Slayer's Salary

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TheHalfBreed

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Im sure this question has been asked before but wouldent it make alot more sense for the watchers council to pay the slayers living expenses so they wouldent need to get a joblike buffy did in Season 6,so they can focus solely on slaying. after all if the watcher is paid shouldent the slayer get paid?
 
The Slayer is the Council's tool, while the Watchers are their employees. Elaborating: We've seen how the Council views their Slayers (not as individuals or even people, but, well, their tool, heck, I'd even go so far and say they probably think the Slayer is their property), that it is her duty to obey the Council and they obviously don't think they need to pay their Slayers since a tool doesn't need to get paid.

And I don't think other Slayers even HAD dayjobs. Buffy isn't your regular Slayer, what with her having family, friends, school, job. I think Kendra's model is way more common, meaning the Slayer lives with her Watcher, the Watcher provides for her; rent, clothes, food, so she can focus on the Slaying. And since she has no money on her own, the Council has even more control over their Slayer.
 
Well the Council never really had any respect for slayers, so I guess they didn't pay them.
My first thought would be, maybe they were supposed to live off their watchers?
Most slayers didnt last long, so it's also possible they thought they could support themselves for that short period before they die.
And most importantly, in the eyes of the Council, being the slayer is a calling, not a job. Do you get paid for callings? Nope, only for jobs.
 
I agree with the girls. Slayers are viewed as the property of the Council, their weapon to fight the war. She didn't need to have a day job, she had no purpose on the planet other than to fight the good fight, so she had no need for a salary of any kind.
 
Undoubtedly, the Watchers' Council used that as a tool with which to keep control of what they almost certainly considered as merely their asset. If the Slayer could support herself, she would be less likely to rebel against their authority. Kendra mentioned something about being taken from her family at a very young age by her Watcher, then trained by him in the duties of the Slayer. We can't be sure about Faith or Nikki Wood, the only other two modern Slayers that we have direct knowledge of, but it wouldn't be a great stretch of the imagination to see both girls as being at least heavily dependent on their respective Watchers, so much so that the Watchers might have even been their legal or merely de facto guardians. If the Council had enough pull to have had Giles deported, they could just as easily had someone declared unfit parents, and take custody of the Potential that way.
 
I can see why the Council wouldn't have paid Slayers in the past, but in Checkpoint Buffy blackmailed the council into re-hiring and paying Giles, why couldn't she ring them up in S6 and say "hey, pay me for slaying"?
 
I get why hundreds (or uh, thousands) of years ago they didn't pay the Slayer because of the whole viewing-them-as-a-tool and the fact the Slayer would more than likely be constantly with her Watcher so the Watcher would provide the basics for her at least. But as we more into more modern times where the Slayer would be more inclined to keep within her own life as much as possible (possibly this pattern might begin, hypothetically, 1850s onwards with slight irregularity perhaps) then the council should adapt to such a change. Admittedly they aren't the most adapty people- more stuck in their ways than anything- but it would make more sense so, like you said, slayers aren't distracted by day jobs. Plus added benefit of the whole building-a-trust thing. Treat them like a person and they might not turn around and say 'screw you' quite so much.
 
I can see why the Council wouldn't have paid Slayers in the past, but in Checkpoint Buffy blackmailed the council into re-hiring and paying Giles, why couldn't she ring them up in S6 and say "hey, pay me for slaying"?

In Season 6, Buffy was confused, to say the least. Otherwise, she MIGHT have considered calling the Council for financial assistance. But consider this: If she took money from them, she would be, technically their employee, and therefore subject to their orders once more, something that she most definitely did NOT want to be. Otherwise, she would probably have demanded pay back when she got Giles put back on the payroll. The last thing in the world that Buffy would want to be by Season 6 is indebted to the Council in any way.

Something else to consider: If Buffy had made the Council too mad, they might have just decided that it was time to get themselves a new Slayer. Since the only way to do that would be to kill the current Slayer, Buffy was actually protecting her. Although there was, at that time, no real love lost between the two girls, I doubt that Buffy would be ready to be even partially responsible for her murder.


