HR begs math teacher to reconsider quitting when they resign after years of being underpaid, urging them to stay after refusing a proper raise for years: ‘You said you could not afford to pay me, and now this is the consequence of that’

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Etai Eshet • Editor
Jun 2, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

They say you never know what you've got till it's gone. It's a proverb meant for lost love and missed chances, but if it ever needed a sequel, it would be about HR departments and salary negotiations. Not only do they suddenly appreciate an employee the second a resignation slides across their desk, but the money—oh, the money!—finally materializes, as if the mythical "raise" was hiding in the break room this whole time. The moment you hand in your resignation. Suddenly, that raise you begged for — the one they couldn't afford when you were happily underpaid — magically appears out of thin air. Spoiler alert: they didn't know what they had until they lost you.

So, this one math and physics teacher has been grinding away at an arts school, shaping young minds in a haze of chalk dust, all while collecting a salary that looks more like a part-time allowance than a living wage. Official guidelines say thirty-six grand, but no, the school offers twenty-five and expects a grateful smile. Adjusting that salary to the actual standard would cost maybe five grand more a year—a sum they apparently can't spare, at least not until a resignation threatens to trigger an administrative extinction event.

Cue HR's desperate email, pleading for reconsideration, mourning the "unexpected" cost of hiring a replacement, and conveniently forgetting all past conversations about fair pay. But the teacher's moved on: a new job lined up, full-time, at a salary that actually respects their credentials.

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  • HR tried to guilt trip me after I resigned

    33+ 42+ 28= 15- 48 70 73- 'I got an email from HR "would you please reconsider your resignation""
    via Rido

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I asked, many times, to have a raise that brought me up to industry standard.
    via AceBv1
  • I am a qualified maths and physics teacher, and through some weird luck ended up teaching maths at an arts school.
    via AceBv1
  • It has been really fulfilling, but the pay was 25 thousand, where the government set rate for my job in a school is 36 thousand.
    via AceBv1
  • 12 + 100
    via ridvan_celik

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I dont even work full time, so they would have to have paid me like 5 grand a year more.
    via AceBv1
  • They wouldn't.
    via AceBv1
  • I resigned.
    via AceBv1
  • Howe 33+ 15= 42+ 28= 48 70 100- 28 = 72
    via Rido

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I got an email from HR "would you please reconsider your resignation" and explaining how
    via AceBv1
  • if I resign it will cost them a lot of money to replace me, and they will have to reapply for some funding, etc,etc.
    via AceBv1
  • I have already found a new job to start next academic term full time and 30 -
    via AceBv1
  • percent above the government set minimum. So, no, no I am not going to reconsider.
    via AceBv1
  • I really do love my team, students, and subject, but HR and the admin side of the college can eat a bag of spiders!
    via AceBv1
  • Coffee PotProphet They alwaysssss seem to find money once you actually leave
    via CoffeePotProphet
  • Euphoric-Reputation4 Is it not just mind-blowing that employers never seem to consider the cost of replacing an employee who is making a reasonable request? They only weigh the cost of their
    via Euphoric-Reputation4
  • employee's request against their practice of minimally investmenting in their workforce.
    via Euphoric-Reputation4
  • And the audacity of asking you to reconsider! It is akin to a starving person requesting more food and upon seeing no improvement fleeing, then being asked to come back and
    via Euphoric-Reputation4
  • starve some more because their absence is inconvenient! Holy h I employers really do. not see their workers as fellow human beings worthy of the most basic considerations.
    via Euphoric-Reputation4

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management boss workplace-stories school hr toxic-workplace manager bosses work teacher PTO managers supervisor workplace work-life balance
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