I have too many things on my mind now. So I guess I will break down my thoughts into various posts.
I don't earn well - there I have said it. Sometimes it is difficult for me to say it aloud. I have been working in this fantastic company for over ten years now and hold a reasonably good position. But when I compare my salary to what my colleagues in different countries earn, I have to bend down my head in shame. Being a remote employee, the other five members of my team are spread across Germany, France & Switzerland and I have no choice but to compare my salary to what the other team members earn. I am a bit surprised and a whole lot upset that my company pays better salaries in these countries than in the UK. The salary scale in the company is based on the industry standards of each country and therefore my boss tells me that I can't complain much. It is true; I have checked various recruitment sites and to be quite frank, my boss is correct.
The point here is that money per se is not what motivates me. I love my work and I do not foresee leaving this job for a lucrative one in the near future. My dad once said "What matters is not what you earn but how much you save from it." And I whole heartedly believe this. What gets me is that I am not smart enough to save anything from what I earn. Every year I get a salary increase and every year I manage to spend that entire amount. With each salary hike, my need to purchase rises proportionately.
Take last week for example, I got a hair cut in Geneva. Under normal circumstances it should have cost me nothing more than say sixty pounds, OK lets go on a really higher side seventy five pounds. Remember I have short hair now and all that I wanted was a trim. To top it all I was going to Toni & Guy located in the office premises and had subsidised rates for employees of the company. Guess how much I paid - no please take a wild guess at least. I paid CHF 148. That is about 100 pounds, yes one hundred pounds. In order words I paid about 7000 Rupees or 700 Dhs (yes coming from Dubai I always convert to Dhms as well). Hell no hair cut, no hair product is worth that much I tell you.
It began with the hairdresser asking me whether I would like to have deep conditioning done, I said yes. Then she cut my hair and sprayed some damn good hair product (my company product which I can't name here) and asked me whether I would like to buy it, I said yes. When it came to forking the money out, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the amount. Now before you ask me - no I did not find out beforehand how much they would charge for the hair cut, the conditioning or the fancy product. This is why I call myself stupid. Money comes and flows out of my hands.
Two weeks back I was at the Frankfurt airport and bought myself a Bobbi Brown moisturising balm for forty four pounds. You know, I travel a lot and before this assignment I used to work for Duty Free sales. So I know the duty free prices like the back of my hand and I also know that within Europe Heathrow airport shops have the lowest prices. But no, I still went ahead and bought a damn moisturising balm from Frankfurt airport; the price at Heathrow twenty seven pounds. Even while I was paying for the product I remember telling myself - Chinty you are one fool to do this. I am not really sure but when out for shopping I somehow keep my brains back at home.
So where am I getting at. I am in a self imposed shopping ban for the rest of 2011 - no clothes, no make-up no nothing. Of course that does not mean I will not buy essentials, I will.
I don't earn well - there I have said it. Sometimes it is difficult for me to say it aloud. I have been working in this fantastic company for over ten years now and hold a reasonably good position. But when I compare my salary to what my colleagues in different countries earn, I have to bend down my head in shame. Being a remote employee, the other five members of my team are spread across Germany, France & Switzerland and I have no choice but to compare my salary to what the other team members earn. I am a bit surprised and a whole lot upset that my company pays better salaries in these countries than in the UK. The salary scale in the company is based on the industry standards of each country and therefore my boss tells me that I can't complain much. It is true; I have checked various recruitment sites and to be quite frank, my boss is correct.
The point here is that money per se is not what motivates me. I love my work and I do not foresee leaving this job for a lucrative one in the near future. My dad once said "What matters is not what you earn but how much you save from it." And I whole heartedly believe this. What gets me is that I am not smart enough to save anything from what I earn. Every year I get a salary increase and every year I manage to spend that entire amount. With each salary hike, my need to purchase rises proportionately.
Take last week for example, I got a hair cut in Geneva. Under normal circumstances it should have cost me nothing more than say sixty pounds, OK lets go on a really higher side seventy five pounds. Remember I have short hair now and all that I wanted was a trim. To top it all I was going to Toni & Guy located in the office premises and had subsidised rates for employees of the company. Guess how much I paid - no please take a wild guess at least. I paid CHF 148. That is about 100 pounds, yes one hundred pounds. In order words I paid about 7000 Rupees or 700 Dhs (yes coming from Dubai I always convert to Dhms as well). Hell no hair cut, no hair product is worth that much I tell you.
It began with the hairdresser asking me whether I would like to have deep conditioning done, I said yes. Then she cut my hair and sprayed some damn good hair product (my company product which I can't name here) and asked me whether I would like to buy it, I said yes. When it came to forking the money out, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the amount. Now before you ask me - no I did not find out beforehand how much they would charge for the hair cut, the conditioning or the fancy product. This is why I call myself stupid. Money comes and flows out of my hands.
Two weeks back I was at the Frankfurt airport and bought myself a Bobbi Brown moisturising balm for forty four pounds. You know, I travel a lot and before this assignment I used to work for Duty Free sales. So I know the duty free prices like the back of my hand and I also know that within Europe Heathrow airport shops have the lowest prices. But no, I still went ahead and bought a damn moisturising balm from Frankfurt airport; the price at Heathrow twenty seven pounds. Even while I was paying for the product I remember telling myself - Chinty you are one fool to do this. I am not really sure but when out for shopping I somehow keep my brains back at home.
So where am I getting at. I am in a self imposed shopping ban for the rest of 2011 - no clothes, no make-up no nothing. Of course that does not mean I will not buy essentials, I will.
2 comments:
Hey there! Unrelated to your post, but I tagged you to participate in an International Women’s Day blog contest conducted by Indusladies. Details at http://www.indusladies.com/forums/blogs/induslady/indusladies-2nd-annual-international-womens-4493/. Please participate.
Hello! :) Had a sleepless night. Was blog hopping and landed here. And just finished reading every single post from your archives. Loved the way you write and there is this raw honesty about you that is so refreshing in this sometimes pretentious blog world. I liked it :) You should write more.
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