USA. I'm in the IT field and work for one of the big 3 phone network carriers. I've been working here since last TWELVE years, in different projects and have huge contributions. Seems like everyone in my nearby teams (i.e. my projects and their stakeholder projects) knows me and have high opinions. But all of that is just lip service. My salary has always been bottom of the barrel. I had previously believed that if I keep proving myself, one of these days, they will surely pay my dues. How naïve I was.
I've been hunting for a job change since last year and finally landed a very good opportunity last month. I gave my 2 week notice earlier this month. Typically whenever a long tenured employee leaves, the management sends flowery mails to all the teams, organize farewell meetings and parties etc. But absolutely none of that happened for me. The management didn't even inform my own team that I'm leaving. When I sent the “Today's my last day” email to the team, everyone was surprised there. Then a few of those colleagues replied with “best wishes” and “we'll miss you” etc. Some were genuine, some were formality.
Day ended, I shutdown my laptop and packed it for shipping back to the company. None of the managers called to talk one last time or bid farewell. It felt like I didn't even exist and I didn't spend more than a DECADE of my life at this company. And they have the audacity of claiming “We are a family here”.
Morale of the story – Your job is not your family. They don't care. (I mean, I knew forever. But still stung.) Do the bare minimum. #MinimumGuy