I’m a projects officer. This is my 8th year. I am 37f. My salary after all these years is $25k. I’ve been getting quiet fired for seven of the eight years. It happens in cycles. The cycle is beginning, and yesterday my supervisor said the director had suggested I start wearing a uniform. Not everyone. Just me. I snapped. I said “If (director) has a problem with my clothes she should pay me a living wage.”
My supervisor tried to frame this as some positive thing, saying “You just don’t understand. (Director) just wants to help you.”
“Help me how? How does creating more labor for me at home help me? How does this help me do my job more effectively?”
She had no answer. I continued: “This suggestion is demeaning. If y’all want to implement some special dress code on me like black pants and khakis, that’s fine. We will be Bath and Body Works up in here. But I am flabbergasted that you or (Director) would think it’s appropriate to suggest I wear a uniform.”
She stated (Director) wasn’t trying to be mean.
I said “That’s even worse.”
Then she started gaslighting me about unrelated topics, so I ended the conversation. We both cried. I’m not sorry or remorseful. I have stood by silently while EVERYONE but me has received a salary increase of AT LEAST $10k (many got 15k and even 20). My only increase in pay over eight years has been 4% from 23 to 25 this year in two 2% increments. Doesn’t even cover the health insurance increase. I did not complain. Half my paycheck is tied up constantly waiting for reimbursement for travel leaving me counting pennies day to day. Yesterday I asked about a $400 reimbursement check. The secretary had stuck it in her desk drawer and “forgot.” They forgot I might need a third of my take home pay for a week. I laughed it off. All my reviews have been excellent. It’s personal and the uniform thing was like the straw breaking the camels back.
I’m looking for a better job, but it’s a rural area. Regardless, my son has 3 years left of school and the day he walks across that stage I am splitsville from this job. If I have to wear a fucking uniform it might as well be somewhere that pays me fairly.