Teacher with a master’s degree said, “I’m gonna cry,” after seeing her paycheck, then recalled how much she used to make as a college barista

A video of a teacher looking disappointed with her paycheck has come to light. According to the Daily Dot, a woman shared what she felt after getting paid as a teacher. She claimed that despite having a master’s degree, she’s still not earning as much as she did back in her college days. It appears that the woman used to work as a college barista and made more than she does now.

The clip is reposted on Twitter/X by the user @WallStreetApes. In the video, a woman can be heard sharing about her salary experience. She says, “I’m gonna cry. I am actually gonna cry,” then adds, “I have a master’s degree.” Then the video seems to cut to a part where she says, “Am I going to tell you how much that was?” The teacher then adds, “No, but I am going to tell you I made more as a barista working in college.”

It then jumps to the part where a person has opened a page on their laptop discussing why the teacher seems shocked about her pay. The caption of the post claims, “The national average for starting pay for a teacher right now is about $48,000. After taxes and health insurance you might very well struggle to even pay rent in a lot of American cities.”

Viewers weighed in with their opinions

She may sound like an unhappy employee. It appears that the user who reposted the footage cited information from the National Education Association, which reports that the national average teacher salary is around $48,112. It mentions that those working full-time in educational support can expect around $38,494 per year. However, those working in the public sector and with more teaching experience may expect more per year.

In the footage, the woman hasn’t mentioned which teaching category she belongs to, but the viewers stepped into the comments section to share their opinions. One of the commenters argued that the woman should have researched before getting into the field: “Lol, you mean you go all the way through college, earned a Master’s Degree, and didn’t bother to check beforehand how much the starting salary was in the field you chose?”

The same person also added, “Sounds like she went through the public school system, was indoctrinated, and never taught how to think for herself. Now, she’s going to indoctrinate more students who’ll never learn to think for themselves either…” Similarly, another user wrote, “You can’t just get a Master’s degree and expect to make six figures…” This was seemingly the feedback she got on her video when it was reposted.

Her footage has garnered over 400,000 views, but the woman’s identity and which school she was referring to remain unknown.