So much of the world is based on greed, it’s unbelievable

Hello. Here’s my rant of the day. I’m a nurse. I work in a pediatric clinic- mostly by myself. I give a lot of shots, do a lot of the pediatric annual checkups, and see consults. I’m the only nurse in this clinic. I don’t have one copay or fee for all these things. My clinic is part of a larger network. We have an emergency room, specialist, and several other clinics. My annual check ups are not just our clinic, it’s network wide- so any kids using our network can get their checkups with me. The urgent care and emergency room can send people to me for consult so they don’t have to do basic things like shots. I have a lot of training and do a lot of work. I was being paid 24 an hour. Suddenly- no raise for 6 months. I’ve been employed with this company for over 8 years, first as a medical assistant, then as the nurse I am now. They were paying me 24 an hour, yet they have the audacity to tell me that’s all they can pay me- that they can’t compete with other companies. I tried to explain that this is what I would be paid as a new nurse, but my years of experience, and the fact that I’m the only nurse and basically run this whole clinic makes it unreasonable to pay me this much. They said they’d give me a 1 dollar an hour raise, and that’s their best offer. <br><br>I asked for 30, because I was starting to realize I’m being wildly underpaid. Everything I do is worth a copay, except my time. I give tens of thousands of dollars worth of care a month, it’s so much. I’m so busy, and I’m worth so much to them. And they want to pay me 25 an hour??? It’s outrageous. They were giving me 50k a year- literally pennies- for the millions they were making off my labor. I ended up getting them to give me 28, they still tried to giver me 25 so I had to go through my boss’s boss. But still- I’m worth so much more. They want me to be grateful for the 4 dollar an hour raise I got. And I’m not. I’m angry.<br><br>They can pay me. They just don’t want to. It’s like that stupid quote “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Yeah. I do what I love, and the company I work for refuses to pay me a living wage for it. I was barely able to afford to live, and I was taking a second job just to have money for unexpected expenses. I’m so tired of this. It’s so unfair, it’s so greedy. I’m in a position where I feel like I can’t leave this job, because so many people rely on me. If I leave, the clinic may close, and there are so many people who depend on access to care. I feel trapped. I feel angry.<br><br>This is a worldwide issue, not just with my company. The cost of living is so high, but most wages haven’t kept up. Minimum wage is impossible to live on- it’s been for years. And no one seems to care. It’s outrageous.