How much is your salary mate? !

Have you ever been asked this question? I’m sure many would have asked you many times and again I’m sure most of the times you have replied with a lie. Its not like that you always exaggerate it but sometimes you minimize what you actually earn.

I believe strongly that this is one of the stupidest questions of all time. Many of us lie while replying to this question and almost no one believes that what he has just heard is truth, even the person replying is speaking truth ! To me, asking this question, is like asking “are you virgin?” I never feel so embarrassed in replying to other questions but this one, and honestly, I have never felt comfortable while replying to. I spent so much time understanding the origin of this question - Why people usually ask this question after few meetings and why do people respond with a lie and why do people always think that the person in question is lying, and here I come up with some answers.

Let’s explore this!

Why people ask this question?

I strongly believe that this question is related to human evolution. Human race has evolved so much than other animals because we were the only species who knew how to compare and then analyze. We compared ourselves with rest of the animals and found ourselves different. We compared few animal species and found few of them suitable to our needs. We compared rocks and found gold. We compared among ourselves and found caste. We compared castes and found religions and so on.

It’s our human tendency to know from whom we are better and from whom we are not. You go to a restaurant and compare the food with other restaurants. You make a judgment and decide which restaurant is better. Same applies to places, countries etc. We always compare other countries/towns with our country/town and decide if they are better than ours. So during the course of our evolution, comparison has become integral to us and we compare things unknowingly that we are comparing them. Next comes the parameter. Parameter is anything which we can compare. So obviously when two person meet, the parameter is money. So they ask it quite simply “How much you earn dude?” hoping to get an honest reply so that they can compare if the person in question is richer than him or not.

So its just the curiosity, the curiosity to determine if you rank higher monetarily than someone else, give birth to this question. And this question might be very embarrassing to someone else.

Why do people reply with a lie?

Again the answer stems from human psyche, the human tendency to hide its inability and to keep things secret and exclusive (in this case exclusive to one himself/herself). As we have asked the same question to many others, we have a feeling of why is someone asking the same from you. Why would you conceal such a thing which can potentially lower your ranking in others eyes.

Since this is not a simple yes/no answer and you have to tell something, you ponder what to tell. You tend to think if you tell the truth it might lower your reputation, in this quest you boast that you earn so and so just to make impression. To make an impression on other, people usally lie about their earnings (That is why almost every man lies to his girl friend about his salary)

And what if you want to have a pity of someone else? What if you are looking for a favor from someone else? You simply reply that you earn much less! Wonderful isn’t it. But this is not the only possible scenario. Sometimes you are caught up in a group where you already know that the group is surely earning lesser than you and suddenly someone throws the question. Not wanting to make an impression or not willing to let other think that you are lying if you tell them the real amount, you lie to them that you earn less. Also sometimes you think if you tell them that you earn more, they may demand something from you, so you keep a low profile with a lie.

And these situations go on and on and you speak lie most of the times!

Now the final question …..

Why do people think that the person replying is lying ?

This is the simplest one. Just like you have lied to many others, they have also lied to others. So they got a feeling that the person is lying no matters what amount you tell !!


But above all, this is a very stupid question to ask. It is against someone’s right to privacy. It directly links to someone’s financial health and many a times, people may not feel comfortable replying to this. I consider asking this question as out of etiquettes and feel the same when asked about.

So please stop asking this question. Money never makes a person noble; it is only the deeds done by someone which actually matters.

All right ! Take care

.... n btw what’s your salaray? Hehehe :)

Places to visit in Australia

These are few must visit places in Australia provided by Cas, i'll add few more and provide detail in few days -


Surfers at Gold Coast is TOO commercial and ugly .... Whitsunday's is amazing! Also Great Barrier Reef ...

Sydney Harbour is also amazing - a visual spectacular .... lots of great ferry rides and arts and culture

Melbourne has plenty of great restaurants and funky shopping areas - great music venues

Darwin has Arnhem Land nearby http://www.ealta.org/

Perth has amazing beaches and surfing - also travel up the west coast to the Kimberleys is pretty spectacular

Tasmania is the worlds best kept secret ... amazing wilderness

Adelaide has great music festivals in March - WOMADelaide and The Fringe Festival. Also great vineyards just out of Adelaide if you are into wine ... also Kangaroo Island ...

Middle Australia has Alice Springs and the famous Uluru

Brisbane has a river and well not much else ... he he ... but the surrounding areas are worth visitng like Byron Bay (south) and north coast also ...

Plenty to choose from