How Much Do Severance’s Macrodata Refiners Get Paid?

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Discussing the show “Severance” might be an experience that’s equally exciting and perplexing. When will Mark fully regain his memories? What happened to Gemma/Ms. Casey? Why are there goats involved? The answers to these questions, intriguingly or perhaps still infuriatingly, lead to even more complex, philosophical quandaries: Are our personal identities tied to our memories? Are corporations just advanced cults? Is the suffering of others justified? Can a soul be divided in half?

While it’s logical that a series centered around employees at a secretive biotech firm who forget their work-related experiences daily would spark such profound, existential debates, what intrigues me about “Severance” is a relatively minor, practical inquiry: What salary do the employees receive?

As a dedicated movie enthusiast, I find myself constantly pondering about the financial compensation of the Outies in this series, given they’re putting themselves through a corporate version of spiritual torment using alternate selves. The intrigue deepens when I consider how much I personally would be willing to endure for such remuneration. These thoughts have become a relentless distraction during my viewing experience, making it challenging to focus on the complex romantic entanglements between Helly, Mark, and Helena.

For instance, while watching Dylan make promises about only test-driving a Tesla Truck, I can’t help but question his financial stability. My mind wanders, trying to calculate how much he must be earning at Lumon to afford such an extravagant vehicle. When Milchick proposed a 20% salary increase for Mark to rejoin MDR, I found myself obsessively estimating the base salary for the rest of the episode, leaving little room for appreciation of other storylines.

My curiosity has driven me to engage in heated discussions with colleagues, friends, and even strangers at coffee shops about Lumon refiner salaries. Their responses have varied greatly, from figures lower than a bartender’s wage to higher than the average CEO. Factors such as their line of work, modest living conditions, the futuristic technology they use daily, and Gretchen working nights have all been taken into consideration. However, these discussions often lead to awkward moments when people try to divert the topic or claim they don’t watch the show.

You might be pondering if they earn more than you. It’s natural to think that, but it’s hard to say for sure… They probably don’t, but there’s always a chance they do. If I found out I was getting paid more for writing about my strange TV fixations than they were for creating something from Jean-Paul Sartre’s terrifying dreamscape of purgatory, it would give me pause. And if the difference was significant? That could raise questions about fairness and justice, couldn’t it? It’s a complex ethical quandary that’s hard to shake off unless you’re content with your income or have a baby boomer supporting you financially. (Lucky them.) On behalf of the many, I can’t rest easy until I look into this.

A more casual and simplified version of your text could be:

The initial step involves locating a tool similar to a macrodata refiner. What, then, is macrodata refinement? In the second episode of the series, “Half Loop,” Mark teaches Helly to refine data, one encrypted file at a time, displaying the data as random numbers on a screen. These refiners search for sets of numbers that evoke emotions linked to Kier’s four “Tempers” and classify them accordingly. Mark calls the work “puzzling yet crucial.” However, like my old boss at the tech start-up I worked at, Mark is just repeating vague nonsense and not being very helpful. Luckily, Helly discovers the perfect job description when she asks, “Am I supposed to go through this spreadsheet looking for numbers that seem scary?” Classifying scary numbers all day? That sounds like data entry work to me.

Various types of organizations perform data entry tasks, spanning sectors like finance, technology, healthcare, retail, education, and many others. For instance, Monster Energy recently advertised for a data entry clerk position. Essentially, corporations, governments, and the global community in general rely heavily on data. While the specifics of what the data signifies might not concern us in our daily lives (such as the details in ‘Severance’), we’re more focused on the process of moving this data from one location to another. This task is central to both data entry clerks and macrodata refiners, as their primary job descriptions suggest.

Let’s try to determine where the workplace of these individuals might be located. Based on the clues, it appears to be a chilly and isolated region. During the Overtime Contingency, Innie Irv uncovers information about Lumon at an address among severed employees: 346 Stout Rd., Kier, PE 07450. The abbreviation ‘PE’ is not used for states, but 07450 is a zip code found in New Jersey. Bell Labs, which serves as a stand-in for Lumon HQ in the series ‘Severance’, is also located in New Jersey. However, Kathryn VanArendonk, my colleague and a resident of New Jersey, points out that New Jersey doesn’t receive enough snow to resemble their winters, making upstate New York a more plausible option. There are areas in upstate New York that are cold and remote enough, and given Lumon’s status as a major corporation, it seems reasonable to assume that one of its headquarters would be near New York City for convenient access.

Combining these pieces of information, we can determine the average annual wage for a data-entry clerk in New York City is approximately $44,313. In my search for a role similar to Lumon’s macrodata refiners, I came across an job advertisement for an administrative data entry associate at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation located in New York City. One of the responsibilities of this position involves entering all data from CRF files into the specified EDC and digitally signing with a V1 stamp. This role seems complex and critical (or potentially intimidating) to me. With the job title, location, and average salary established, we are now well-equipped to proceed further in our search.

As a film enthusiast diving into this unique scenario, let’s not overlook the fact that this role involves consenting to an unconventional surgical procedure on the brain – something currently illegal and generally shunned. To gain a broader perspective, it’s crucial to understand that the nature of the refiner’s severance is designed to maintain the utmost secrecy about their work, even from themselves.

Job postings for medical procedures or examinations are non-existent because it’s against the law (for now) and widely unacceptable. Instead, roles dealing with sensitive information, restricted areas, or both often come with job-related compensations tied to security clearances. The MDR department on the severed floor is one such example.

Positions requiring top-secret security clearance span from engineers for rocket companies owned by gaming magnates to investigators for the U.S. Secret Service. Obtaining a top-secret security clearance is a lengthy and rigorous process that necessitates employer sponsorship and an extensive background check, which can take up to a year.

Compared to the arduous process of obtaining a top-secret security clearance, the severance operation appears less invasive – Helena Eagan underwent the surgery on the same day she started as a refiner. While I couldn’t find salary data for controversial medical experiments, let’s use positions requiring a top-secret security clearance as a point of comparison. The average salary for such a position in New York is $146,758, but since we’re focusing on entry-level data-entry clerks, let’s look at the average salary for the 25th percentile, which is $125,800.

As you can see, based on my rather peculiar yet undeniable calculations, the median salary for a macrodata refiner stands at approximately $125,800. Now that we have this figure, how should we proceed next? This exercise has made it clear to me that discussing wages is an awkward topic, but in light of ongoing wage disparities and rising economic inequality, openness about salaries is more crucial than ever before. Therefore, I wonder: Does this remuneration seem appropriate to you?

First, let’s delve a bit deeper into some specific figures: By 2024’s end, the median weekly earnings of full-time and salaried workers amounted to $1,192, equaling $61,984 yearly. Conversely, the average hourly wage for a CEO in New York City is approximately $75.05, which translates to an annual income of $156,100.

Now, consider that the Outies are the CEOs of their bodies and minds: They perform no work and have minimal understanding of how the system truly functions, yet they make all the decisions and collect the paychecks. In light of this information, the monetary value seems almost trivial. No amount is sufficient for the Innies, the true laborers who endure hardships; for the Outies, any amount is excessive. As a result, my seemingly modest inquiry has taken on a more profound and existential tone.

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2025-02-22 01:54