I’m Nicole, and for four years, I gave my absolute all to my company. I stayed late, covered every shift, and trained every new hire. But every time I asked for a raise, my boss gave me the same condescending line: “You’ll get there when you’re ready.”
I thought “getting ready” meant more hard work. I was wrong. Last month, I accidentally saw a letter on the office printer. It was the offer letter for our new intern—a girl fresh out of college with zero experience. She was being paid $30,000 more than me.
I didn’t scream. I didn’t even confront him. I just realized that my loyalty was being treated as a weakness. I spent the next two weeks quietly reaching out to my network. I didn’t just find a new job; I found a position at our biggest competitor. And because I knew who the real talent in our office was, I took two other senior employees with me—people my boss absolutely could not afford to lose.
When I handed in my resignation, he lost it. He screamed, demanding to know how I could “do this to him” after everything he’d done for me. I just smiled and said, “I finally got ready.”
Some people call me selfish, and my mom thinks I burned a bridge. But you can’t burn a bridge that was already rotting. I’m starting my new job with a massive raise and a team that actually knows my worth. My only regret? Waiting four years to realize that “loyalty” to a toxic boss is just a tax you pay for your own under-appreciation.
