be it. Better to have an employee venting over the internet than complaining at the office and giving less than a 100% effort.
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I understand where you’re coming from. And to be clear, I always give 110% on everything I do. That’s probably the main reason why I’m so frustrated. I always have my eyes open for what’s out there. And it could be worse, I could not have a job.
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Steve,
With how defensively you responded, you might as well be my boss. I never said I am actually giving less of an effort. As a matter of fact, I always give 110%. This is a cut-throat industry where $$$ is everything. I just wanted to know if anyone else out there believes in the old saying “you get what you pay for”. Toyota produces Scions and Lexus. If you pay $20,000 for a Scion, you’re getting a good car, but you’d never expect it to drive like a Lexus (even though Toyota is capable of producing a Lexus). If you want Lexus results, you have to pay for a Lexus. My concious would never allow me to slack off at my job, but I am sure most employees would love to slack off when they’re underappreciated.
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[Aaron Cadieux] “…but I am sure most employees would love to slack off when they’re underappreciated.”
Which is one of the many reasons that the world is in such a mess today.
Growing up on a dairy I learned early-on that life isn’t fair and that “dairy kids” have to work seven days a week, 365 days a year. The cows didn’t care that I wanted to go surfing and that it was Summer vacation. They wanted to eat. The kids I knew that grew up on crop farms didn’t have to work like that, they got regular time off.
BUT…
It taught me that I have only one gear: mine. I do my work without excuses and I don’t wait for the world to get fair before I do it. I let the whiners whine, while I blow past them with the one gear that I have in my transmission: to do the very best that I can do, nothing else matters.
Why?
Because it reflects on me. If I let my life be about what is fair or isn’t or about giving only my best when it’s paid for, then there is always an excuse for shoddy second-rate work. I give myself no such quarter and do not allow that kind of slack in my thinking, thank you.
I don’t take the jobs that I don’t want but I never do a job as second-rate. It is either done to the best of my ability, or I don’t take the job or the money.
As Walter said and I agree with him: Life isn’t fair, it is about what happens when you were wishing for something else. Make the best of what you have, or don’t. Life is far too short to worry about what’s fair and only doing an equal measure of production for equal return.
It would be great if life were always so simple, it isn’t. Therefore, I work to my own standard and will always do the best that I can because it is the measure of who I am. If I do only that is equal to circumstance, then my life has too many hoples in bucket to ever hold onto much for long.
That’s my opinion.
Your mileage may vary and if it does, you are welcome to drive as you see fit.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
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Aaron, basically anyone who’s worth their salt in a position like yours thinks they’re underpaid. And maybe the guys in the next room playing video games are jerks or maybe they’re the ones who struggled to build the business, took the financial risk, mortgaged the house or whatever to get to a position to where they could afford to pay someone like you 35K a year. And that monthly nut may grow harder to meet as the economy continues its free fall.
So why not try this, take Walter’s advice and learn something new, except see if you can get your employers to pay for it. Tell them you’re aware times are seriously tough but you feel that you’re not getting enough cash out of the time/effort you’re putting in. You realize another raise is out of the question, but what if they were to invest in some training for you? Particularly in a field where your shop is weak – color correction, AE, Shake, etc. It will keep you busy during the slack times and they’ll have something new they can offer clients to try and stir up more business. They’ll feel like they’re investing in the growth of their company and you pick up a new skill, which – once the economy stirs back to life and if you still feel they’re jerks – makes you even more marketable when you walk out of there and into a new job.
FLY Films
Shanghai, China
http://www.flyfilms.com.cn -
He lost 10% of his effort in the last few posts.
Steve
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Another person who assumes to know me personally. With the responses to my original post, you would think I were taking a personal shot directly at you. You guys must have a lot of employees slacking off to respond so strongly to this.
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