82 Los Angeles Lifeguards made over $200K in 2019

[Don Johnson 4757]

Top Paid LA Lifeguards Earned Up To $392,000 In 2019

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/03/27/top-paid-la-lifeguards-earned-up-to-392000-in-2019/?sh=b88be6940129

Being a lifeguard in California can be unbelievably lucrative. If we had only known, many of us would have packed our bags and headed west for a career on the California beach.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that lifeguards make a fortune in Los Angeles County. Seven lifeguards made more than $300,000 and 82 lifeguards had total earnings that exceed $200,000 in 2019, the latest year available.

Fernando Boiteux was the most highly paid and earned $391,971. As the “acting chief lifeguard,” he out-earned 1,000 of his peers: salary ($205,619), perks ($60,452), and benefits ($125,900).

The second highest paid, Captain Daniel Douglas, pulled down $140,706 in base pay, and a whopping $131,493 in overtime pay, with $21,760 in “other pay” and $74,709 in benefits. Total compensation amounted to $368,668.

Overtime pay drove earnings into corporate executive range.

Thirty-one lifeguards made between $50,000 and $131,493 in overtime during the year. For example, Daniel Douglas (comp: $368,668; overtime: $131,493), Jaro Snopek (comp: $292,455; overtime:$119,669) and James Orr (comp: $281,270; overtime: $113,015) each made over $100,000 in overtime alone.

Furthermore, we found that most of the top-paid lifeguards were men. In fact, only two of the top-twenty high-earners were women: Virginia Rupe ($281,000), a captain, and Christine Linkletter ($279,980), a section chief.

 

You might assume that high pay rewarded great heroism, but you’d be wrong. We found that many of the lifeguards who won the Medal of Valor –  exhibiting bravery for saving lives – failed to crack the top of the county’s payroll.

The 2020 Medal of Valor winner, Edward “Nick” Macko, an ocean lifeguard specialist, earned “only” $134,144 in compensation. His compensation ranked 167^th out of the 1,001 employees in the L.A. lifeguard corps.

Macko jumped into the rough waters in a remote Palos Verdes gorge and pulled a man to safety through potentially skull-crushing swells and over razor-sharp rocks. Most of his rescue was captured on video and shows why he earned the honor.

The 2019 Valor award winners, Ocean Lifeguard Specialists Shaun Gudmundsson (comp: $165,761) and Ruben Carmona (comp: $194,919), “performed an extremely dangerous nighttime water rescue” of two trapped fishermen from hurricane-caused rising tides and surf.

Another 2019 Valor winner, Jon Van Duinwyk (comp: $238,434), singlehandedly rescued a 70-year-old man trapped inside a 25-foot sailboat during a huge storm surf off Dockweiler Beach. The lifeguard “risked his life to enter the vessel, extricate the elderly man, as the boat was breaking up in the 8 foot shore pound.”

Beach lifeguard pay dwarfs that of their colleagues at the pools. We found 332 pool lifeguards in L.A. County, but the highest paid “senior pool lifeguard” made only $46,997, including pay and benefits.

Why beach lifeguards earn so much money is a question L.A. taxpayers might start asking. A lifeguard’s job can be dangerous, but it’s unclear why residents should foot the bill for so much overtime when the state’s public employees already cost taxpayers $45 billion a year.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com compiled these numbers from Freedom of Information Act requests as well as benefit data listed at Transparent California.

[Brisketexan 105432]

Sure....but there are few jobs that require the special skill of regularly running in slow motion...

[crash_davis 23115]

you think you can just hire this dude for less than $100k/ year?

[BabaYaga 15328]

When one of those overpaid tax burdens pulls your fat ass out of a riptide or saves your kid, get back to us on their pay scale.

[crash_davis 23115]

Cali beach lifeguards are not your typical sit in an elevated chair all day watching over a pool. These guys and gals are active. When we go to the beach in San Diego area every year, we are amazed how often the lifeguards have to leave their stand to run down the beach and jump in the water to swim out and save some poor dipshit who got pulled out by a rip current. It's like at least an hourly thing. They earn their pay, although I'm not sure $200k pay.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

3 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Cali beach lifeguards are not your typical sit in an elevated chair all day watching over a pool. These guys and gals are active. When we go to the beach in San Diego area every year, we are amazed how often the lifeguards have to leave their stand to run down the beach and jump in the water to swim out and save some poor dipshit who got pulled out by a rip current. It's like at least an hourly thing. They earn their pay, although I'm not sure $200k pay.

