So I work as a freelance copywriter and took on this client right at the end of 2019. 3 months later COVID hits and they give me a 14% pay cut to deal with it (to be fair, a lot of their income comes from in-person events).
It's been over two years. 6 months ago they let the senior copywriter go and gave me his workload without a pay increase. On top of that, the number of deliverables they need from me has tripled since Nov 2021… I'm not great with math but pretty sure that means my workload has 6x'd. I only just got my pre-COVID pay re-instated 2 weeks ago after complaining for the 7th or 8th time that the increased work is spilling over into time I reserve for other clients. And even then, they framed it as a “salary increase”.
I have expensive medical bills so while I don't need this client to cover them, it does give me a little financial breathing room. But the constant piling on of work, taking so long to reinstate my full pay, and trying to gaslight me into thinking they gave me an actual raise has left a really bad taste in mouth.
Am I being overly sensitive here?