Show Me the Money

One of the things that heralds the end of the year is a performance review. Now I've been with my company for five years. In that timeframe, I've gotten great reviews and I've managed only one substantial raise. I got that raise when I packed by bags, moved to another group, and completely switched job functions.

My last boss lied to me. At the time, I didn't feel like I was making enough money. I knew with certainty that I was valued and an integral member of the product management team. This is a fact: my boss could not have done her job without me. She even told me so. I was young and naive back then and probably didn't go about this the right way, but I felt like I needed to show her another offer to make more money. So I went about interviewing. I got a higher paid offer and showed her. She promised to match it. I was satisfied. But I was also stupid, dumb, and completely fucking retarded. I assumed she would stick to her word. She did not. I didn't realize until months later that she never increased my salary. I was too busy at work (this was when I was working like a maniac) to notice no bump up in my paycheck. When stupid me realized, I fumed and asked for backpay. She backtracked and said I never got anything in writing.

I waited until my bonus was deposited into my account, then when it was time for my review, I said, "Well there's no reason for this review since I'm leaving." And I gave her exactly two weeks.

I'm a little more mature now. At least, I'm a lot more zen than the hothead I used to be. This time around, I'm prepared. I know I want to be exactly where I am, but my job function warrants a salary adjustment. I've got the achievements to back it up and documentation to prove my worth. This is all going down sometime this week. And I'm feeling pretty damn good about it.