Yeah... $200k ? The NC coast has some horrible horrible rip tides. I don't think they're making $200k.   I wonder what the fire fighters are making ?

[Blotto 23584]

3 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Cali beach lifeguards are not your typical sit in an elevated chair all day watching over a pool. These guys and gals are active. When we go to the beach in San Diego area every year, we are amazed how often the lifeguards have to leave their stand to run down the beach and jump in the water to swim out and save some poor dipshit who got pulled out by a rip current. It's like at least an hourly thing. They earn their pay, although I'm not sure $200k pay.

There's no doubt that beach lifeguards have more going on than your average pool lifeguard, but the overtime seems ecessive. There simply cant be that much variance in required hours. Staff up so you don't need to pay as much overtime. It seems everyone is in on the take, so nobody really wants to see more lifeguards hired. Or maybe its cheaper to pay overtime than benefits for additional staff, who knows.   

[gyroprotagonist 2595]

what benefits are worth $125K?  (First person to type 'French' gets stabbed)

$5000 per month health insurance + $5000 per month pension/401K match?  parking, free sunscreen, increased share of metal detector finds?

[NeverMarryAStripper 21943]

You get to bang Pamela Anderson?

[crash_davis 23115]

17 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

You get to bang Pamela Anderson?

is that a benefit or a punishment?

Edited March 29, 2021 by crash_davis

[Incredulity 11683]

now calculate what they are going to get for the rest of their lives from CalPers.

[RPM 26360]

The OG

[Nice Guy Eddie 13528]

 

Besides earning that much OT today, there is a good chance this increases their retirement salary for the rest of their life. There are always stories out of Houston PD about soon-to-be retirees will work their normal shift, and then have a double shift patrolling the airport terminals at night. They do that for their last year, and their retirement money jumps up drastically. I don't blame anyone for legally working any system for their own benefit but its a bs system that was set up. I'm sure this also occurs with other union public workers as well. Let the old guys earn the OT today so they can retire.

but on the other hand, these situations remind me how so many people always complain that actors/athletes earn so much but teachers are below the national wage average. Ok, so you're ok raising, perhaps doubling your local taxes so teachers can earn more? didn't think so.

[Dahobbs 17691]

2 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Yeah... $200k ? The NC coast has some horrible horrible rip tides. I don't think they're making $200k.   I wonder what the fire fighters are making ?

One thing to note is that the people with highest pay appear to be high up the chain and I assume are more akin to management than a rank and file lifeguard. Now, whether those in management should be getting overtime at all is different question (no). 

1 hour ago, gyroprotagonist said:

what benefits are worth $125K?  (First person to type 'French' gets stabbed)

$5000 per month health insurance + $5000 per month pension/401K match?  parking, free sunscreen, increased share of metal detector finds?

It isn't the full $125k you have to compare against. Presumably somebody would have to work those hours. Assuming the OT is paid at 1.5, that means 83,000 was going to be incurred no matter what. So, is it cheaper to pay than 42k more for OT than hire a whole new lifeguard? Maybe? I could see benefits and training costs exceeding $42,000. 

I'll also note that only presenting the top numbers is misleading. The question is what is the average and median compensation. Pulling the data from Transparent California for 2019 for  life guards (removing those designated as pool or lake life guards)  shows:

• 529 listings
• Average total compensation of $77,534
• Median total compensation of $25,440.00
• Average total pay (base, OT, other) of $59,990.65
• Average base pay of $47,008
• Average OT of $9,638

Those numbers don't look crazy. Here are the job titles and average total compensation:

• ASSISTANT CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $391,971.00 (1 employee)
• SECTION CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $288,345.71 (7 employees)
• CAPTAIN, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $254,126.68 (34 employees)
• OCEAN LIFEGUARD SPECIALIST, $188,411.77 (108 employees)
• CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $28,873.00 (1 employee)
• OCEAN LIFEGUARD, $25,364.11 (378 employees)

It looks a lot more reasonable when presented in context. 

