Do you think that might have something to do with the different costs of living?

Yeah, your salary might have quadrupled, but the cost of living is thousands of dollars more than here in Louisville (obviously). I wanted to move to NYC but when I found out how much I had to pay a month for an apartment, I couldn't believe it! I pay 500 a month for 1 bedroom here as opposed to 2000 for an ok apaprtment in the upper east side in Manhattan.

Crazy!!!!!

It does. The cost of living in the major Florida cities (Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville) aren't anywhere near the cost of living in cities in the Northeast such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. Plus, many people who work in Miami or another big Florida city tend to live in the suburbs or the outskirts of the downtown area. Only people with lots of money live in the apartments/condos in the downtown area. If you want affordable housing in the downtown area, you'll be in a not-so-nice part of town so people choose to commute from the suburbs. Salaries aren't as high in Florida because people aren't paying $1000 a month for a one bedroom apartment. You might earn $40,000 in Florida compared to $60,000 in New York but your expenses are much lower so, therefore, it ends up being the same.

Having lived in various parts of Florida and the NY area-- I can tell you.. it depends.

The cost of living is VERY high in places like Miami and Naples... yet salaries (as a whole) are nowhere near what they are in the NY area.

Comparing:

Higher in NY area:
housing
car insurance
taxes

Higher in Florida:
energy costs (heating and AC)
gasoline

Clothes, food, etc. were about the same.
Now... remember, my salary quadrupled when I moved up here.. however, my cost of living didn't. It didn't even double.

So... for me, it seems as if I have "golden handcuffs." I'm stuck in this area until I retire. I certainly prefer Florida and the lifestyle. But, I have to eat! :)

The big reason why Floridians are paid less than people in the Northeast: there's no state income tax in Florida. Nice. You get to take home more of your paycheck rather than have your money go to taxes. Standard of living aside, the state income tax factor is a huge reason why companies don't have to pay employees in Florida as much.
Also, sales tax is much lower in Florida than some of the big cities in other states (Los Angeles, San Diego, NYC). It's 6% in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm and it's 6.5% in Orlando.

My state is 6% sales tax and between 1.4 and 8 percent income tax (depending on your bracket)

Property tax in my area is very high, though.

Sales tax in NYC is 8.625%.

RE: salaries, it all depends on the field. I would probably start out making more in Florida than I do here in NYC--but there are opportunities here that will allow my salary to increase considerably in the next few years.

But, uh...I'll just blame it on the sunshine.

Are you saying they promised you a raise when they hired you and then didn't give it? That is wrong and very unethical. Honestly, they are relying on you being too much of a Southern lady or too afraid of getting fired to say anything. I would not play into that. Honestly, I would make an appointment with a manager to discuss the situation. Don't fly off the handle but be professional and firm. "We paid you more than we should have to begin with," is NOT an acceptable excuse for not giving you a promised raise. That was their decision, and it shouldn't effect your salary.
Considering the massive sex discrimination class action which is pending against Walmart, which alleges among other things that they paid female "associates" less frequent and smaller raises and salaries, I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is an industry wide problem which occurs at Target as well.

<<<Sales tax in NYC is 8.625%.>>>

I don't live in NY. I live and work in the NY area. Sorry for the confusion. :)

I think you should move back to Florida and build my parents house since the contractors being used can't seem to get it done!

Are they have problems getting the contractors to come out to the house? I'd imagine that a lot of contractors in Florida are still busy with making home repairs to the hurricane damaged homes. Just wondering if your parents are running into that problem.

Only if I get a pink hard hat. :) I am mad obssessed with getting one of those.

Yea I have pretty much had it with Target. Here is what I believe is wrong with Target and my whole situation:

(1) they didn't give me the promised pay raise after my review

(2) I am one of two people in the whole entire store who has a degree of any type. I am a part-time sales associate and more educated than all but one of the managers. In turn, I get paid an hourly wage less than the high school graduate managers and work less hours than the managers.

(3) I come in 15 minutes early to get myself together (i.e. put my stuff in my locker and lunch in the refrigerator) so I can go out on the floor when the schedule says I am supposed to come in. I close 98% of the time so not only do I come in early but I usually have to stay at least one hour or more later than my schedule says. Then, when I ask off for say my brother's graduation or a legit doctor's appointment, I get the run around, get put on the schedule so I have to get myself cleared to be off, and still get called to see if I can come in to work. I usually tell them at least 3 weeks in advance I'll need to be off for anything.

