4 ms·

What most people outside of Sweden don't understand is that a young person can work as a waitress, save up money and go backpacking in Thailand. It's so import

What most people outside of Sweden don't understand is that a young person can work as a waitress, save up money and go backpacking in Thailand. It's so important to broaden your horizons in your youth, and the Swedish system allows just that.

dubcanada 3y ago
Can you not do that if you live in any other country?
- ben_w 3y ago
  How much money can the average waiter/waitress save up in most countries? (I've never worked as one, all I can say is the role has a reputation as being low-paid).
  - dubcanada 3y ago
    I've never worked as a waiter/waitress in any country. But any developed nation with a fairly decent salary index would support you making enough to backpack in a poor nation like Thailand. The whole idea of backpacking is spending basically nothing. The internet says $20-30 a day, assuming you go for 30 days, and assuming higher range, that's $900.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      I get the impression the role is mostly wages (i.e. hours worked) rather than salary. The closest I've had specific details of is an ex who did some behind-the-counter stuff in a fast-food place in Davis CA (so not enough to extrapolate from), and that wasn't enough to cover just rent by itself.
- onemoresoop 3y ago
  Not really, you wouldn't even be able to cover most of your living expenses on that kind of money.
  - legitster 3y ago
    Could a young waitress in Sweden? The author of this article makes it sound like even dual income professionals can barely cover their living expenses.
    - onemoresoop 3y ago
      It's a good question. I don't know for sure but the author claims that is possible in Sweden. It may even be possible in other rich countries but it's becoming increasingly hard in the US, that I can attest.
willio58 3y ago
As an American I don't think that's really that difficult for people here either. Thailand is notoriously a cheap travel destination (once you get there) and YMMV but I'm friends with a lot of waitstaff that make good money including tips (avg. ~60k so maybe they just got lucky) and I live in a medium-sized city. There are tons of societal and financial problems in the US but you kinda gave a super cheap travel destination as an example.
legitster 3y ago
In this example, is the young person living in their own apartment? Young people in the US can save up extraordinary amounts of money if they live with their parents or have an affordable roommate situation. And there is a huge US travel industry aimed just at young people.
- dublinben 3y ago
  >Young people in the US can save up extraordinary amounts of money Can they actually though, at the median? There's always outliers, and the US is the land of uncommon opportunity, aka wealth inequality. Cursory research shows that young people (i.e. Generation Z)[0]: * Their average salary was $32,500 in 2021 * 46% are living paycheck-to-paycheck * Nearly 40% have no investments * They have on average $20,900 in student debt, 13% more than Millennials * Over a quarter of are not confident that they will be able to retire comfortably [0] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-z-average-net-worth-224840608.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-z-average-net-worth-22484...
  - legitster 3y ago
    Are there any comparison statistics for Swedish Gen Z? Aside from student debt, these are all pretty dang good averages for people in their 20s.
- paddim8 3y ago
  Yes. Sweden has a very high rate of single person households. A young person can usually live in their own apartment if they work full time. Probably not in the dead center of a big city, but nearby.
low_tech_love 3y ago
Yes, and that’s absurd. You can be a nurse or a teacher and make almost as much with exponentially more headaches and responsibilities. Or you can just work odd jobs for a few months then take unemployment allowance and go to Thailand. That’s why the inflation is growing like hell, and why it’s so hard to get good service when you need it, and everyone who does anything even remotely relevant is so stressed and burning out. These outdated and spurious socialist concepts are absolutely atrocious.
- fransje26 3y ago
  Yes, how dare they not underpay and overwork their service staff like everywhere else. They might get strange ideas and start believing that a healthier work-stress-leisure balance is possible. What will come next? Holiday days that you are actually allowed to take? Free education? Or, heaven-forbid, free healthcare? No, no, no. Back in the crab bucket you socialist parasite.
  - low_tech_love 3y ago
    What’s the point of not overworking a waitress and instead put the pressure on those who are doing actually relevant work? There is not a single nurse or doctor I ever met in Sweden who wasn’t overworked, stressed, and underpaid. You can never get more than 10 minutes with a doctor, and never with less than a month in advance. Why? Because hospitals are understaffed because nobody wants to take the responsibility if you can just sit on your ass all day and get paid by försäkringskassan. My kids have been to three different schools and most of the staff is not even trained in education. They literally just hire anyone who is actually willing to do the work because simply put almost nobody cares to take the blow. Plus they are all rude and angry all the time due to stress. But I guess the 19-year old waitress is partying in Thailand so that’s good.