[shadetree 66]

Why are the section chiefs and captains not on salary? Would be interested to know which lifeguards are eligible for overtime.
I wonder if there is a union for LA lifeguards. It’s a topic for another day, but public employees should not be able to unionize. There are no negotiations with the people that are required to pay the benefits.

If we paid teachers overtime, I bet there would be after school tutoring out the wazoo (and also corrupt).

[TriStone 1724]

2 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

You get to bang Pamela Anderson?

Unless that privilege comes with a time machine, no thanks.

[workswithseed 2119]

5 minutes ago, shadetree said:

 

Did you post it enough already? We get your point.

[F250 28826]

2 minutes ago, TriStone said:

Unless that privilege comes with a time machine, no thanks.

If we are talking time travel then I'll take early 90's Yasmine Bleeth.

 

[Kyle 207]

Add it to my list of grievances against my guidance counselor. 

[Trey3216 15373]

41 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

One thing to note is that the people with highest pay appear to be high up the chain and I assume are more akin to management than a rank and file lifeguard. Now, whether those in management should be getting overtime at all is different question (no). 

It isn't the full $125k you have to compare against. Presumably somebody would have to work those hours. Assuming the OT is paid at 1.5, that means 83,000 was going to be incurred no matter what. So, is it cheaper to pay than 42k more for OT than hire a whole new lifeguard? Maybe? I could see benefits and training costs exceeding $42,000. 

I'll also note that only presenting the top numbers is misleading. The question is what is the average and median compensation. Pulling the data from Transparent California for 2019 for  life guards (removing those designated as pool or lake life guards)  shows:

• 529 listings
• Average total compensation of $77,534
• Median total compensation of $25,440.00
• Average total pay (base, OT, other) of $59,990.65
• Average base pay of $47,008
• Average OT of $9,638

Those numbers don't look crazy. Here are the job titles and average total compensation:

• ASSISTANT CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $391,971.00 (1 employee)
• SECTION CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $288,345.71 (7 employees)
• CAPTAIN, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $254,126.68 (34 employees)
• OCEAN LIFEGUARD SPECIALIST, $188,411.77 (108 employees)
• CHIEF, LIFEGUARD SERVICES, FIRE, $28,873.00 (1 employee)
• OCEAN LIFEGUARD, $25,364.11 (378 employees)

It looks a lot more reasonable when presented in context. 

Training?  I wouldn’t hire anyone for a job like that who isn’t already trained and certified.   Why the hell should the citizens pay for that.  Tons of different jobs harder than being a lifeguard require you to pay your own way for training/certifications.   

Edited March 29, 2021 by Trey3216

[lemonlime 5503]

LA has issues with overtime in general.  Hell, a traffic officer made $234,000 in 2019.   Seems odd to focus on life guards, as opposed to all the cops earning overtime.

 

 https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-firefighters-police-officers-and-other-city-employees-received-nearly-500-million-in-overtime-pay-in-2019/

[RPM 26360]

Just now, lemonlime said:

LA has issues with overtime in general.  Hell, a traffic officer made $234,000 in 2019.   Seems odd to focus on life guards, as opposed to all the cops earning overtime.

 

 https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-firefighters-police-officers-and-other-city-employees-received-nearly-500-million-in-overtime-pay-in-2019/

What do you want to hear about, Baywatch or Rampart?

[Newdoc 3453]

3 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

overpaid tax burdens pulls your fat ass out of a riptide or saves your kid,

There are a lot of LA county doctors saving a lot more lives per day than a lifeguard can dream of and they aren’t paid near what these top earners are for likely the same hours. Get back to me when people are actually paid for their worth to society. Until then, we have sand jocks bilking LA county for mid six figures. At least it’s legal.

[Deej 76946]

1 hour ago, shadetree said:

If we paid teachers overtime, I bet there would be after school tutoring out the wazoo (and also corrupt).

Judging by the teachers banging students thread, there's already plenty in the wazoo. 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

2 minutes ago, Deej said:

Judging by the teachers banging students thread, there's already plenty in the wazoo. 

