$6.55

Well, being a California State employee, I'm technically making minimum wage. The wierd part is that I'm not even making the California minimum wage of $8.00, but the federal minimum wage of $6.55. The State of California has this weird thing where it doesn't have to follow its own laws, which is why we only get paid once a month even though by law, "wages must be paid at least twice during each calendar month".

I'm not too worried, as long as a budget passes this month, all should be fine. And even if it isn't, the Controller has stated he will continue to pay full salaries (though Arnold is threatening to sue him). There's no way they don't pass a budget, right? There's no way I will actually get paid minimum wage right? I just can't contemplate that actually happening.

But...

That's exactly the frame of mind I was before the Iraq War (yes, I managed to turn this into an Iraq war rant [pats back]). "There's no way we're actually going to invade a country that has done nothing to us. Impossible." And yet...

So even though I don't think this will effect me (granted I'm a poor prognosticator), I'm still a bit pissy about the whole thing. Mainly because I feel like a pawn, and I feel like my work is being taken for granted. I imagine there will be a lot of "sick days" coming up for state employees, trying to make some sort of feeble protest, but in my field, that's not a feasible option.

I also find it strange that all the information I have on the issue has come from the newspaper. Haven't heard squat from my bosses. Haven't heard squat from my union.

I know there's a lot of people who are glad this is happening, and welcome any excuse to fire up the "state workers are so lazy..." and "I know this one guy who..." and "unions should be banned..." memes. Whatever. I've worked all sorts of jobs, private and public, and it's the same mix everywhere, so spare me.