dubcanada 3y ago

Can you not do that if you live in any other country?

ben_w 3y ago
How much money can the average waiter/waitress save up in most countries? (I've never worked as one, all I can say is the role has a reputation as being low-paid).
- dubcanada 3y ago
  I've never worked as a waiter/waitress in any country. But any developed nation with a fairly decent salary index would support you making enough to backpack in a poor nation like Thailand. The whole idea of backpacking is spending basically nothing. The internet says $20-30 a day, assuming you go for 30 days, and assuming higher range, that's $900.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    I get the impression the role is mostly wages (i.e. hours worked) rather than salary. The closest I've had specific details of is an ex who did some behind-the-counter stuff in a fast-food place in Davis CA (so not enough to extrapolate from), and that wasn't enough to cover just rent by itself.
onemoresoop 3y ago
Not really, you wouldn't even be able to cover most of your living expenses on that kind of money.
- legitster 3y ago
  Could a young waitress in Sweden? The author of this article makes it sound like even dual income professionals can barely cover their living expenses.
  - onemoresoop 3y ago
    It's a good question. I don't know for sure but the author claims that is possible in Sweden. It may even be possible in other rich countries but it's becoming increasingly hard in the US, that I can attest.

willio58 3y ago

As an American I don't think that's really that difficult for people here either. Thailand is notoriously a cheap travel destination (once you get there) and YMMV but I'm friends with a lot of waitstaff that make good money including tips (avg. ~60k so maybe they just got lucky) and I live in a medium-sized city. There are tons of societal and financial problems in the US but you kinda gave a super cheap travel destination as an example.

legitster 3y ago

In this example, is the young person living in their own apartment? Young people in the US can save up extraordinary amounts of money if they live with their parents or have an affordable roommate situation. And there is a huge US travel industry aimed just at young people.

dublinben 3y ago
>Young people in the US can save up extraordinary amounts of money Can they actually though, at the median? There's always outliers, and the US is the land of uncommon opportunity, aka wealth inequality. Cursory research shows that young people (i.e. Generation Z)[0]: * Their average salary was $32,500 in 2021 * 46% are living paycheck-to-paycheck * Nearly 40% have no investments * They have on average $20,900 in student debt, 13% more than Millennials * Over a quarter of are not confident that they will be able to retire comfortably [0] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-z-average-net-worth-224840608.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-z-average-net-worth-22484...
- legitster 3y ago
  Are there any comparison statistics for Swedish Gen Z? Aside from student debt, these are all pretty dang good averages for people in their 20s.
paddim8 3y ago
Yes. Sweden has a very high rate of single person households. A young person can usually live in their own apartment if they work full time. Probably not in the dead center of a big city, but nearby.

low_tech_love 3y ago

Yes, and that’s absurd. You can be a nurse or a teacher and make almost as much with exponentially more headaches and responsibilities. Or you can just work odd jobs for a few months then take unemployment allowance and go to Thailand. That’s why the inflation is growing like hell, and why it’s so hard to get good service when you need it, and everyone who does anything even remotely relevant is so stressed and burning out. These outdated and spurious socialist concepts are absolutely atrocious.

fransje26 3y ago
Yes, how dare they not underpay and overwork their service staff like everywhere else. They might get strange ideas and start believing that a healthier work-stress-leisure balance is possible. What will come next? Holiday days that you are actually allowed to take? Free education? Or, heaven-forbid, free healthcare? No, no, no. Back in the crab bucket you socialist parasite.
- low_tech_love 3y ago
  What’s the point of not overworking a waitress and instead put the pressure on those who are doing actually relevant work? There is not a single nurse or doctor I ever met in Sweden who wasn’t overworked, stressed, and underpaid. You can never get more than 10 minutes with a doctor, and never with less than a month in advance. Why? Because hospitals are understaffed because nobody wants to take the responsibility if you can just sit on your ass all day and get paid by försäkringskassan. My kids have been to three different schools and most of the staff is not even trained in education. They literally just hire anyone who is actually willing to do the work because simply put almost nobody cares to take the blow. Plus they are all rude and angry all the time due to stress. But I guess the 19-year old waitress is partying in Thailand so that’s good.