$400 a week? - Reality Bites (1994) Discussion

[–] slatesphanboi 13 years ago

Well after taxes that would be less.

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[–] shonoffilm 12 years ago

even after taxes that's still a pretty good salary especially since she was an intern right out of college. that was a decent salary then and still would be in today's crappy economy.

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[–] slatesphanboi 12 years ago

Maybe she had to pay for health insurance too?

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[–] shonoffilm 12 years ago

I get the feeling that she was still covered under her fathers health insurance or he was flipping the bill on a separate policy for her at least. Even though she was all about not taking and money from her parents I seriously doubt she was paying her own insurance payments if she even had health insurance.

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[–] poisoncupcake74 10 years ago

I doubt her character had insurance She says in the beginning after the car wreck.."a lawyer? I dont even have a dentist. "

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[–] amd8404 12 years ago

I agree. That seemed all right to me. I bet she could actually be putting some money into savings if she was living with a roommate in 1993 Houston on $1600/month w/no car payment.

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[–] spi00000000 12 years ago

I don't even make 400 a week in 2012!

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[–] Rick-34 12 years ago

20k/year is not a decent salary now nor was it a decent salary in 1994 for a full-time professional job for a college grad.

I think I need to say this again: 20k/year is not a decent salary "in today's crappy economy". Not for a person with a college education (who was her school's valedictorian). Recent college grads tend to be paid twice as much.

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[–] Mega-Ennui 12 years ago

My first "real" job (post-college) started in 1990, and I made $19,000/year (plus car mileage and bonus that totalled around 12k/year.

The car and bonus was nice, but I was able to do decently on just the salary.

And I actually lived in Houston from 1990-1992. And didn't have three roommates.

Was I rich? No, but I wasn't scraping by either.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 11 years ago

If your major is art history or women's studies, you can't expect much more than that...as the title says, reality bites!

If you are a recent college graduate with no previous work history and without a high-demand degree, you don't just get handed a $50K/year salary.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] generationofswine 9 years ago

In today's economy, in LA, NY, or Chicago, $400 a week is will barely rend you an apartment.

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[–] zuzupetal_99 12 years ago

That stood out to me too - seemed like quite a bit to be starting out at, especially considering this was a decade ago. Like they say in the movie, minimum wage was around $5/hr so that's like an 80 hour work week to make what laleina was making just fetching coffee and writing index cards every morning!

"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl

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[–] kenny_xray 12 years ago

" especially considering this was a decade ago"

2 decades ago, almost!

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[–] timlin-4 12 years ago

I imagine she could have made more as a waitress. Yeah, she's getting "experience", but who knows if that's worth anything

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[–] mbspeedbump 12 years ago

It would have been a broadcasting degree right? Ask most interns with a broadcasting degree and they'll tell you they'd be happy making as much as a manager at the GAP. And how many broadcasting majors do you know who were valedictorians? They did as good a job showing her merits as a valedictorian as they did Troy's "genius".

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[–] arete_1 11 years ago

Most people in the world don't make $400 dollars a year now (in terms of US dollars buying power). This whole movie is just a bunch of over privileged whiny immature 1st world white people "problems". The worst part is that they know better and even one or two of them pretend to care about the suffering of the billions drastically, unimaginably worse off them thus making them even worse than the completely selfish, consumerist, materialistic, shallow, and narcissistic people they pretend they are better than. Just pure filth, intolerable wretches, and of course complete pseudo intellectuals as well.

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[–] hoboboxerjoe 11 years ago

I think it's hilarious you are ranting about people ranting and think everyone should worry about people that they cannot do a thing about (or at least, certainly not do a thing about helping everyone. No one can be expected to do that), or don't do. Yes, they are so vile being concerned with the things in their lives. Your little rant is nothing more than a "starving kids in Africa" speech with a twist of lemon.

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[–] archer1267 11 years ago

I know, right? I was a couple of years older than the characters when RB came out and thought Damn! You have nothing to complain about.

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[–] obs-2 10 years ago

Was that what Winona's character was making?
It's what Janeane's character said she was going to make when she got promoted to manager.

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[–] greenpen33 10 years ago

Yeah, Winona's character said at one point during the beginning that she is making $400 a week, then later when her friend was promoted to manager she also said she would be making $400 a week. That also seemed like a somewhat high salary to me for 1994. It roughly translates to $10 per hour, 40 hours a week, which is significantly higher than the minimum wage of $5 an hour.

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[–] dalemidex 10 years ago

I made $400/week in 1995 which was a promotion. It was hardly starvation wages but neither was it money to really do anything with -- I was a frugal person who didn't spend much on fun or entertainment at that age and drove a car with 150k miles. Definitely not poverty wages for a single person, but neither was it money to really drive a nice car, go on a good vacation, etc.

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[–] LoBo_77018 10 years ago

My first professional job was in 1990 and I grossed 1000 a month. Every two weeks I got a check for 485 and I remember thinking if I just made an even 500 everything would be great.

I lived with a roommate, no car payment and smoked like a chimney - I barely scraped by. I went on many a date just to get the free dinner.

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