"I Pay Your Paycheck" Rebuttal

[protege]

My dad said something like that to me when I had the paper route. I got him good though. I replied with "sure, you might pay my salary...but I'll be picking out the nursing home"

[Shengirl]

Note quite. The money being paid out in social security is coming from the payroll taxes of people currently working.

If somebody lives long enough after retirement, he can collect several times more social security than he ever paid into it.

It's a social welfare program, not a retirement saving plan.

...Yes, yes I know that. I'm not retarded. But the whole idea of Social Security is that you pay into it all your life, and then you get something in return once you reach a certain age. Even if they're not paying into it now, they have paid their share in the past, and it's a kind of tax where you get the benefits in an obvious and direct way.

Also, due to inflation, even if the exact amount of money paid into SS during a man's youth is small, its comparative value is closer to what he is getting.

Basically, it's nothing a person can justify holding over another person's head.

[Dips]

I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you. I thought you were supporting the myth that SS is a return on investment.

For those of you outside the US who are wondering what this is about. All workers pay into the system to directly subsidize the current crop of retirees. We don't expect to get any of that money back. We just live in hopeful expectation that when WE retire there will be a crop of workers to subsidize our retirements. And so on with each generation.

The problem with the system is that the crop of retirees is growing faster than the crop of workers to subsidize them.

Anyone who thinks this sound similar to a Ponzi scheme isn't too far off the mark.

And since all of the money goes from my check to retirees, I think it's quite fair and accurate to point that out to SS beneficiaries who pull the "I pay your salary" crap.

Otherwise, of course, I wouldn't dream of mentioning it.

[Shengirl]

Honestly, there probably are Americans dumb enough to not know how Social Security works, so no worries. This conversation just makes me sad because it reminds me of how there most likely won't BE Social Security by the time I get old enough to qualify for it. Or they'll keep pushing back the age so that I have to wait til 85. This is why I got a Roth IRA last year...

[Dips]

I hear you. I'm 43, which puts me juuuust after the baby boom. Either first in line to get shafted or smack in the gap between the end of the old system and the beginning of whatever replaces it.

I've made my peace with paying my FICA and perhaps not collecting when I retire. Previous generations took care of me when I was a kid and I genuinely feel it's my duty to help support them now that they need me to. Doing the right thing is more important to me than getting something out of it.

I'm doing as you are and saving as much as I can. If that isn't enough, I'll either move in with my kids or, if my kids can't handle me (I'm a lot to handle. Heh.), I'll entertain people on the street for beer money.

[Primer]

It could be worse. My employer, that I've been with since 1984, does not participate in SS. No, I don't understand how they got out of it, but what it means is that if/when the time comes, I will not be able to get anything.

I would not mind this, except that I'm more likely to need disability before I reach retirement age, and I can't even get disability insurance from my employer, as they don't offer that either.

Oh well...

[Ree]

OK...that guy in front of you buying a bag of chips and a pop may not be purchasing the entire equivalent of your wages, but it contributes to the total package.

Where do people think the wages come from?

Do they think management has a secret stash of cash that magically replenishes itself overnight?

Every sale by every customer is a part of the operating cash for a store.
Every dollar taken in gets broken down and a percentage of every dollar gets attributed to the operating costs, including wages, and what's left over is profits.

Not a difficult concept.

So, while I don't feel a customer should get away with murder and adapt the attitude, "I pay your wages," I also don't feel that having the attitude that the customer doesn't buy enough to pay our wages is very poor business sense.

If customers stop coming in because they are pissed off by lousy service and a poor attitude by the staff who feel that their services are a privilege for the customer, rather than a customer purchasing those services being a privilege for the staff, then it's not long before that person is out of a job.

[Mark Healey]

If you are in the US and the customer is over 65, you can always come back with, "Yes. And I pay your social security. I guess we're even."

Actually you have to wait until they're about 70, probably a little less. The last time I looked into this it took a little over four years on social security to get back what they paid plus interest. After that, It's welfare.

[EclipseDragon986]

SC: "I pay your paycheck!"

M: "Oh no you don't! I've checked my paycheck many times, and b**** ain't signed on it anywhere!"

Next time someone says that line, just say

"Ok, but I'm paying your social security, so I reserve the right to pull the plug on you."

[Jester]

Yes, that dreaded phrase. We all loathe it, and wish it out of existance. Well my co-worker C, he found a way to use it against the customer.

When you wait tables, the customers really DO pay your wages. As in tips. And sometimes they think they are so clever to use that against you. "Just remember, I control the tip." Yes, jackass, I remember that. I also can just about guarantee that, because you felt you had to mention it, it ain't gonna be much anyway.

Example: years ago I attended a home Arizona State-USC game, then went to work. ASU won that game, and I was in a great mood, and sporting one of my many ASU hats at work. Naturally, my first table was a bunch of USC fans in town for the game. And they didn't appear to be too happy with the result of the game. Being the joker that I am, I mentioned the game, just sort of ribbing them in fun.

USC jerk: "Just remember, pal, your tip is dependent on you saying good things about USC."
JESTER: "I appreciate that sir, but there's only so far I'll go for tips, and prostituting my school loyalty is beyond that limit."

They did not tip well.

I did not care.




As for "I pay your salary", George Carlin had a great line to use to annoying cops.

"You're a public servant. Go get me a glass of water!"

I have never used that line for two reasons.
1. The cops that would get it aren't annoying enough to use it on.
2. The cops that are annoying enough to use it on wouldn't get it. And if they did, they would cause you even more grief.