So my boss and I had been talking for the past year about how to move me up. There's no set path and anytime I ask him what's needed to get there he tells me the same thing. “You're already doing what you need to do to get there, I don't see a problem getting Jim on board with this.”
I expected the promotion come review time, but as soon as the session started I knew it was a no go. The excuse was that his boss wasn't really sure it was needed and that I shouldn't expect a reward just for going above and beyond.
Everything extra that I was doing was taken away, which I guess is fine since I was mistakenly expecting to be rewarded from it. Still, my review was all 5's.
I told myself I could just quit and find something better, then I remember that I'm over 40 with a non tech job, no degree and wfh. I tell myself I should just be glad the extra work was taken away and be happy with a set raise (under inflation) and some praise here and there. I want to just do the bare minimum and not care. But I can't. Even today I asked for more work. WTF?