Disagree. Been hungry. Not hungry now. I think we all want meaningful work and to feel like we are paid well for our effort, but in my experience the hardest workers do so regardless of the job/pay and overpaying someone relative to the difficulty of their job can undermine their morale when the feelings of gratitude inevitably subside and turn into feelings of entitlement or boredom.

I think we'd all like to believe that if we were a 6-figure Walmart stocker we'd be motivated to be the Michelangelo of shelf stocking but it's simply not true. The most motivated people who work hard at shitty jobs do it because it's a stepping stone to the next opportunity. Just my 2 cents.

All that being said, any manager who actually says this to an employee who is asking for a raise is definitely an asshole.