I get why hundreds (or uh, thousands) of years ago they didn't pay the Slayer because of the whole viewing-them-as-a-tool and the fact the Slayer would more than likely be constantly with her Watcher so the Watcher would provide the basics for her at least. But as we more into more modern times where the Slayer would be more inclined to keep within her own life as much as possible (possibly this pattern might begin, hypothetically, 1850s onwards with slight irregularity perhaps) then the council should adapt to such a change.

Didn't Kendra mention that her parents had sold her to thr Watcher when she was very young? And would the Watchers, if they had any consideration for their Slayers as people at all, strip them of their powers and lock them in a house with a starving vampire, without any warning or chance to prepare beforehand and with no hope of assistance whatsoever if things went wrong, just to see if they could handle the situation? That's not the attitude of an employer to an employee, that's the attitude of someone testing a weapon to be sure that it would still be effective under the most adverse conditions.
 
white avenger said:
In Season 6, Buffy was confused, to say the least. Otherwise, she MIGHT have considered calling the Council for financial assistance. But consider this: If she took money from them, she would be, technically their employee, and therefore subject to their orders once more, something that she most definitely did NOT want to be. Otherwise, she would probably have demanded pay back when she got Giles put back on the payroll. The last thing in the world that Buffy would want to be by Season 6 is indebted to the Council in any way.
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Checkpoint established that Buffy had the Watcher's Council completely under her control. Whatever she wanted, whether it be information on Glory, her friends continuing to aid her, or a paycheck for Giles, they had to succumb. Her being paid wouldn't give the Council control over her because she could still walk away at any moment and leave the Council with nothing left. Sure, it would give the Council leverage but that's irrelevant because they already had leverage in the form of Giles, but they weren't going to use it because Buffy was still in control.

The only reason she didn't ask for money in Checkpoint was that then Joyce was still alive and in employment, they didn't really need money.

Something else to consider: If Buffy had made the Council too mad, they might have just decided that it was time to get themselves a new Slayer. Since the only way to do that would be to kill the current Slayer, Buffy was actually protecting her. Although there was, at that time, no real love lost between the two girls, I doubt that Buffy would be ready to be even partially responsible for her murder.
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The Council were bastards, but they weren't evil. I seriously doubt they would kill a human just to make things slightly easier on themselves. Even when Faith went evil they were still looking to take her alive.

You could hand-wave an explanation for why the council wouldn't pay Buffy, but what annoyed me the most was the simple fact that no-one even suggested it. Not even Anya! You'd have thought she would have objected to the thought of providing a service without payment. It made the whole gang look like morons that couldn't solve the simplest of problems.
 
TheVoid68 said:
The Council were bastards, but they weren't evil. I seriously doubt they would kill a human just to make things slightly easier on themselves. Even when Faith went evil they were still looking to take her alive.
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By "This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You" they were completely willing to kill Faith, probably because they knew there was no way to get her back on their side. And they hadn't Buffy anymore either, so they decided to get themselves a new Slayer the only way possible: kill The Slayer (which back then was Faith).
 
It's sad, but I agree with the other. They threathed Slayers like a fighting tool, one goes and the other one comes. They thought they don't have any obligation to them, and that's sad, because they are probably most important girls in the world.
 
Mumrik said:
By "This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You" they were completely willing to kill Faith, probably because they knew there was no way to get her back on their side. And they hadn't Buffy anymore either, so they decided to get themselves a new Slayer the only way possible: kill The Slayer (which back then was Faith).
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Right. Plus, the group of men who they sent to "Retrieve" Faith were quite obviously an experienced wet team, and had been in operation at least long enough to have a policy established that they would "set their affairs in order" before a mission, in case they didn't come back. These men were killers, trained, motivated, professionals. Anyone who would employ a team like that to kill a young girl in cold blood is, in fact, evil. At least by my standards.
 
