“Second,” she continued before I could interrupt, “as you can see from the sheets I’m showing you, we can save enough in expenses and generate sufficient revenues from taxes to pay our own fees. That’s part of the job of a bean-counter . . . to show their employer how to afford to pay themselves. Not many professions do that!”
What she was saying made sense, but I was still unconvinced.
“Well, at the very least can’t we cut our fees a bit?” I said. “There’s no real reason for us to charge as much as you have us down for.”
“Skeeve, Skeeve, Skeeve,” Bunny said, shaking her head. “I told you I didn’t just make up these numbers. I know you’re used to negotiating deals on what the client will bear, but in a budget like this, the pay scale is almost dictated. It’s set by what others are getting paid. Anything else is so illogical, it would upset the whole system.”
I glanced at Aahz, but he had his eyes fixed on Bunny, hanging on her every word.
“Okay. Let’s take it from the top,” I said. “Explain it to me in babytalk, Bunny. Just how are these pay scales fixed?”
She pursed her lips for a moment while organizing her thoughts.
“Well, to start with, you have to understand that the pay scale for any job is influenced heavily by supply and demand.” she began. “Top dollar jobs usually fall into one of three categories. First, is if the job is particularly unpleasant or dangerous . . . then, you have to pay extra just to get someone to be willing to do it. Second are the jobs where a particular skill or talent is called for. Entertainers and athletes fall into this category, but so do the jobs that require a high degree of training, like doctors.”