I work for a small remodeling company, and have worked here since college. I started as an installer and inventory “manager” but about 3 years ago our showroom manager left and I transitioned into the role. Over the 5 years I’ve worked here, I made it up to $20 and was coming up for my yearly review a couple weeks ago.
The owners are a married couple. She’s 65 and he’s 78. This is relevant because our business has been picking up and he especially has been slowing down. He had a stroke after a bout of covid and has had major memory issues since then. My job went from scheduling appointments and ordering material to managing him and his various issues, repeating tech help multiple times a week, having to remind him what he needs to do, and taking on more and more of his responsibilities, I needed fair compensation. Not to mention training 5 new installers and a new salesman in 2 years, and a higher work load from my usual duties.
So I go into the review with the wife, who every bullet point says “you’re doing great here… but that goes without saying” and interrupted any input I have about stuff moving forward; issues with her husband’s memory, training new employees, learning design, etc. So at the end, I have to be the one to bring up the pay raise they mentioned to me in January.
Her- Oh right. Well I haven’t finalized it, but I was thinking about doing a bonus structure based on accuracy (for the job I’m already doing) that could be up to $500 per Quarter, and a one dollar pay raise. What do you think?
Me- well I came in here prepaid to ask for $5 an hour raise- and I have reasons why I deserve that. By some measures inflation was up to 9%. Using easy math (10%), a $2 cost of living increase is not a raise, it just keeps me where I am at. With taking care of your husband’s issues, the heavier load, and the newer stuff I’ll be taking on, I deserve a raise on top of a COL increase.
Her- That’s so far away from where we are! Back when I worked for other people, we got a 7% raise, and it didn’t matter what the cost of living was. Give us a bit to think about it, but you’ll have an answer soon.
The next week was pay week. Banking is about the last thing that He is in charge of for the business. And wouldn’t you know it? The deposit doesn’t hit! I came in to work 45 minutes early, called his wife, and they were aware of the situation and would hand write a check for the net amount. That afternoon she called me in her office to discuss the pay.
Her- up until today I had a full structure I wanted to discuss, but that’s thrown out the window. You can have the $5 but you’ll have to come up with organization for Him and be on top of two important deadlines. I just can’t deal with anything else going wrong right now.
Of course, even with prompting and watching over his shoulder, the next deposits 2 weeks later didn’t hit either. Pro tip- never try to switch banks if you’re a 75+y.o. business owner.
TL;DR after 5 years my boss didn’t even want to match cost of living increase for a raise. After pay didn’t go through, I got a 20% raise to make sure the owner hits two submission dates