'At this point everyone started to laugh': Software engineer schools nepo-baby employee in front of 20+ coworkers after his salary was questioned

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Sep 23, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

It's a touchy subject when it comes to salary transparency. Many employees tend to agree that sharing what you make amongst each other helps people get paid what they actual deserve and avoids people getting underpaid and overpaid. However, some say it creates a "target" on the head of people making more and creates team tensions. 

A Redditor recently sparked a discussion on the subject after he had to school a co-worker on his salary. The co-worker, who happened to be the nephew of a higher-up (aka a nepo-baby), found out that OP was making a lot more than everyone else on staff. OP was the software engineer, and in this small town, these were very hard to come by—the few that they had hired previously left pretty quickly to move to bigger cities. Though OP was technically getting paid low for software engineer industry standards, he was still getting paid a lot for this small company. 

So nepo-baby coworker comes in and asks him in front of 20+ employees why he was making X amount of money. And OP had the classiest response that had everyone laughing and nosey-nepo-baby coworker backtracking. See for yourself below! 

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  • 01
    Smile
    via Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels
  • 02
    Font - 4 Confront me with my confidential salary to Posted by u/RegexIs Easy 18 hours ago disgrace me? thanks. now everyone hears the answer.
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 03
    Font - I was working at a startup company with around 50-60 employees as the head of software development unit. We were a team of 8 software engineers and the rest of the company was administration and support or security personel.
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 04
    Font - The company was in a small city and it was so difficult to find good software engineers. We had this problem that whenever we found someone good, they were migrating to larger cities after a while so over time naturally payments of software development unit raised comparing to other personel. For me alone, it was more than all other managers in other departments by almost twice.
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 05
    Font - This number, despite still being behind the standards comparing to larger cities, was a huge money to people in that city and company made this payment a secret, no one was expected to find this out.
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 06
    Font - After a while I got the feeling from some office rumors that my salary is leaked, but I didn't care much about it until one day, this colleague, head of support department, calling him Tim (accidentally nephew of HR manager) decided to confront me about my salary to make me ashamed in front of everyone.
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 07
    Font - So we were at launch room, with around 20 people there. The following is the conversation started by Tim in front of everyone: Tim: "Mr. Me, is it true that you are being paid X thousands?" Me: "Actually your news is outdated, now it's more than that".
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 08
    Font - Tim: "Do you know why they don't pay us, support department, the same?" Me: "I don't know, better ask HR". Tim: "I want to know you opinion. Are we getting paid a lot less or you are getting overpaid?"
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 09
    Font - Me: "I will answer you with a honest suggestion. From tomorrow let's switch our roles. I will also give you two weeks of mentorship, and then you need to manage the department on your own with my salary. I will also take your responsibilities, but I don't need your mentorship or help even for a single minute. We can discuss the salaries again after two months."
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 10
    Font - at this point everyone started to laugh, including one of our senior accountants, whom never was seen laughing Tim at this point blushed and continued with: "No I knew why you are getting paid this much, I just wanted to know how we can increase ours (which wasn't his initial statement)"
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 11
    Font - Me: "Then again I advice you to discuss it with HR" Tim: "Thanks" It wasn't the first time, but it was one of the best times I answered this question
    via u/RegexIsEasy
  • 12
    Font - Bearintehwoods. 18 hr. ago That was a rock solid response, and I hope one day to make enough money where others question it as well!
    via u/Bearintehwoods
  • 13
    Font - Separate-Ad-9916. 15 hr. ago My standard response to this situation is, "If you're not happy with you're present role, then apply for a position similar to mine." The usual reply is something along the lines of "But I can't do what you do." Exactly!
    via u/Separate-Ad-9916
  • 14
    Font - Fast Working_4912. 18 hr. ago And this is why you are on a higher wicket than Tim, for your crafty, absolutely brutal honest and fast comebacks alone
    via u/Fast_Working_4912
  • 15
    Rectangle - thedudeabidesOG 18 hr. ago It's federally legal to discuss salaries. Discuss yours so others can get a raise. Even that idiot Tim should know his worth.
    via u/thedudeabidesOG
  • 16
    Font - Greedy-Copy3629. 5 hr. ago Transparent salary helps everyone, the only reason to keep salary hidden is to damage your bargaining power when negotiating pay.
    via u/Greedy-Copy3629
  • 17
    Font - xeno0153 11 hr. ago When I worked for the city (fire department), our salaries (and the overtime paid by the town) was not only public info, but it was published in the local newspaper once a year. I get that since it's taxpayer money, the citizens have the right to know, but it still felt pretty invasive to essentially dox us all.
    via u/xeno0153
  • 18
    Font - ultimatemuffin . 8 hr. ago Regardless, everyone knowing eachothers' salaries only benefits all employees. The only one who benefits people being left in the dark is the company owner, because no one is getting secretly overpaid.
    via u/ultimatemuffin

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software engineer failblog work stories small business nepo baby employee employees nepo baby coworker Reddit nepo baby
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