Well actually Parsy, I was putting butter and garlic on bread sticks at a local pizza shop (1996)! I shortly there after graduated college and I haven't looked back since! and Oh, that is just my engineering wages that have propelled me to 3X to that of a CEO in the same time frame.
I also own a business (for 2 yrs now) and actually "it" turned a profit this yr, so I have decided to take a wage from it(didn't take any money from it in 2001, so no it wasn't part of the equation) also for this yr (2002). So, my wages (am still going to be an engineer) at my business will probably only be a modest 50-60k, and once you put it on top of the engineering wages, well, then wahlah, I have doubled my wages again!
So, if you want to do the % vs. CEO's again next yr I will surely be 6-8 x next yr! Go figure, and to think I actually have risen from the depths of hell in "minwage"! Cha ching!
METARZAN!
Cha gratulations! I am glad that your rate of income growth exceeds that for CEO's. And rather than point out that is probably a mathematical fluke because you started out at a place that probably paid you less than enough to live, I would prefer instead to simply wish that a fellow Freeper continue his upward journey and surpass even the most successful CEO! parsy.