I.... I need some "tutoring"....

 

[lmao 178]

3 hours ago, crash_davis said:

Cali beach lifeguards are not your typical sit in an elevated chair all day watching over a pool. These guys and gals are active. When we go to the beach in San Diego area every year, we are amazed how often the lifeguards have to leave their stand to run down the beach and jump in the water to swim out and save some poor dipshit who got pulled out by a rip current. It's like at least an hourly thing. They earn their pay, although I'm not sure $200k pay.

This. The SD lifeguards are skilled professionals not some high school kid watching a local pool. 

[High Plains Drifter 11052]

 

Man, if I lived in LA county, I would be OUTRAGED!!!!!!

 

 

[crash_davis 23115]

2 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Man, if I lived in LA county, I would be OUTRAGED!!!!!!

 

 

i'm sure between the earthquakes, fires, cost of living, and the fucking homeless everywhere, this ranks pretty low on the give a shit list.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21943]

It sure seems like it would be a lot easier to solve then those other problems though.  Baby steps.

[davidg 4038]

I don't have a problem with the Chief lifeguard responsible for 1000 employees making that money but I do question the part on what seems like admin positions getting OT.   But then again, what the hell do I know about lifeguarding?

 

[BabaYaga 15328]

5 minutes ago, Newdoc said:

Get back to me when people are actually paid for their worth to society

Those top earners are probably career administrators - similar to education bureaucrats many, many layers above the classroom teachers making 4-5 times the salary for pushing paper and going to meetings.  It's bureaucratic waste and people taking advantage of a system that gives them the opportunity to rake so much off the top.  

As for the front-line lifeguards, I do know LA is among the most competitive in the world to get a job and that they save on average hundreds a day from those fucking riptides, cold water, and heavy waves.  Shit's not like Destin or Gulf Shores.  That water's nasty.

[SizzleChest 8284]

 

[elfenix 34338]

fernando boy-toy?

[Dahobbs 17691]

 

52 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Training?  I wouldn’t hire anyone for a job like that who isn’t already trained and certified.   Why the hell should the citizens pay for that.  Tons of different jobs harder than being a lifeguard require you to pay your own way for training/certifications.   

Competent organizations provide training for their employees, I don't know why that concept is controversial to you. I'm not talking about training from the ground up (except perhaps for the lowest level positions). I assume the life guards come  with some level of training and experience. But it would be extremely negligent not to provide additional training, including on organization specific procedures and practices.

I'll also say this is a somewhat unique profession. I don't know that there is actually a large pool of highly trained life guards available. You don't have high end life guard schools that spit out new trainees on a regular basis like you do with med schools (as far as I know).  The organization may very well have to do the majority of the training.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Dahobbs

[Newdoc 3453]

18 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

that they save on average hundreds a day from those fucking riptides, cold water, and heavy waves. 

It’s 27 per day for the whole county. And yes they are active but come on, it’s the typical overpaid bueracratic California government employee bloat endemic throughout their public employee payscales.

[Don Johnson 4757]

23 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

  As for the front-line lifeguards, I do know LA is among the most competitive in the world to get a job and that they save on average hundreds a day from those fucking riptides, cold water, and heavy waves.  Shit's not like Destin or Gulf Shores.  That water's nasty.

Hundreds....as in multiple times 100.  Per day.  OK.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21943]

Is that hundreds for each lifeguard?  If so, then I guess they're not too over paid.

[BabaYaga 15328]

4 minutes ago, Newdoc said:

It’s 27 per day for the whole county. And yes they are active but come on, it’s the typical overpaid bueracratic California government employee bloat endemic throughout their public employee payscales.

Yep.  Average # of saves of 9,700/yr, I was taking into consideration the entire region, not just LA, but the point is the same - it's a bloated system that affords exploitation.  

[Dahobbs 17691]

7 minutes ago, Newdoc said:

It’s 27 per day for the whole county. And yes they are active but come on, it’s the typical overpaid bueracratic California government employee bloat endemic throughout their public employee payscales.

