PrettySquareGal
I'll Lock Up
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ARIELLE GREEN, a publicist in Manhattan, knows what most of her friends earn, whether it is $28,000 a year or $100,000. And she does not seem particularly shy about disclosing her income ($30,000 a year, plus overtime).Ilana Arazie, 32, believes in more openness in discussing personal finances.
At 22, Ms. Green, like her friends, is less afraid to flirt with what many over 35 consider the last taboo in American life: discussing salary openly with friends and colleagues. “There’s just more of a feeling of openness in discussing what you make,” Ms. Green said.
Her friends, she said, consider frank talk about income a valuable tool. It helps them strategize — when to push for a raise, when to start looking around. It even helps them figure out plans for a Friday night, whether the assembled cast is better suited to a brick-oven pizzeria or Buddakan.
Yes, elders find it strange. “My parents wouldn’t have this conversation with friends,” she said. For them, Ms. Green said, “it’s very hush-hush. You don’t talk about money, politics, or religion with friends. But in this generation, it’s important.”
For people old enough to remember phone booths, a blunt reference to salary in a social setting still represents the height of bad manners. But for many young professionals, the don’t-ask-don’t-tell etiquette of previous generations seems like a relic...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/fashion/27salary.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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Not long ago I was asked by someone ten years my junior how much I make a year and was shocked. I never ever asked that of anyone except, of course, my husband! She's a nice person, and I ended up disclosing a past number, but really in retrospect didn't want to talk about it at all. I'm an old relic, I guess.
Thoughts?
At 22, Ms. Green, like her friends, is less afraid to flirt with what many over 35 consider the last taboo in American life: discussing salary openly with friends and colleagues. “There’s just more of a feeling of openness in discussing what you make,” Ms. Green said.
Her friends, she said, consider frank talk about income a valuable tool. It helps them strategize — when to push for a raise, when to start looking around. It even helps them figure out plans for a Friday night, whether the assembled cast is better suited to a brick-oven pizzeria or Buddakan.
Yes, elders find it strange. “My parents wouldn’t have this conversation with friends,” she said. For them, Ms. Green said, “it’s very hush-hush. You don’t talk about money, politics, or religion with friends. But in this generation, it’s important.”
For people old enough to remember phone booths, a blunt reference to salary in a social setting still represents the height of bad manners. But for many young professionals, the don’t-ask-don’t-tell etiquette of previous generations seems like a relic...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/fashion/27salary.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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Not long ago I was asked by someone ten years my junior how much I make a year and was shocked. I never ever asked that of anyone except, of course, my husband! She's a nice person, and I ended up disclosing a past number, but really in retrospect didn't want to talk about it at all. I'm an old relic, I guess.
Thoughts?
It's a small company and a highly dysfunctional one. Nonetheless, Rhonda has gleaned enough to know that she was hired at a significantly higher rate than most, but hasn't received a raise since starting. She's been selected for training to move up to Audit Manager, though. Still, despite the fact that they obviously wanted her and have plans for her she still lives in fear of that phone call to report to the office.