(4) I am closing for 98% of the time I am supposed to work. When I do have to open (which is 8 am), I had to close the night before and don't get home until midnight. I then have to turn around and get up at 6:15 am (only a little over 6 hours of sleep) to get ready and to be there on time. I have trouble getting to sleep usually and have to relax before being able to go to sleep. Otherwise, I'll never get to sleep without something like Tylenol PM which recommends 8 hours of sleep when you take it because you'll wake up like you're hung over. So, basically, I hadn't slept the night before and I have a huge headache from not sleeping and very cranky.

(5) I have gained about 10 pounds which I worked my rear off to lose before going to Target. I gained weight due to my lack of sleep and worrying over if I'll be able to pay my bills the next month.

(6) My hair has seemed to be more weak than usual. I normally have VERY healthy hair because I am anal about taking good care of it.

(7) My nerves seem to be on end due to the lack of sleep and worry about money. I can't quit Target or otherwise I won't be able to pay my bills.

Okay now it's time to breathe :p

SEE!!
 

THIS IS REALLLY LONG! SORRY (had to get it off my chest Target SUCKS!)

THOSE ARE SOME OF THE SAME REASONS I QUIT!!!! Not just my evil manager! That's sad because it must be just bad management and store policy enforcement nationwide! When you put in your form for time off that's it. I didn't play with them. I did my part and I'm not coming in period point blank. Also, I often had to close the deli alone on our busiest days like Sundays and Saturdays which involves cooking, dealing with guests meat and cheese orders, sweeping and mopping, sometimes closing bakery because no one was there, helping in the adjoining starbucks, and cleaning HEAVY DUTY equipment like fryers, ovens, meat slicers, dish washers, and not to mention a pile of dishes, while keeping people happy and not even ONE customer ever had mercy on me and ANY time. if I got home late because they had to have their 2 1/2 pounds of $2.99 ham ( I live in the area of the store and my house is worth more than a half a million real easy, and here are all these locals who live in half a million dollar or even MORE homes ordering the cheapest $h!t imaginable, it used to piss everyone off!) and $2.99 cheese right now then they didn't need to feel bad about! (And they always had to have that cheap ham sliced JUST SO!)

The Sunday before I quit my job was threatened by an LOD (I was later told he was not allowed to do that at ALL!) because another girl who was supposed to relieve me went home sick and I did NOT want to stay! I was there by myself, and I was in tears and ONLY one guest even asked me why I was bawling! I had to sit down and I was starving and alone and the bakery had NO staff so I was supposed to deal with that too and they were SO concerned that someone would be in the deli... WHO?!?! No one else was there who was trained to do it!!!! I was crying so bad, my friend (who was closing the BUSY Starbucks alone next to our deli) stopped working to console me for a second and the customers started bit*hing and her and telling her they didn't even CARE I was crying they just wanted their coffee. Human beings honestly have stopped caring about each other. They should have just given her one minute to calm me down. If you are a RUDE shopper PLEASE I am begging you to change your ways! We aren't nobodies because we happen to have jobs at Target or Walmart or wherever, we just need the money. We go to church, and have mothers who love us! We're not slaves! (Plus, we'll remember your face and make life VERY difficult for you!!!!)

P.S. when I re-entered the deli, STILL crying. People expected me to take care of their needs and wondered why they had to wait so long for service. I was so glad my last day was that next Saturday, if I had had my senses I would have walked out quit right then and there!

PPS-The contractors aren't busy with the rebuilding, trust me, contractors in Florida are WELL known for being lazy with shabby and painstakingly slow progress, I have yet to hear any contractor be priaised! They ask for some money up front, disappear for a few months, take your complaints, do two days of work and disappear, continuing the process until they lose the job!

They bought in a new development that is going up and a think a lot of the delays have been due to the hurricanes and getting the supplies there. Although they've also said that they they have to build the clubhouse and pools and all that fun stuff before they put up most of the houses. So they're in the group that's being built after that stuff. I think they're delayed about a year now though.

Munchkin, of course you can have a pink hard hat! I wouldn't have it any other way!