• 27 rescues per day, rescue defined as "persons who are judged to be in imminent peril and brought to safety by a lifeguard. Usually involves physical contact. Does not include people who are given oral instructions to move to a safer location."
• 2,917 preventive actions per day, defined as "Verbal warnings to people who are in a position where, if they were to remain or continue, their safety would be compromised; or actions taken to remove potential hazards"
• 40 medical aids per day, defined as "First Aid or medical attention, serious enough to warrant a written report of some nature. Does not include the act of distributing band-aids."

http://arc.usla.org/Statistics/View/byState.asp

2019 stats

[Nice Guy Eddie 13528]

1 hour ago, shadetree said:

Why are the section chiefs and captains not on salary? Would be interested to know which lifeguards are eligible for overtime.
I wonder if there is a union for LA lifeguards. It’s a topic for another day, but public employees should not be able to unionize. There are no negotiations with the people that are required to pay the benefits.

If we paid teachers overtime, I bet there would be after school tutoring out the wazoo (and also corrupt).

I can understand why some public employees are allowed OT and others are not. If crime is going up, then the city needs more police work. You can't and do not want to increase the police force by 10% overnight. But you can ask the work force to work 10% longer hours and receive pay for it.

I can see the same argument somewhat for life guards. If there is demand for their services but not enough lifeguards, then you have to offer OT.

EDIT: City govts can hire more full time people if they don't like paying OT. Of course, then you might be stuck with those employees for the next 40 years. Paying OT keeps forecasted budgets lower.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Nice Guy Eddie

[crash_davis 23115]

5 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

• 27 rescues per day, rescue defined as "persons who are judged to be in imminent peril and brought to safety by a lifeguard. Usually involves physical contact. Does not include people who are given oral instructions to move to a safer location."
• 2,917 preventive actions per day, defined as "Verbal warnings to people who are in a position where, if they were to remain or continue, their safety would be compromised; or actions taken to remove potential hazards"
• 40 medical aids per day, defined as "First Aid or medical attention, serious enough to warrant a written report of some nature. Does not include the act of distributing band-aids."

http://arc.usla.org/Statistics/View/byState.asp

2019 stats

I love this thread. Peak surly. We are arguing the merits and worthiness of Cali lifeguards. 

I'd say these stats are spot on. The life guards are always hyper vigilant, constantly scanning the water with binocs, walking and warning people to stay away from dangerous rip areas or running and swimming to false alarms. It seems pretty damn stressful as I'm sure they don't want to be the asshole who had someone die on their watch.

But yea, they still aint worth $200k a year.

[Foosters 17889]

1 minute ago, crash_davis said:

I love this thread. Peak surly. We are arguing the merits and worthiness of Cali lifeguards. 

I'd say these stats are spot on. The life guards are always hyper vigilant, constantly scanning the water with binocs, walking and warning people to stay away from dangerous rip areas or running and swimming to false alarms. It seems pretty damn stressful as I'm sure they don't want to be the asshole who had someone die on their watch.

But yea, they still aint worth $200k a year.

From the article, it seems that the only people earning 200k+ a year were management and leadership positions. He cites the only 2 women that made over that amount and it looks like they are higher up. Is that too much to pay? I dont know.  

[crash_davis 23115]

3 minutes ago, Foosters said:

From the article, it seems that the only people earning 200k+ a year were management and leadership positions. He cites the only 2 women that made over that amount and it looks like they are higher up. Is that too much to pay? I dont know.  

Now that I think about it. the 3 or 4 asshole leaders who run the Austin water plant make over $200k a year. Those assholes couldn't find the directions to turn on a switch to save us from having to use melted snow to flush shit down our toilets. So year, maybe $200k doesn't sound so bad.

[mchookem 16407]

i would assume there's also some sort of 'cost of living' baked into the salary - i.e., all things being equal, a life guard in Los Angeles County is going to make significantly more than one in Nueces County b/c LA costs way more $$$ than Corpus. aren't most or many CA jobs like that? (and jobs in other super expensive markets)  

[Foosters 17889]

Just now, mchookem said:

i would assume there's also some sort of 'cost of living' baked into the salary - i.e., all things being equal, a life guard in Los Angeles County is going to make significantly more than one in Nueces County b/c LA costs way more $$$ than Corpus. aren't most or many CA jobs like that? (and jobs in other super expensive markets)  

Yes, for the most part. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

53 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

I love this thread. Peak surly. We are arguing the merits and worthiness of Cali lifeguards. 

