'He can't justify giving me a raise': Two-faced boss gives employee glowing mid-year review, then denies him a raise for not going "above and beyond"

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jun 6, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Duplicitous managers may praise you one moment and then come up with every excuse under the sun to not give you a raise the next.

We've all had managers like this. You know, the ones who don't seem to understand that giving someone a raise means that they have been performing their primary responsibilities well. It does not mean going above and beyond and doing extra, unpaid labor. That wouldn't necessarily be a raise, then. It would be overdue compensation for responsibilities that are already being performed. Unfortunately, these kinds of managers still subscribe to the whole "paying your dues" narrative, which is about as eye-roll-inducing as any other dates workplace culture problem.

Keep scrolling below to see what happened to this relatively new employee, who received a glowing mid-year review and then was reprimanded for not doing more… within the same meeting! For more infuriating workplace stories like this, check out this one about a boss who made his employee keep his blazer on in boiling hot weather.