But they didn't try to kill Faith. The only thing that implied as such was in Sanctuary when one of them got a bit trigger-happy. In "Who Are You" they had Faith (or at least Faith's body) completely at their disposal, and they were focusing on simply sedating her and transporting her back to England. This was before Faith's redemption too, so she was still, in their eyes, an evil person who helped a man try to kill everyone in Sunnydale, but the orders were still "sedate and transport". If they weren't ordering to kill her then, evil and unprotected, I really seriously doubt they'd order her assassination while she's voluntarily in prison, on a mission for redemption and has the protection of a powerful and morally ambiguous vampire.
 
TheVoid68 said:
But they didn't try to kill Faith. The only thing that implied as such was in Sanctuary when one of them got a bit trigger-happy. In "Who Are You" they had Faith (or at least Faith's body) completely at their disposal, and they were focusing on simply sedating her and transporting her back to England.
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If I recall properly, and I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong, Faith was being taken back to England to, in the words of one of the retrieval team, to be "sorted out," which I took as meaning that they would either make Faith do things the way that the Council wanted them done (fat chance), or they would take steps to acquire a more cooperative Slayer. Now, about the only way that I can imagine that happening would be for Faith to die, causing another girl to be Called.

(Someone more familiar with British slang might be better able to interpret the phrase, "sorting out," but that was my interpretation, anyhow)
 
white avenger said:
(Someone more familiar with British slang might be better able to interpret the phrase, "sorting out," but that was my interpretation, anyhow)
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I'm more than familiar with British slang and given the 'look' of the guys (I know it's wrong to judge but its so obvious) the terms 'sorting out' do not mean they're going to pat her on the back, take her hands into their own and tell her everything's going to be okay and she can be a good person again. Even if its not what the Watcher's Council HQ necessarily wanted, its certainly what those three henchmen wanted and I really don't think the HQ would have been too bothered if they had 'killed and transported'.

And as for the OP - I'm with the others. The Watchers Council were really traditional and I think as far as they were concerned, not only were the Slayer their weapons to be used however they wish, they would have considered the calling something honourable that the girls should want to do and not the burden that Buffy always felt it was. I guess they felt it should be considered an honour to take care of the world...
 
white avenger said:
If I recall properly, and I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong, Faith was being taken back to England to, in the words of one of the retrieval team, to be "sorted out," which I took as meaning that they would either make Faith do things the way that the Council wanted them done (fat chance), or they would take steps to acquire a more cooperative Slayer. Now, about the only way that I can imagine that happening would be for Faith to die, causing another girl to be Called.

(Someone more familiar with British slang might be better able to interpret the phrase, "sorting out," but that was my interpretation, anyhow)
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As a Brit, I can tell you that "sorting out" is a very vague piece of slang and its meaning depends greatly on the situation. If you're a plumber, then "sorting out" somebody's pipes means that you're going to fic them. If you're a drunk guy at a pub, then if you threaten to "sort [someone] out" then you're about to start a fight.

Anyway, I still think that if the council were going to kill Faith they'd have given those orders. The primary objective was sedation, killing was probably a last resort. And even if they were willing to kill then, like I said that was back when Faith was evil and friendless. The Council are still, for lack of a better term, good guys, and I don't think they would kill a girl looking to redeem herself, who is additionally a) harmless while in prison, b) potentially a powerful force for good and c) has gained the friendship of a vampire, who it is unwise to piss off.
 
TheVoid68 said:
But they didn't try to kill Faith. The only thing that implied as such was in Sanctuary when one of them got a bit trigger-happy. In "Who Are You" they had Faith (or at least Faith's body) completely at their disposal, and they were focusing on simply sedating her and transporting her back to England. This was before Faith's redemption too, so she was still, in their eyes, an evil person who helped a man try to kill everyone in Sunnydale, but the orders were still "sedate and transport". If they weren't ordering to kill her then, evil and unprotected, I really seriously doubt they'd order her assassination while she's voluntarily in prison, on a mission for redemption and has the protection of a powerful and morally ambiguous vampire.
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There was a part in Who Are You? where the goons received a kill order. It was right before Faith/Buffy escaped.
 
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