I'd say these stats are spot on. The life guards are always hyper vigilant, constantly scanning the water with binocs, walking and warning people to stay away from dangerous rip areas or running and swimming to false alarms. It seems pretty damn stressful as I'm sure they don't want to be the asshole who had someone die on their watch.

But yea, they still aint worth $200k a year.

the ones you're describing are worth about $25K according to the numbers shared up thread. seems like a pretty good bang for the buck. 

 

[DonkeyCigars 143]

Good for these guys and gals making some serious bank for being a lifeguard, which in California probably also means you are an EMT or something. If you think about the business case for the compensation too, how many millions or even billions(?) of dollars does the SoCal Beach/Ocean bring into the state's coffers both in-state and from out-of-state visitors?

How much would a death or a slew of deaths cost the state once you start having deaths and injury from sloppy, underprepared and insufficient life guarding? How many upper middle class folks like me who visit SoCal with my family every year, would continue visiting once SoCal beaches got a reputation for being death traps for young families?

To pay these folks what is essentially a rounding error to the income that the beach/ocean provides is a basic and standard governance and risk avoidance measure to protect your revenue stream. 

I think the big problem seems to be an optics problem in that when people think of lifeguards they immediately think of a ditzy blonde teenager or distracted teen boy at the local country club or Baywatch (as evidenced by this thread thus far). Also, probably most people are jealous because lifeguards make double the money they make and are paid to not be fat and to be fit and are giving that article more attention by advancing neoliberalal toxicity.

Edited March 29, 2021 by DonkeyCigars

[CooterBrown 18032]

200K in LA is like 120K in austin. Not really extravagant of a salary for a high level manager. It’s just the rolling over to that “2” makes people mental.

It’s like how at my company a VP has to approve any new hire over $100K. It’s an arbitrary number that gives someone pause just because it is six figures instead of five. Doesn’t matter than it’s the equivalent of $70K in 2010 dollars and no batted an eye at that new hire salary back then.

[BradInATX 9208]

2 hours ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Good for these guys and gals making some serious bank for being a lifeguard, which in California probably also means you are an EMT or something. If you think about the business case for the compensation too, how many millions or even billions(?) of dollars does the SoCal Beach/Ocean bring into the state's coffers both in-state and from out-of-state visitors?

How much would a death or a slew of deaths cost the state once you start having deaths and injury from sloppy, underprepared and insufficient life guarding? How many upper middle class folks like me who visit SoCal with my family every year, would continue visiting once SoCal beaches got a reputation for being death traps for young families?

To pay these folks what is essentially a rounding error to the income that the beach/ocean provides is a basic and standard governance and risk avoidance measure to protect your revenue stream. 

I think the big problem seems to be an optics problem in that when people think of lifeguards they immediately think of a ditzy blonde teenager or distracted teen boy at the local country club or Baywatch (as evidenced by this thread thus far). Also, probably most people are jealous because lifeguards make double the money they make and are paid to not be fat and to be fit and are giving that article more attention by advancing neoliberalal toxicity.

 

Yeah, the article is nothing but a thirst trap for angry boomers. Oh no, some middle class folks made a bunch of money, let's definitely get outraged at that and not the fact that the uber-rich got even wealthier during the pandemic at the same time that nearly 10% of our country fell below the poverty line.

This is clickbait political hackery nonsense that deserves neither an article or a thread.

Edited March 30, 2021 by BradInATX

[ChickenSandwich 9853]

3 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

200K in LA is like 120K in austin. Not really extravagant of a salary for a high level manager. It’s just the rolling over to that “2” makes people mental.

It’s like how at my company a VP has to approve any new hire over $100K. It’s an arbitrary number that gives someone pause just because it is six figures instead of five. Doesn’t matter than it’s the equivalent of $70K in 2010 dollars and no batted an eye at that new hire salary back then.

120k for an Austin life guard is pretty fucking extravagant. 
 

You could probably hire ret navy seals cheaper 

Edited March 30, 2021 by ChickenSandwich