English is not my first language. This did not happened in the US.
Fair warning, this is a long post.
In short, I just wanted anyone who stumbled onto this post to know your worth and don't let anybody bully you to believe you worth less.
At the start of 2021, I saw a post from r/antiwork, and it's a screen shot of someone telling their boss off and quit. I like a good quitting story, and sometimes fantasize how I might do it when the day comes. I joined the subreddit since.
At that time, I was working for Company A for the past 6 years. Business was good, even during COVID, I managed to increase profit, get new clients and retained old clients. Company A was a mom and pops company, and only has one portfolio. I was the sole manager managing the portfolio.
Everything was groovy until my wife got laid off. In this instance, laid off is pronounced as “the company's whole department closed down so she is permanently out of a job”.
Before this, our life was pretty swell. We managed to pay off our monthly spending with some to spare. After she lost her job, she is unable to get a similar role (hospitality major and only hospitality related experience) nor similar pay grade . If she were to change profession, with the extra travel/parking/eat outs/extended childcare fees, the additional monthly cost will be more than what she makes.
Every year for the 6 years I worked at Company A, my boss will only increase my annual salary by $1200 (essentially $100 more a month, pre-tax). I didn't mind the minimal increase because I don't get micromanaged in my work, and I have a strong team that I built a good relationship with. Hell, every Friday I go grocery shopping with my assistant during company time and my boss doesn't care because we get all the work done.
My wife said it was her dream to be a SAHM, so I let her be and offered her to change back to working FT/PT anytime she pleases. Government was giving out emergency funds to people who lost their jobs, and my wife also had employment insurance, so we can stay afloat for a few more months, but I need to step up and increase my income. I did the math and find that with a tight budget and depending on my income alone, we just need about $400 more each month to be in the clear.
I first negotiated with my boss at the time. I laid out the facts:
- The only other manager quit 3 years ago, and I was the only manager managing the portfolio with no extra set of hands for help.
- The portfolio size increased from roughly 180 clients to 300 clients in the span of the last 6 years. I signed and retained every one of those new clients with no shared profit nor bonus paid out.
- I was severely underpaid (market rate for 2-3 yr experience is $55k/year, I get paid $46k/year).
I didn't even ask to be paid market, and I only asked for an increase to $52k/year (essentially $500 per month increase). My thought at that time was that I worked at the same place for so long, I am probably not fit to compete against other people in the market anymore.
I was afraid to make the change.
My boss's response was, “well we don't have the budget for that.”
I asked, “if that is the case, how much would the portfolio size need to increase for me to get my desired salary? The annual revenue was increased by $100k since I joined 6 years ago and my annual salary was only increased by $7.2k.”
My boss did not answer my question, but told me he will increase my monthly pay by $200 instead of $100 this year and that's the best he can do.
I was beyond pissed, and that was an understatement. Here cues my wife with her calm and supportive presence, basically laying it out for me that:
- I have many years of experience doing my job, and that I am competent.
- I am good at my job or else I wouldn't retain so many clients.
- I am a fast learner because I started as a rookie knowing nothing about the job, and now I can single-handedly take care of the whole company's portfolio.
With her encouragement, and a few more “I landed another job within 2 weeks of applying” stories from r/antiwork, I decided to start applying in May and by June, I received an offer at $62k. My wife and I were both so happy. After I signed off on the offer, I gave my two weeks notice.
Guess what my boss said.
If you guessed some budget miraculously appeared and my boss offered me to match, welp, you guessed it right!
I politely asked my boss to pound sand.
On the Wednesday of my last week, my boss finally was able to recruit someone to take over my spot. However, that person has no related experience, fresh graduate and his major was not even related to my job. He is a smart kid and very eager to learn, but there is no way I can train a replacement in 2 days. I tried my best and I can tell he was overwhelmed by the work load.
Around 6 months later when I visited my old coworkers, I found out my boss had to hire 2 people to do my job. My original replacement didn't even made through the first month. Well, that's that.
At this point, do you think my story ended? Nope, I made another jump after I worked 9 months at the other company, and let's call this Company B.
During my time there, Company B had someone quit every single month. By around the time after I passed my probation, I know the reason. My manager at the time was new to the field and was only an office assistant a year ago. He rise to VP in the span of 1 year, gets paid double as I do because he was the only person in the company that spoke the same native language as the board of oversea directors. I was hired because I happen to speak the same language and the directors don't want to be too dependent on one single person executing their wishes.
During my time there, I was treated by my manager as a threat, but also the go-to person whenever the directors asked any questions about the job. Again, I have the experience, he does not. His only contributing factor was attending to midnight conference calls because he has to accommodate the time-zone differences and translate the director's instructions to English.
Eventually, he started calling and messaging me during my off hours because he doesn't know how to answer some technical questions. I applaud the VP's ability to attend to midnight conferences, but that's not what I signed up for nor was my pay grade reflecting it. I shut that down immediately, and got yelled at for not being a team player. I protested, and I got retaliated. I used to get mileage to travel between sites and my office was 15 minutes drive away from home. He announced as VP that now all managers need to rotate to go to the other offices, and since I am new to the team, I need to spend more time in one particular office that is 1.5 hours drive away from home. That is 3 hours of commute back and forth, and because my designated work place location changed, I can no longer claim mileage (won't get my gas for travelling paid) nor was my travel time paid because it is considered going to and from work.
My “work hours” are essentially 11 hours a day because of the commute. I was miserable. I work long hours and I was exhausted to a point that I just don't want to work anymore.
Cues my wife again, and with her infinite wisdom, she just said screw those guys. You made the jump once, that means you can make the jump again. Don't ever work for someone that is petty and ungrateful of your hard work. If you leave, it is their lose, not yours.
I listened, read a few more good stories on this sub and updated my resume again.
She was right, in a month I did land another job. This time, the salary was increased to $75k, shorter hours, matched pension contribution, full benefit with “mental health day offs” and most importantly, it is an unionized government position.
I hand in my 2 weeks notice once again. Just that this time, my manager was relieved that I quit. I guess he got what he wanted, but all hell broke loose and a few of my coworkers quit as soon as they heard I quit. Last I know was the directors were looking to replace the VP, but since everyone I know there has quit, so I don't have any more news.
I am currently 3 months into my new role, and let me tell you, it was great! My colleagues and my manager were polite, friendly and competent. Best thing about the job is the short hours and extra day offs. Even better is whenever I need to, I can ask an union rep to come to meetings with me.
So everyone who are still reading this post, or decided to skip to the very end hoping for a tl;dr.
Please, please PLEASE.
Don't ever be bullied to think you worth less than what you are.
Don't ever bend to the bad bosses' demands.
Don't work for free during your off hours.
and please remember, if you quit, it is THEIR lost, not YOURS.
You are not as replaceable as they think, and they are more replaceable than they think.
Thank you for reading.