Let me preface this by saying up until recently I have been a happy little corporate puppy playing along with all the games.
A few months ago (5 I think) I was offered a job with a competitor of ours for significantly more than I was making. I accepted the offer and turned in my notice. A few days later my manager calls me into a meeting and offers me a 48% pay raise to stay (5% more than the competitor offered), and offers to put me in line to take over our specialty line (which would end up being another 20% once I did take over). I caved in and took it because I'm comfortable here, know the clients, etc.
Here's my dilemma, 5 months into the new salary he hires an outside person with no experience to take over the specialty line. So now I know I was lied to and baited with money to stay with no real hope of moving up.
I started looking for new employment, what I've come to realize is that I'm VERY overpaid for what I do. I can't leave because the money is so good that I'm not qualified (I only have my Associates degree, I've got 10 years of experience in my field) to take another position with comparable salary. Hence the golden handcuffs. I'm making 75k a year for a 30k a year job in a good company but under the shittiest managers I've ever met.
I'm so over this back stabbing lying culture that we have come to accept as the norm.
Rant over.