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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2000)
Working hard for the money State senators should get pay raise, but keep in touch with community Most people go to college to learn new skills, broaden their horizons and be able to get a good paying job. Some might choose the public sector, while others pre fer private industry, but few people would consider a job that pays just $12,000 a year. Yet, since 1989, the date of their last raise, 49 important Nebraskans have toiled for exactly that sum. They are our state senators. Two bills being discussed in the Legislature this session If we raise legislator pay too much, there is a danger of creating a class of professional legislators. ... tliPir vurvrl/' cpkorlnla would raise the senators salaries, if voters approved. Any change to senators’ pay requires changing the state con stitution and a vote of the people. In the last 125 years, state senators have received only seven raises. Most people would start to look for another job after they got passed over for a couple years. What we pay our senators constrains who can serve. Senators must have enough outside income during the other months of the year to supple ment their lawmaker pay. And 11 ct Kn flaviKla „ That means that many of our state senators are lawyers, realtors or retirees. Higher pay could enable people from more varied occu pations to serve in the Legislature. When considering a raise in senator pay, it is important to remember that senators are reimbursed for their living and travel expenses while in Lincoln. If we raise legislator pay too much, there is a danger of creating a class of professional legislators, who have little or no connection to the people. Part of the beauty of our state’s non-partisan, one-house Legislature is that those who serve as senators are still con nected to their districts as citizens. The majority of our senators’time is still spent in the dis tricts where their families and friends live. They know the concerns of people in their district, and those people might even run into their senators in a local coffee shop. This is how it should remain. Editorial Board Josh Funk (editor) • J.J. Harder • Cliff Hicks • Samuel McKewon • Dane Stickney • Kimberly Sweet • Lindsay Young Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any submissions.Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous mate rial will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448 or e-mail to: let ters@unl.edu . y Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the spring 2000 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, super vises the publication of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. The Daily Nebraskan strives to print fair and accurate cover age; any corrections or clarifications will be printed on page three. Obermeyer’s VIEW CATcH THE He\fJ Cc/ltm^OALS FRonj: Versus f&mjpiNG- fewtM r-uppAres From miaQuMk-oFF Ducks Unlimited 4 ' "WH A special p£pfof!flfiUC£ 6ffV\RZ>o! V V N SFMVHrVtD The Big Boss Faith in God leads to ‘blissful’new job My hand trembled as I set the receiver down that day late last August. I couldn’t believe it was over. Not now! After that wonderful sum mer we had spent together? I go back to school, and you dump me? Oh, People’s City Mission, how will I make it without you! On the other end of the phone line had been my employer. I had just been laid off of the best job I’d ever had. I’d worked part time at the mis sion all summer, helping out wherev er needed. It was great! Diversified tasks! Free lunch! The chance to tell the poor about God’s love! The mission needed to cut down on spending, and I was now to work only as needed. Five hours a month wasn’t going to put me through school, so I figured the best way to get back on my feet was to get down on my knees: “Lord, please put me in the job you want me in. Soon.” The money tree I had grown by working all summer had lost most of its leaves. While trying to find a job fast, I found pride is the first thing that needs to go. I learned this one the hard way. After several interviews I had secured a job with a marketing company selling various “Top Quality” products. It paid well, and I set my own schedule. But finding all my own clients and setting up appointments seemed like a big has sle, and who really needs scissors that can cut through a penny anyway? “Surely, I can find an easier job that will pay just as much,” I said to myself. “After all, I can get any job! There is no interviewer I can’t charm! I am Super-Job-Seeker! Ha-ha-ha.” After several more weeks of unsuccessful job hunting, I started to realize what an inflated moron I had been. Jobs where you set your own schedule are NOT a dime a dozen. When the money tree finally had to be thrown down the trash chute around the end of October, I finally said, “God, I know You care about my situ ation and You have everything under control, but IT’S TAKING TOO LONG! So while You work on this, I’m going somewhere where I know I can get money fast.” And off I ran with my checking account-sized faith, not to Mommy and Daddy’s, and not even to Harris Labs. I headed to a telemarketing firm. You know what? God does not help those who help themselves. I was greeted and interviewed by Satan, dressed as a friendly, 23-year-old sec retary. “Can you read?” I was asked. “Can you talk on the phone? You’re hired. Come back at five tomorrow. And leave any sense of self-worth you may have at home; we don’t allow that inhere.” telemarketing feels a lot like being paid to make prank phone calls. At the place where I worked we didn’t get a list of people to call; we got a page out of a phone book. I would say something to the customer like, “Hi, I’m Betsy from Union Magazine.” I’ve never even heard of Union Magazine! Then we are to bully the customer into buying until he or she has told us “no” three times! Boy, does that make you feel like a big jerk. Listen up, everyone: If you get called by a telemarketer and have no intention of buying, the most humane thing you can do is say, “No thanks,” and hang up. We will appreciate not having to go through the whole spiel for no reason. We don’t like doing this any more than you like getting those calls. We’re just poor kids. So I didn’t last long as a tele marketer, four hours to be exact. Sheepishly I went home and announced, “Okay God, I got the point. Guess I’ll wait on you to show me where to work.” By mid-November I was work ing at a pizza place. Not my dream job, but at least I knew people wanted what I was selling. And my co-work ers were nice. And it was clean. Kinda, sorta, maybe. And I got to eat pizza. Lots of pizza. I got really, real ly sick of pizza. After being employed for three whole weeks, I was just getting used to not starting my day by reading the classifieds. It was then that a friend mentioned to me that our church wanted to hire a student to work with the secretary for exactly the amount of hours I’d wanted to work. The sick of-sausage-and-pepperoni part of me cried, “Hooray! At last! A job I will enjoy!” But the more practical side replied, “Take a chill pill. You’re finally employed, now settle down and WORK!” That very night I was laid off. “OK, God. I think I might have an inkling where you want me work ing.” Apparently I just wasn’t avail able the hours the pizza place most needed me. That night I called the church and am now happily, blissfully employed. But I learned some very useful things from a semester living paycheck to paycheck. 1. If an ad for a job doesn’t say what the job is, it’s a really bad job. 2. If an ad for a job doesn’t say what the job is and offers a lot of money to do it, it’s a really, really bad job. 3. Trust God with your future, or you might end up in telemarketing.