My second real, full time job was with a super large IT company, when i got it i thought i had finally made it. I started at 70k, and that was far and away the most i had ever made in my life. I thought I would just be with the company forever, and retire with them.
After 6 years of staying with them with absolutely no raises/cost of living adjustments, i started looking around. I immediately got a job that accepted my requested salary of $135k, doing the exact same work. At the time I didnt think much about negotiating the salary, they had accepted the first offer I gave and i was so blown away that i accepted it. A year later i job hopped again, and again the new company accepted my new salary of 180k, doing the exact same work.
Now ive gotten an email from the original company i worked for, asking if id ever thought about rejoining. Ridiculous