How do you respond when someone asks how much do you earn?

[Deleted User] · 04/05/13 - 01:04

I never know what to say when someone asks me this, I usually tell people the truth but at the same time it makes me a little uncomfortable. Does anyone have a good way to deflect from answering or am I just being silly?

sweh · 04/05/13 - 01:05

You look 'em dead in the eye and say, "MYOFB!"

Do people really ask you about how much you earn? That is very indecorous.

Bex_123 · 04/05/13 - 01:05

"Why is it any of your business?"

[Deleted User] · 04/05/13 - 01:10

sweh wrote: »

You look 'em dead in the eye and say, "MYOFB!"

Do people really ask you about how much you earn? That is very indecorous.

Maybe its a student thing, I'm currently in my final year at university and people are concerned about getting grad jobs, hence why it crops up in conversation sometimes. However I do feel that if you really want to know then there are means of finding out yourself and asking outright is a little rude :sleep:

ba_baracus · 04/05/13 - 01:13

I just tell them, I'm not ashamed of it. In fact I will tell you all now. A below the national average £20.5K

CherryRose · 04/05/13 - 01:14

coolgirl wrote: »

I never know what to say when someone asks me this, I usually tell people the truth but at the same time it makes me a little uncomfortable. Does anyone have a good way to deflect from answering or am I just being silly?

Just tell them you get paid pound notes

sweh · 04/05/13 - 01:14

coolgirl wrote: »

Maybe its a student thing, I'm currently in my final year at university and people are concerned about getting grad jobs, hence why it crops up in conversation sometimes. However I do feel that if you really want to know then there are means of finding out yourself and asking outright is a little rude :sleep:

Ahhh okay, so they're asking as a form of research? As in, to find out what they too might potentially earn as a starting salary in the near future if they were to acquire a job in the same field? I don't blame them too much in that case.

Sometimes first hand information is the best.

Pistol Whip · 04/05/13 - 01:19

Tell them you take payment in kind

[Deleted User] · 04/05/13 - 01:20

coolgirl wrote: »

I never know what to say when someone asks me this, I usually tell people the truth but at the same time it makes me a little uncomfortable. Does anyone have a good way to deflect from answering or am I just being silly?

I say I am paid enough to live on but not as much as I am worth. Actually unless I was looking at my annual pay and tax details I would be hard pressed to tell anyone how much we earn (we have a very complexed system of allowances and earnings in our work as foster carers)

It really isn't anyones business but yours what you earn, but I have (when encouraging others to become foster carers) told them what my monthly pay cheque is.

Vast_Girth · 04/05/13 - 01:23

To be honest the only people who have ever outright asked are close friends who i am happy to tell. I would probably tell anyone who asked to be honest. Its not like its some big secret

[Deleted User] · 04/05/13 - 01:26

I don't think I've ever been asked this question.

I've mentioned my salary to friends in conversations about jobs etc, but to just come out and ask someone seems rude.

I understand that in the USA it's acceptable and common to ask people how much they make.

pinkyponk34 · 04/05/13 - 01:34

Spooky, I just got my P60 today, my annual gross was.........oh no, that's way too easy suckers.

It's the melting point of Strontium in Centigrade x my penis length in inches.

MadMoo40 · 04/05/13 - 01:34

I always say "not enough for what I do, and what I have to put up with". Its true too

phylo_roadking · 04/05/13 - 01:37

I just ask "for a full hour, or a half-hour "quickie"?"

Caldari · 04/05/13 - 01:38

pinkyponk34 wrote: »

Spooky, I just got my P60 today, my annual gross was.........oh no, that's way too easy suckers.

It's the melting point of Strontium in Centigrade x my penis length in inches.

£1165.50 a year, really?

Addisonian · 04/05/13 - 01:38

I tell them that it's none if their business. Because it's not.

Bex_123 · 04/05/13 - 01:42

Caldari wrote: »

£1165.50 a year, really?

...

Hugh Jboobs · 04/05/13 - 01:43

No-one has ever asked me this question outright.

If they did, the answer would be "It varies."

[Deleted User] · 04/05/13 - 01:57

I have never been asked either. If I was I would make up an amount. I received my p60 today too. It sits in my bag unopened and will prob stay there unopened until I buy a new bag.

edEx · 04/05/13 - 01:59

"Less than I'm worth"

Billy_Value · 04/05/13 - 02:04

i never discuss what i earn, people should not ask, it is just rude

benjamini · 04/05/13 - 02:08

coolgirl wrote: »

I never know what to say when someone asks me this, I usually tell people the truth but at the same time it makes me a little uncomfortable. Does anyone have a good way to deflect from answering or am I just being silly?

No one has asked me that. I suppose I don't look like the kind of person who would tell them if they did.:p oddly enough, I don't know anyone else who has been asked this either.

PrimalIce · 04/05/13 - 02:08

I just tell them. Whats the big deal?

tinshed · 04/05/13 - 02:13

I usually tell them before they even ask. Infact I'm quite well known locally for approaching people I don't yet know (remember strangers are friends we haven't yet met) and tell them how much I earn. It gets all the akwardness out the way.

benjamini · 04/05/13 - 02:14

I have three children, 2 quite high earners, 1 medium. But I have no idea what they actually earn. I don't ask as its not my business.

phylo_roadking · 04/05/13 - 02:14

In my last office job, as a service centre manager, it was actually written into our terms and conditions that it was against company rules to ask another person or attempt to find out what another person's salary was...and over the years several people were dismissed for it!

It made sense in a way - there was one room, the "punch room" full of girls who punched in data from forms, where you had TUPE transfers over from the Civil Service on anything up to 15K a year...and young trainees fresh into the company on company terms on 7-10K....sitting beside short-term contractors who pro rata were getting anything up to 17-18K! For doing exactly the same work...

In other words you had girls sitting beside each other at computer terminals working the same hours, doing the same work, with possibly the same qualifications, and the same age...and there could have been a ten grand difference between their salaries p.a.!

Imagine the mayhem and rioting if they had been allowed to find out the difference between each other!

Hey there!

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