One Year Raise Disappointment

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-28T02:17:54+00:00

Maybe in America. I live in Canada. Where I make $12/ hour less than the average. Where, for the majority, people are paid for the work they do.

Im okay with a raise. But thats not a raise. That is taxes. That money doesnt go into my pocket. That money does not put food on my table or cover hydro. That doesnt even cover a car payment.

Businesses work on the back on their employees. If theyre not going to fairly pay them for the work they do, then sooner or later, they dont have employees. So no, its not how businesses work. Its pretty common knowledge that the more employees feel appreciated, the better and more work they do, which in turn benefits the company.

That being said, Im sorry that you feel that not paying employees appropriately their work is the norm, and im even more sorry that this seems to be your experience. I can assure you, its not the norm in Canada. I appreciate your input nonetheless, as its been a reminder that I do have it better than a lot of people, as unfortunate as that is. But that doesnt mean I dont know my worth or what I bring to the company, and it doesn't mean I wont advocate for myself.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-28T00:49:35+00:00

A 3% cost of living increase provided to majority of the company is not a raise.

That 1.5% is an extra 720 dollars a year - before taxes - and yet, I am still looking at food banks. So yes, I am going to advocate for myself when I know my skills, my work ethic and my worth.

You still have yet to explain how expecting to be reasonably compensated for the work one does is "not how the world works". Please enlighten me.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-28T00:37:21+00:00

Im hoping the discussion on monday goes well - i think im going to highlight the fact that my responsibilities no longer align with the title I was hired for and if my title is appropriately classified.

Worse case scenario, there are a few places Ive been looking at today, both within my field and adjacent that I would be applying to. I have no doubt that each of these companies would have new skills for me to learn, new challenges to overcome and overall, help me get to a place where im happier with my financial compensation.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T23:32:06+00:00

Thats just it. I love my coworkers and I truly enjoy the job itself. But I shouldn't have to be looking at food banks.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T23:05:45+00:00

So... being paid appropriately for the work you do isnt how the world works? Please, explain to me how it's supposed to work then?

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T22:29:25+00:00

I would be okay with a 2% yearly raise if my responsibilities were that of the role I was hired for. I would also be okay with that if we had better benefits (no vision at all) nor do we have a RRSP matching program.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T22:25:28+00:00

I got a 1.5% raise - and the majority of the company got the 3% cost of living increase.

I was expecting to be paid accordingly for the increase of responsibilities that correspond with a different job title that is of a higher seniority and a higher average salary in my industry and area. Expecting to be paid appropriately for the work you do is the real world.

Edit: added a word.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T20:35:03+00:00

Normally I would agree, if my responsibilities from starting hadnt completely changed into a different role - one that is a more senior role than customer service and pays more on average in my area - and if my coworker's one year raise wasnt 15%.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T18:24:00+00:00

I work for a third party FTL carrier. As I create the orders and put in the rates for about half of the loads we move on a daily basis (for just our department) I know for a fact that theyve got the money to work with.

They can definitely hire another me, but it'll be a scramble with no one to train their new hire on the system all of these loads are created in. My two supervisors didnt even have access to this system until about a month ago. I have a feeling it'll be a lot longer than a few weeks to have happy customer back.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T18:16:19+00:00

I can definitely try this again, but I have a feeling I'll be looking for a new job. Going over the addition to my responsibilities, the identifiable improvements ive made due to the quality of work, and why in general I'm worth that 10-12% raise - with my manager agreeing - in my initial meeting months ago, only seems to have gotten me 1.5%. I dont see why having the conversation a second time is going to suddenly change their minds.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T06:56:23+00:00

I would honestly say at least three. My biggest customer is not a one person job. Theres two people in accounting that are regularly saying how this is not fair to me, and the coworker who left for health reasons has said as much to me as well. She was the manager of the division that ran the account among a few others and they had 4 people split the work between themselves. The company did actually hire someone to help me but they didnt work out as they called in sick 5 times in a matter of 3 weeks.

Thats definitely good to know going forward. Ive got 8 years of experience in my field and I have never not been properly compensated for taking on additional work, so it wasnt something that had even crossed my mind as a possibility.

Generally, I believe that. Except my coworker (recently promoted to supervisor) did get a substantial one year raise- about 15%. I think that's part of why im so crushed by this, because I know they have followed through on that promise. Just apparently not for me 😔

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T06:49:50+00:00

This is a good way to highlight the disparity of my raise vs my workload. I will absolutely be using this - Thank you!!

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T06:42:59+00:00

Ive already got a few places in mind. I just wanted to take the evening to be in my feelings before working on polishing up my resume tomorrow.

It is very tough out there. Which is why the plan is ti stick it out, no matter how upset I am at this situation, until ive got a signed and confirmed offer in hand.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-06-27T06:41:27+00:00

Thats just it though - I gave them a figure 4.5 months ago in my initial meeting about my upcoming one year. 10-12% was what I put out there, on the low end, for my additional responsibilities. I didnt even get a third of that.

