This happened to me about 10 years ago and I thought I'd share my story. It was the first time I ever really stood up for myself and my worth at a job and can't tell you how good it felt.
I used to work as a Certified Veterinary Technician (associate's degree and passed a national certifying exam) at a large general and specialty veterinary hospital in the Midwest. At the time, new graduates could expect to make around $9-11/hr depending on shift and location. My first job out of school was at this large hospital, making $11/hr, for which I told them I really wanted to work in surgery, and had applied for that position. They had already offered it to a current employee instead, but offered me another job in the main treatment area caring for hospitalized pets and helping with appointments. They told me that they really needed someone experienced right then for the surgery job, but that when another opportunity came up, it would likely be mine, since I would then have some experience under my belt and they tried to hire internally when possible. I said okay and started happily working on the floor with the expectation to eventually move to surgery.
When I was hired, I had told them I wanted to gain my specialty certification in surgery, which is something that takes approximately 3 years of logging hours and cases, writing reports, presenting at a conference, and passing a national specialty exam. It's not easy, and takes a lot of hard work, but to me it felt worth it to show my commitment and offer the best possible care to the pets I was responsible for. They knew this, and told me that the raise for achieving this certification (which they get to proudly display on their website that their techs are “specialists” to attract business) was…. 25ยข/hr. That's it. I scoffed in my mind, but it was still something, so I shrugged it off for the time being.
Fast forward 8 months. I'd been working hard and doing well (even caught a very sick hospitalized dog that was about to crash and we were able to save it). I'd worked some overnight shifts, picked up extra shifts, and even helped out in surgery a bit on the side. Well, during this time I had gotten passed over for the job I wanted, not once, but two more times. Obviously frustrated after being turned down now a third time, I had been looking for other jobs and received a great offer. A $5/hr pay boost, plus once I got my specialty certification I would immediately be bumped to $25/hr. This was a smaller hospital but they clearly cared about their vet techs. The boost once specialty certified made me realize just how pathetic the $0.25 raise at my current hospital really was.
I put in my 2 weeks notice and they requested an exit interview. I met with the office manager and she asked why I was leaving. I told her point blank that not only was I upset that I had been passed over twice more for the job I really wanted after having been told it was literally a sure thing (for which she has no explanation), but that their offer of a $0.25/hr pay raise after a grueling 3 year specialty process was “a slap in the face.” All she could say was “Well….that's just what we offer.” I packed up my stuff and ran and never looked back. The look on her face at that meeting though was priceless. 10 years later and I still remember that meeting like it was yesterday.
That next job was awesome. Great staff, great job. I never did end up getting my specialty because I ended up leaving the field, but it was still totally worth it to stick it to that awful job on my way out.