Proud of what I’ve done and proud of my past co-workers for doing the same.
Dec 2020, year of the shutdown, I got a new job. It’s a skilled labor job that requires you to be on the road 8-5 completing as many service jobs as you possibly can. Doesn’t matter your skill level, difficulty of job or distance traveled, the goal is 5-7 per day and you’ll hear about it if you didn’t reach that goal. I came in with extremely relevant experience but still had to learn about 50% new skills on the job. I knew this gig wouldn’t last cause I truly felt like just a number and it was way too corporate.
After a year I asked for a raise. Boss said “sorry it’s out of my power. We do raises in July.” I didn’t qualify for a raise last July since I wasn’t there for a year. So I started looking for a new job, got an offer for 20% increase, put in my 2 weeks, didn’t ask to stay.
I was the youngest employee in the state by about 10 years. Average age out of ~20 guys probably being 50 years old and a handful ready for retirement. As I was leaving I asked 6 guys what they were making. Each one was either the same or LESS than me. They each said they’ve had raises denied or have gotten 50 cent raises each year. A few were there for 10+ years… now I’m no genius but that sounds like some bullshit to me. So I told them what I made and watched their eyes widen.
Since I left 6 months ago, 50% of those guys have quit. One of them thanked me cause he was afraid to move on but he got a $10/hr pay increase at his new gig. They were all denied raises and their customers are not happy.
Pay your employees. They deserve it. Also forgot to mention that when my boss hired me he told me not to tell anyone what I made. Oops!