The Unwritten Law

There is an unwritten law that you don't talk about how much you make. Why is that?

One thing that I have learned in my 30 years on this planet is that the more money you make the more people expect from you. I made the mistake when I was younger telling people that I made 35 dollars an hour. Suddenly, whenever I went to lunch with my friends I was the one they expected to either pick up the tab or at least pay for the appetizer. Most of the time I was glad to do it, but the problem came with the expectation. I remember eating lunch one time with a couple of guys I hadn't seen in a while and both of them dropped about 5 hints during lunch for me to pick up the tab. I had been planning on picking up the tab all along, but when they kept dropping hints it sort of took the fun out of paying.

So last week I was listening to The Ticket and they listed all of these people's salaries that are public information. I think it is interesting how some information is made public for everyone, but the majority of us guard the amount we make the way we gaurd a dirty secret. However, unlike a dirty secret we want people to have some idea of the amount that we make - don't we?

Isn't that why we drive a certain type of vehicle or live in a particular house? Even our clothes are dead giveaways to the type of income that we have. We are such an ego-centric culture that we scream "look-at-me!" with our Rolex watches, our Manolo Blahniks and even our coffee.

Part of the reason I bring this up now is because yes, recently I got a raise, but after I looked at the new tax bracket that I am in I am going to be making very close to what I was already making. My new salary is somewhere between what a mexican day-worker makes and what Dirk Nowitzki makes... but it is much closer to the day worker.