Boss gets upset employee accepted a new job paying $28k more after waiting 7 months for a promised raise at her current company

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jul 15, 2026 7:15 AM EDT

Some managers act like your resignation letter personally cheated on them, when really, you just filled out a form and moved on with your life

Waiting seven months for a raise while getting told "we're working on it" is basically the corporate version of a doctor's office saying "the doctor will see you shortly" for two hours straight. Eventually, you stop believing anyone's coming and you just leave.

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  • She said she would've pushed harder for my raise (like she would've pushed our director or HR I guess?) or that we could've worked out a hybrid situation (my company is VERY strict about in person, so I don't understand how this would've been possible.) She even said "well now I'm f ed." My only defense was telling her I didn't think it was customary to tell your boss you're looking for a new job.
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  • The expectation that employees announce their job search in advance is one of those rules bosses invent on the spot, like a ref making up a foul because their team’s losing. Companies don’t send a courtesy heads up before a layoff. Nobody gets a calendar invite titled “your position no longer exists, thoughts?” three weeks early. So the idea that loyalty flows one direction while risk flows the other is just how the game’s rigged.

    Then there’s the manager who turns someone else’s exit into their own personal disaster movie. “Now I’m screwed” isn’t your problem to fix, that’s her staffing puzzle, and puzzles aren’t supposed to be solved by the piece that’s leaving the box. Expecting a coworker to basically hold the department together through her maternity leave, all while that coworker’s still waiting on a raise from January, is like asking someone to paint your fence while they’re still arguing with you about being paid for the last job.

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  • Bringing up the missed raise request months later isn’t advice, it’s just blame dressed up as concern.

    Taking a job for $28k more and an actual full team isn’t betrayal, it’s just someone finally reading the exit sign that’s been lit the whole time.

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management workplace discussion employment issues boss workplace-stories hr coworkers colleague Horrible Bosses
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