Hi,
I work for a Christian boss and i get along with most everyone at my office. I started out at 12.00 an hour. My job is not easy, it takes months of training to learn how to do what I do. It is merchant processing. I do a lot of things from training agents, to handling customer service calls, to looking up information on accounts. I am very busy, and from what I see, busier than some other people at times.
I have never gotten a raise at all. My three month review I got no raise. I am told constantly that I am doing a "great job."
About a month ago I approached my supervisor about a raise. She told me she was working on it and it was well deserved. She had me up my training, watch more training videos, study the contracts of the company, which I did.
While I have been there I have heard the wind of disgruntled employees that have been there awhile, complaining and inferring that the CEO is "cheap" and states he "can't afford to give anyone a raise" then goes on a cruise.
I realize that people go into business to make money. I know the girl they recently hired that works next to me got a raise after about three months.
Around the first week of January, the CEO pulled the entire staff into a meeting and announced that he was very upset at some of the laziness he was observing (mind you i was not included in this as I work very hard and there are a few chatty people that do not pull their weight the way they should sometimes. I am constantly working and taking calls.
Anyways the boss in the meeting stated anyone on the internet from now on (unless its for companyh purposes) would be fired. I do not blame him one bit, but he also announced that he had to pull thirty thousand dollars of his familys money into the company to keep it afloat. The numbers were so bad that he began asking staff members to see if we could get some accounts signed up, hoping we had some friends or aquaintances. He looked very upset, close to tears.
I felt moved to compassion seeing the anxiety and pain in his eyes as he addressed the staff. later on, one of the employees quietly told me "he pulls this every year" and the Jan sales are double what they were last year.
My supervisor told me privately that she feels hurt that she cant get me a raise and knows I deserve one and I should have gotten one a long time ago. She also privately told me that no ones salary has changed for three years. (I know that is a lie because my coworker got a raise several months ago when they switched her over to salary). She had tears in her eyes when she told me this and told me that I sound great on the phone, I am doing a great job, and she wouldn't want anyone else working for her doing what I do than me. She also said that as soon as something changes she will let me know.
I don't know if my boss is stingy or really broke and scared, but I am really disssapointed. I don't need the money, it's just the principal of the thing, not getting any salary increase at all.
I don't need the money because I am blessed enough at 44 to be living at home and paying only 100 dollars a month. I am grateful I have a job, but I am struggling with whether I should buy the bosses story about things being tight, or if he is just miserly and doesn't want to compensate people properly. He owns several properties, cars, and seems to take frequent vacations. Which is his choice, but his lifestyle seems to indicate he is not so broke after all.
I am beginning to see my boss in a different light. I'm torn between feeling resentment that all my hard work is not being financially rewarded, and feeling a little sorry that my boss is supposedly struggling. i do not know if he is truly struggling that much or if he is a bit of a drama king.
Would you look for another job, or hang in there?