Chapter 1: The Raise That Never Came

My boss hasn't given me a raise for seven straight years. That's enough time for the world to change, but my paycheck was stuck in a time warp. Every annual review, I’d hold my breath, hoping—just a little—that he’d finally notice my work. But year after year, nothing. Not a penny more.

This year, everyone else got a bump. Everyone but me.

I sat at my desk that morning, watching a stream of congratulatory emails pop up on my screen. My phone buzzed with Slack messages—colleagues quietly celebrating, all of them skirting around me like I had some contagious gloom. The bitterness burned in my chest. I clenched my fists under the desk, replaying last year’s humiliating review, the way my boss dodged my raise request, the excuses. My hands trembled. I stared at the flickering cursor, debating whether to finally speak up or just swallow it again. For a second, I almost talked myself out of it. Then I remembered the way my boss’s eyes glazed over the last time I’d asked. That was it. I pushed my chair back with a screech, stormed down the hall, past the flickering LED lights and the faded "Values" poster, and threw open my boss’s door, heart pounding and palms slick with sweat.

Fuming, I marched into his office and demanded to know why, after all these years, he still hadn't increased my salary.

He didn’t even bother to look up from his screen. "You think you’re irreplaceable? For this job, people would work for free. Take it or leave it."

The words hit like a slap. The office smelled of burnt K-cup coffee and stale printer toner, but all I could focus on was the casual way he trashed seven years of loyalty. I gripped my battered company mug so hard I thought it might crack.

With that, I left his office, my face burning.