Yknow, people say this, but I was a high school dropout who busted my balls at various smaller restaurants, eventually worked my way up to manager at one, then a manager at a retail store, paid my way through community college, and eventually got myself into better and better gigs to the point where I was able to make a living wage where I am now. Still looking to improve
People expect entry level jobs to support above entry level lifestyles. It doesn't exactly equate to me
Should a Wal-Mart greeter really make enough to feed a family of three while paying a mortgage? I'm not so sure
Spent close to 15 years in first / second line techsupport / teamleader for some of the biggest companies in Sweden. I lived in a 1 room apartment in a ghetto, I ate pretty much roonies and noodles and vaccation was me sitting infront of a computer, not being able to afford doing anywhere unless i denied myself something else.
It was shit but it was all on me, if I wanted more money I knew I would have to get a new job. You shouldn't make a fuckton of money doing a shitjob without any qualifications other than "don't be a dick!".
Handing other people food while smiling is a useless job in all possible ways but one, to school "firsttimers" that real life is rough, you don't always get what you want even if you work work hard for it, its mostly just luck in the end or you need to find another job.
So I did move, 7 years ago i moved across the country to another city. I didn't have a job, I had money to live job-less for 4 months and with about half a paycheck left before I was broke I got a new job.
2 years later from doing groundfloor-stuff I became Incident Manager, around 15k users and another 40-50k students using our plattform.
From there I landed a mangerposition and for the past 4 years I've been running the techsupport and in 2 years time my current boss will retire and if I want that job, its mine.
Zero education apart from highschool and I make like 4x the money now compared to when I started.
The honest truth is that if you flip burgers at MCD or pack a bag at wallmart or sits in a helpdesk of any form is an unqualified job and should be paid based on that. But it seems that everyone is entitled nowadays so you should be able to buy a Tesla regardless of your job.
If you want to own your house, have a nice car or kids, then get a job that supports it and not the other way around.
Also, unpopular opinion, teachers DON'T deserve a raise, some teachers do, most of them don't. Teachers is a special breed of fucktards who for some reason think they are THE most important thing we have on earth.
Most of the teachers I've had or talked to in my daily job I wouldn't trust to pack my bags at the grocerystore.