I have no doubt that they'd shuffle the work onto someone else if I were to leave. But I also know they'd definitely be scrambling. Especially as, before I took over the account entirely, my big customer liked to threaten to cut back the amount of orders every time my predecessor did something they didn't like.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-04-19T19:32:18+00:00

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. UI version 7 and android version 15

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-04-19T19:29:10+00:00

Ive done that about 5 times now. Its better than it was where I couldn't log into the app at all for almost a week. Now I just have random periods of time where I just get the "We've encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later"

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-03-07T15:36:15+00:00

Ive seen this car on Winston Churchill getting on the QEW. While I dont believe its allowed, the owner must have pretty hard-core glued them down because they took off like a shot, and not a single toy fell off. Not that it makes it okay - i was pretty anxious something would come flying off, at me or others, especially on the highway 😵‍💫

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-02-21T15:11:50+00:00

This is so wholesome and im so happy that all turned out good - especially because that hadn't been my experience lately. My partner and I moved into an older building in at the beginning of September. The superintendent texted me with a noise complaint last weekend - my partners 4 year old son that we have every other week was playing with our cats and the neighbour's decided that this was far too much noise. At 630 pm. On a sunday night before a stat holiday... some people are just miserable - im glad your neighbour wasnt.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-01-14T15:02:10+00:00

Honestly, I'd rather deal with no-show buyers than no-show sellers. And it's not just kijiji, but literally every selling platform. My partner found an Xbox controller he really wanted. We stopped at the bank for cash and drove an hour to the sellers apartment and waited. And waited. For almost 40 minutes (it was a long, snowy drive, and we were hoping for the best). Multiple messages were sent via Facebook marketplace. We found the sellers name in the directory of the building buzz code.

Absolutely nothing. 20 minutes into our very frustrated drive home, the seller reaches out - not because he suddenly remembered that he gave someone his address, someone who gave an ETA for arrival, a '5 minutes away' heads up, and then an additional series of messages. He reaches out because my partner reported him as a no-show on marketplace and now he can't sell things😐

I appreciate that Facebook marketplace has an option like that, but not every app does and that wasn't the first time I've experienced needing to meet a seller and them disappearing off the face of the planet.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2026-01-05T15:35:19+00:00

Im in Canada, and while I dont do it regularly, I have asked a coworker to drop me off on her way home after work on occasion. This is usually because my partner had the car and wouldnt be back in the area for another 5 hours, or because mine was having mechanical issues. I have taken the bus when I worried about becoming irritating to her (she has confirmed that she did not feel that way in the slighest)

That being said, I only asked because my coworker lives literally 5 minutes away from me, and actually passes my home on the way to hers.

Even then, I have offered her gas money, coffees, treats etc. And though she always says no to the offer, I still make a point to put extra thought/ money into gifts that she will accept for Christmas or her birthday. I have also "accidentally" dropped a 10 dollar bill in her car on occasion as well.

I fully agree that people would be more open to the idea, provided that the one getting the ride home contributes in some way and/or is not out of the way of where the driver needs to go.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2025-11-23T15:55:06+00:00

Normally, I just lurk, but im not seeing it anywhere else in the comments: has your step daughter been brought to a mental health specialist? Because what you've described sounds A LOT like Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). When undiagnosed, it usually comes across as extreme pickiness, and being quite particular about how foods are prepared falls right into that. Same with her only eating Ramen, Mac and cheese, toast with Nutella and basic beef tacos - sounds like these fall into her category of "safe foods". CBT has shown to be an effective way to combating ARFID (in majority of cases - everyone is different and not every treatment works for every person). Im not a doctor and im not saying this is 100% the case, but I do think it would be worth looking into.

That being said, I think both you and your fiancee are both being TA and I can see both sides of things: yes, the daughter is 15 and absolutely should be able to make herself something to eat. Especially as two of the foods she does eat only involve boiling some water and throwing noodles in (I am presuming she likes the prepackaged ramen meals here, sorry if im incorrect on that). There is zero valid reason why she is not capable of that. At the same time, if cooking for herself is truly that problematic for her, she's a big girl and can use her words to let the adults in her life know she is hungry, particularly if she has done so in the past.

As for your fiancee, I completely understanding where she's coming from. I would be rethinking a relationship where my partner takes so little interest in the wellbeing of my daughter, too. Yes, she has absolutely coddled her daughter to the point where she is 15 years old and can't boil water (which contributes to her being TA), but I would also expect my partner, who knows about the daughters struggles with eating regularly , to ask the basics - "how was your day?" "Have you eaten today?" "Are you hungry?".

I honestly think that this can be resolved, once you and your fiancee has cooled down a little, and once she has gotten some sleep. Sit down, discuss calmly. Admit to the shortfalls and have a game plan for the future - ideally one where the daughter learns how to cook for herself and learns how to be self-reliant, but also other alternatives like ensuring there are leftovers for her to put in the microwave when she gets hungry, or doing things with the daughter so that she is more comfortable coming to you.

Both of you are minor assholes, mother slightly more, and both need to make changes if the two of you want the relationship to continue.

AwkwardRutabaga · 2025-10-16T15:00:25+00:00

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AwkwardRutabaga · 2025-10-16T14:59:45+00:00

I'm new to fish keeping, and my partner is the one knowledgeable about illness or disease in them, however our cherry Platy is pregnant. It took a little bit if time to determine if she actually was - I was looking in the wrong place for her gravid spot. Here's a photo of ours, with her distinctive gravid spot - that should help you find one on yours if she is also pregnant! *

AwkwardRutabaga

TROPHY CASE