Preschool Teacher Criticizes Desk Jobs & Claims She Makes $23 An Hour 'Hanging Out With 4-Yr-Olds'— And It's The Least Relatable Thing Ever
What works for her doesn't work for most other people.
Brier Payson / Tiktok & Noami Shi / Pexels A 23-year-old preschool teacher who claimed she spends her workday “hanging outside with the coolest 4-year-olds” criticized desk jobs on TikTok, in a move that had many people calling her out for lack of relatability.
The preschool teacher claimed she makes $23 an hour while criticizing desk jobs.
Brier Payson posted a video of herself on TikTok sitting cross-legged underneath a tree while swaying back and forth. The text overlaid on the post stated, “I’ll never understand an office job, I make $23 an hour, hanging outside with the coolest 4-year-olds, I talk about dinosaurs and unicorns on the daily… Desk job? Could NEVER be me.”
In the caption, Payson wrote, “And I can make my living doing this.”
She found herself being majorly called out in the comments, as most of her followers didn’t seem to find her post at all relatable.
“I get paid 32 an hour at my office job and I could never hang out with kids,” stated the top comment.
Another person noted, “Desk jobs can provide a lot of stability and benefits which can be very appealing to certain people.”
“Hanging out with kids all day is my nightmare,” said someone else. "I’ll keep my desk job.”
Photo: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels
Although there were multiple negative responses to her TikTok, some other educators came to the comments to support Payson, echoing the sentiment that teaching kids was a creative position that gave them energy, as opposed to making them feel drained.
It should go without saying that not all jobs fit all people— just because Payson can't picture herself working in an office, doesn't mean that to do so is the wrong decision for other people.
Other childcare workers came to the comments to call out the discrepancy in pay that made Payson’s post so unrelatable.
“I make $11 at my daycare and feel like I’ve been through war every time I leave,” said one person.
“Preschools where I live pay 16,” commented someone else.
“Childcare in my area pays 12/hour, if you have a degree,” said yet another person.
Photo: Yan Krukau / Pexels
It does seem that $23 an hour as a preschool teacher is along the higher end of the scale. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hourly mean wage of childcare workers in the US comes out to $13.42. At that rate, the annual pay would come out to $27,920, which isn't exactly a high salary.
As Payson attempted to point out, being a preschool teacher is apparently her dream job. Just because the position fulfills her, doesn’t necessarily mean it would do the same for someone else. In an ideal world, all people would be able to find stable work in professions that inspire them, and not just a privileged few.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers work-related issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.