Matisyahu's Blog

Work today was so-so and I finished it up with an 11.6km walk tonight along with some free weights when I got home (on top of the ones I had done during my breaks while working from home). I’m looking forward to getting the week over and done with but on a good side I am feeling a whole lot better than I did a week ago where I had a sore throat, sore nose etc. basically just feeling straight up lousy. What I have done over the last couple of weeks is making sure I get a good amount of exercise, a balanced diet, drinking lots of water and getting out in the sun on my days of to boost my vitamin D.

I finally ordered the temperature knob for my oven – it was starting to ‘spin’ when I turned it thus not gripping the metal rod that the knob sits on top of. It arrived today (this morning) so I replaced it and checked to see whether it worked. After getting that all sorted out I had a check to see where it was failing so I could see what maybe the cause and it appears that where the metal shaft goes into the plastic casing cracks over time from continued use and the heat from the oven (when the oven is opened) probably makes the plastic weak as well. Anyway, long story short, got it all installed but it wasn’t cheap with the cost of it plus P&P costing around NS$32.14 delivered.

It is always funny to see middle class people convince themselves that the problems they face are due to those who are barely surviving wanting a decent minimum wage. It is amazing the number of people who fail to understand that the amount they get paid is set relative to the minimum wage and when the minimum wage goes up their wage or salary also goes up. Why? let’s say there is a fast food place and workers start off on 50 cents above the minimum wage but now you need someone who is going to run the shift – is someone earning 50 cents above the minimum wage going take on the additional responsibility but earn the same as an entry level staff member? no, so obviously you have to pay them more. You set the hourly supervisor at $1 per hour above the crew wage which is set 50 cents above the minimum wage. Fast forward to the minimum wage increasing – it goes from $19.50 per hour to $20 per hour which would make the entry level worker $20.50 per hour and then the hourly supervisor on $21.50 per hour.

An increase in the minimum wage increases everyone’s wage because there needs to be sufficient enough of a gap between the different levels as to make each job worth while for the person to take on the additional responsibility or training required to do the job. This is the same situation where I am at the moment, the minimum wage goes up, the living wage goes up and then my salary is updated to bring it in line because the failure to do so would make my job unattractive – why take on a whole lot more responsibility and stress when one can move to a job where you may earn slightly less but without all the stress associated with it.

I really do wish that the ‘temporarily embarrassed millionaires’ realise that they’re closer to those barely making ends meet than the illusion of being a millionaire let alone a billionaire. Just as a side note, I really have to wonder what motivates so many such social ladder climbers – are they seeking validation through some sort of gamification of life – he or she who has the most number of goodies at the end of ones life wins the game of life? Sigh, I could never quite understand so much obsession about continuously seeking the validation of others to somehow bring meaning to ones own life.