In this Texas oil boom town, even a barber can make $180,000.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

The oil boom in West Texas is so insane that barbers are pulling down $180,000 a year, a salary fueled in part by patrons frequently paying $75 just to cut the long lines.

Link to tweet

[captain queeg]

1. This brings back memories

I the early 80s we were in the midst of a real recession. Couldn’t find a job where I was (Washington state). Me and a friend kept reading these magazine articles about the oil boom in west Texas and other gulf areas at the time and how they were grabbing people off the streets to give them high paying jobs. I think in the upper teens per hour which at that time was big bucks. So we loaded up his VW van and took off on a road trip.

What we found when we got down there was that everyone else had been reading those same articles and hordes of people, especially from the rust belt, were making the same trip as us. I remember as we moved to different areas traveling along the road in La. towards the New Orleans area which was supposedly the jumping off point for off shore rig jobs. There were people camped on both sides of the road for miles and miles.

We finally gave up on the gulf and started working our way back. We ran out of money in Oklahoma and were stranded there. There were some oil jobs there too. I’d given up on the idea by then but my friend wasn’t going to leave till he got on a rig. He finally did. His first day they were pulling up and he could hardly drive home his hands were so cramped up. Anyway he realized he couldn’t handle it and I hated that part of the country so we just did some shit work till we could save enough money to get back to WA.

[Farmer-Rick]

3. Yeah the same thing happened to a friend of mine in the North Dakota oil boom during the crash

He tried to get me to go too but my better half was ill and I didn't want to leave her. Glad I didn't go.

He was back in 6 months complaining that you waste half your earnings trying to find food, a place to stay and clean clothes. I think he got a job driving. Anyway he hated it and was back driving a dozer around here.

[keithbvadu2]

2. Grapes of Wrath... handbills of jobs and good pay... until you get there.

Grapes of Wrath... handbills of jobs and good pay... until you get there.