I work at an environmental consulting company as a geologist and am paid $21 dollars an hour, which is barely enough to support myself. My company does “merit based raises” which is where my office gets a certain amount of money from corporate that my boss splits between everyone he feels is doing a good job. Everyone in my office does a good job and I get an 80 cent raise, which is bullshit. If my office doesn’t do well because of a couple of people, I don’t get a raise. The raises are random too and not on a set schedule. My last raise was about 7 months ago and I’m really struggling. I can’t argue for a higher wage because of this bullshit. Does anyone else have a similar experience?