Bit of backstory for reference: I’m a Millennial gig worker and personal assistant and am seldom in the same place as my Silent/Boomer boss because we take Covid seriously.
Back in July, over the phone my boss was asking me about the theatre that I’ve seen recently and I mentioned that I hadn’t seen much because ticket prices were so expensive. They offered to buy tickets for my spouse and me. I declined and said “Actually I was wanting to bring this up next week but since we’re sort of talking about it now, I’d like to discuss a raise.” Suddenly the phone connection was bad and guests were arriving at their home so we’d have to talk about it next week. They then text me and say they can’t think about a pay raise right now because the markets are in turmoil and they’re losing money in their personal money market accounts but to write myself a $500 bonus check and table discussion until September since August they’re on vacation from work.
Early September, after I’m back from vacation, I mentioned we needed to talk about my raise and I’m told they’re just too busy and please ask later in the month. They suddenly become uncommunicative and avoidant where in the past they called almost daily to give little updates.
So on the 23rd, I finally pin them down and ask. I go through my work responsibilities both in their business and in their personal life and give the amount (increase from $35/hr to $45/hr to reflect the work I do, cost of living, and competition from my other gigs). They say they need some time to consider because the ask was more than they were expecting and they just lost a client and now only have 14 instead of 15. We agree to a Thursday phone call for their decision.
Thursday comes around and they miss our call because earlier in the week they scheduled a client meeting during it.
Then on Friday, I text about finding a time. They come back telling me about an ER visit and ask me to run around and get their meds, which I do because it’s my job. I bring the meds to their place and ask if we can talk about my raise. They tell me they haven’t even thought about it but hopefully over the weekend they will. So I said that Monday we have to talk about it.
It’s been three months. Tomorrow is Monday and I am filled with nerves about the conversation. I’m going through tons of scenarios about how they’ll deny me the $10/hr increase even though I’ve done the math and know they can more than afford it. I’m just not sure what I’m going to do if the raise comes back lower than $8. I’m just exhausted by über-rich folks acting destitute when their working class employees ask for more.
TL;DR: I’ve been trying to get a raise for three months but my super wealthy employer keeps brushing me off.