The Off Topic Topic

[Zanza]

How much do people in the military make? My impression was that the pay sucked (but that there were great benefits).

According to what he posts on Paradox, at least our poster Philip V seems to be overpaid. He claims he gets six figures for some standard IT job.

[Eddie Teach]

How much do people in the military make? My impression was that the pay sucked (but that there were great benefits).

I've been told that my cousin and brother-in-law make six figures.

[Sheilbh]

Well these days in the US nursing is a rather high paying job so you have alot of people going into it for the money.  Not sure if that leads to more competent nursing or not.

It's reasonably well-paid here.  But not superbly so considering you need a degree.

I think the NHS makes them different too.  It's routine for Health Secretaries to get heckled by the Royal College of Nurses - every time the public sides with the nurses.  They've got a special place because they're like the hard-working, put upon, public face of the NHS.

Doctors on the other hand are generally arrogant and universally disliked

[HVC]

How much do people in the military make? My impression was that the pay sucked (but that there were great benefits).

my best friends brother had an engineering degree and joined he military as an officer and after like two years was making close to 100 k. In Canada mind you.

[HVC]

And that's pure salary and not taking into account other benefits.

[Sheilbh]

How much do people in the military make? My impression was that the pay sucked (but that there were great benefits).

Here's British pay scale:
http://www.armedforces.co.uk/armypayscales.htm
Seems reasonably, depending on how many Brigadiers we have.

My brother's in the navy and doesn't earn that much.  But I think the pension's a nice perk and that he's been able to buy a house in Cornwall (no mean feat) by saving up for a mortgage while living on base.

The best perk though was that he got married while on a tour - it was one of those six month fly the flag things where we send some ships round East Asia for no good reason.  So he got married on his ship in Singapore (the navy paid for his wife to join him) and then got six weeks paid leave in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia before rejoining his ship (the navy paid for his wife to go home).

[Valmy]

It's reasonably well-paid here.  But not superbly so considering you need a degree.

I think the NHS makes them different too.  It's routine for Health Secretaries to get heckled by the Royal College of Nurses - every time the public sides with the nurses.  They've got a special place because they're like the hard-working, put upon, public face of the NHS.

Doctors on the other hand are generally arrogant and universally disliked

Well let me just say that because of your NHS what you experience does not transfer at all over here to the US.  Some people dislike Doctors for incompetence but arrogance?  The poor bastards had to suffer for years working for dirt in Residency and paid a fortune for Medical School.  And, if they work in a hospital, they are working long long hourse.

[CountDeMoney]

I'd say our military tends to be more overpaid than our teachers. 

I think it depends on the state, but agree generally that the military is overpaid.

Unfortunately, cutting military pay is essentially politically impossible.

I think the appearance of a lot of military families just barely making it has a lot to do with the sheer number of kiddies they have as well.  The bigger the brood, the less to go around.

[Sheilbh]

Really?  I thought the arrogant doctor was a universal thing

That's really interesting.  I don't think it's an NHS thing so much as it's a class thing.  Doctors are professionals and upper-middle class and there was always an attitude of 'doctor knows best'. 

Nurses were more relatable and on a similar level to the patients, even if the mythic matrons were just as terrifying.

[Eddie Teach]

Really?  I thought the arrogant doctor was a universal thing

That's really interesting.  I don't think it's an NHS thing so much as it's a class thing.  Doctors are professionals and upper-middle class and there was always an attitude of 'doctor knows best'. 

I've certainly run into arrogant doctors. And of course the $100 bills for 5 minutes of their time are off-putting even when they're completely charming during those 5 minutes.

[CountDeMoney]

It's reasonably well-paid here.  But not superbly so considering you need a degree.

I think the NHS makes them different too.  It's routine for Health Secretaries to get heckled by the Royal College of Nurses - every time the public sides with the nurses.  They've got a special place because they're like the hard-working, put upon, public face of the NHS.

Doctors on the other hand are generally arrogant and universally disliked

Well let me just say that because of your NHS what you experience does not transfer at all over here to the US.  Some people dislike Doctors for incompetence but arrogance?  The poor bastards had to suffer for years working for dirt in Residency and paid a fortune for Medical School.  And, if they work in a hospital, they are working long long hourse.

Hey, it took me working in two hospitals to hate them for their arrogance;  hell, I've had to take shit from them that would've gotten them punched in the face or locked up if they did it on the street;  I've seen them reduce my staff to tears, and embarrass themselves beyond belief.  Throwing clipboards, stealing scrubs and equipment, getting high on nitrous in the anesthesiology closets, popping pills with each others' scripts, fucking like bunnies in every conceivable corner while on duty, all the while fantasizing about their future $120,000 sports cars they can double park.

Fuck 'em.  Overeducated auto mechanics. Arrogant assfucks.

Walker Percy was fucking right: every doctor as part of his residency should serve 2 years in prison.

[Admiral Yi]

My theory is that doctor arrogance is a function of how many retard patients they're forced to see daily.

[Josephus]

How much do people in the military make? My impression was that the pay sucked (but that there were great benefits).

Free burial.

[Valmy]

Yeah that was why I did not respond to Shielbh a second time I realized after I posted that my perception may not be typical

[Sheilbh]

I've certainly run into arrogant doctors. And of course the $100 bills for 5 minutes of their time are off-putting even when they're completely charming during those 5 minutes.

This is definitely an NHS thing.  Doctors here don't have a reputation for being charming so much as abrupt and rather brusque - at least with GPs,  Many doctors are lovely of course.