There is a thread below that advises NOT telling your instrutors while working on..

a cut in pay when quality of life issues are involved ESPCIALLY when their basic needs are met (by the lower pay check). However, this desribes the vast minority of Americans MOST people live literally from pay check to pay check and the prospect of taking a cut in pay for a better quality of life is all but non existent. For these people a cut in pay means not being able to get their five year old used car fixed when it breaks down, or pay for a root canal in lieu of an extraction when a tooth problem arises.

I believe this situation has resulted from a myriad of factors not the least of which is an exorbitant tax rate which approaches 50% for many families (when you consider federal, state, local, sales, excise, gas, real estaste ect) AND an every increasing tendency towards occupations that pay "just enough to get by on". These trends are compounded by a tendency to carry credit card "debt service" levels which often take another quarter of whatever is left over after taxes. Not to mention making the actual RETIREMENT of such high interest revolving debt extraordinarily difficult. An extra ten or twenty thousand per year beyond what is needed for expenses offers not only additional income, but also the opportunity which such income can confer. To say nothing of the fact that such additonal income allows for the prospect of actually SAVING for retirement. No small feat considering that more than 90% of Americans retire below the poverty limit (by most estimates). For most people good pay means freedom both for themselves and their families. It is against this back drop that I have no shame, and make no apologies for aspiring to an occupation which has the potential to offer at least a modicum of such freedom.

One final factor. I have read a number of posts on this board which say something akin to "there are many occupations which pay more than nursing." Perhaps, but there are also MANY that pay less. I have several friends who are pharmacists and have practiced in retail for three to five years neither earn more than 80K per year, and they work 60+ hour weeks routinely (consider that the pharmacy Pharm D degree requires a SIX years of school and they are considered in severe shortage in many places nationwide.) A reasonably aggressive, hardworking RN who worked 50 hours per week earning $30.00 per hour (fairly typical for Indianapolis which is a fairly typical, reasonably priced place to live where you can still buy a nice three bedroom ranch house for 100k if you shop) would earn $75,000 almost as much (albeit to get the extra ten hours over 36 or 40 he/she might have to work with an agency).

had was maturity not so much that he wasn't cut out to be a nurse. With the attitude that you describe he would have encountered difficulty in any serious endeavor requiring interaction with people (and that folks covers alot of ground!)

Thanks.