I’ve been following Waiter Rant for quite a while now. In fact it was the site that encouraged me to start this blog.

Under his post Shoot Them All, aside from a few others, Waiter expresses his dislike for cheap customers who go out to eat, only to scrimp on their food and drinks, and ultimately, on their tips. It made me wonder how he would react if he had been in our shoes.

Professionals from third-world countries are underpaid a lot of the time. In many countries (including third-world countries, mind you), they earn less than first-worlders, despite the fact that most of them perform tasks exactly the same as (or of greater difficulty than) those done by their peers.

Mel is a software developer who works for a Japanese-owned software office in the Philippines. Despite having almost no software development or management skills, one of his Japanese co-workers was paid almost double the salary of the average software engineer. When news of this apparent injustice surfaced, several other programmers submitted their resignations.

“This was simply unfair”, says Mel, who has worked for the company several years - and is thinking of leaving as soon as an opportunity arises. “Just because they are foreigners does not mean they are more skilled than we are”.

Managers argue that because the co-worker mentioned was Japanese, he would be able to communicate better with Japanese clients and that makes him valuable. Other engineers are quick to note, however, that he has never been involved in any discussions concerning business or software development.

In another case, other third-world professionals working for an Automation company in Japan are earning the equivalent of a monthly allowance, which is less than half of what is earned by their Japanese counterparts. They are also not entitled to live in the company dormitory (which costs much less than public housing) and do not receive the yearly bonuses that Japanese engineers receive. All this, despite the fact that they are able to communicate much better in English (a requirement when working with the company’s European and American clients) and often train other Japanese engineers in some aspects of development.

“For the most part, I have come to realize that I have wasted the past few years of my career working here.”, comments Jan - an engineer who has worked as the main developer in several projects. “There is no career growth and despite inflation, we do not receive yearly raises”.

This raises the question of whether companies are really hiring third-worlders because of their skill, or is the reason for doing so just to cut costs?

“The quality of my work has been at par with the rest of my co-workers. In addition, I have trained them in some software so that their development methodologies could improve. Yet, I am receiving lower marks on my evaluations.”, Miza - who works for a gas company in New Zealand - laments.

Racial discrimination also plays a role. Third-worlders are very often subject to hostility and ribbing from native first-worlders.

In fact, many third-world professionals feel that, “If your performance is outstanding, nobody will ever comment about it. But if you make one little mistake, you will hear about it from everybody.”

Although equal opportunity employment is a growing concern for most first-world economies, there is still a long way to go. Companies looking to cut costs can simply subcontract from a third-world country and pay the employees the equivalent of the pittance. They force the employees to stay by the use of wordy contracts and conditional bonds.

Chronic underpayment may, in fact, be one of the reasons why we’re getting so much flak from the first-worlders. It’s not uncommon to hear comments like: “You guys are taking jobs from us because your labor is so cheap”.

The fact is, third-worlders often perform jobs shunned by first-worlders, as Chris Pummer implies in his post regarding the 10 most underpaid jobs in the U.S.

“We’re not cheap. We’ve worked and studied hard and I think we’ve earned the right to be treated equally.”, is this writer’s take on the subject.