I worked at one of my former companies for over eleven years. I knew from the very beginning that in order to get a raise, I had to ask for one. It was because TPTB figured that if we didn’t ask for a raise, that meant that we were happy with the salary we were getting, so why should they waste money by giving us a raise that we didn’t even ask for. Other employees said that they didn’t want to have to beg for a raise, but I said that it didn’t count as begging, because it was the only way we could get a raise.

Every time I asked for a raise, I got one. Until the last time. My supervisor told me that I agreed that I deserved a raise, and he went to tell the office manager that. Then he turned, and he told me that TPTB had decided (instead of making us ask for a raise) that a committee would meet to evaluate whether or not an employee was deserving of a raise. Unfortunately, he said, the committee was unable to meet, because someone was always out sick, on vacation, or away on a business trip. When I told my supervisor that I didn’t care for this plan, he said, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

For the next six weeks, every time my supervisor called me in, I was sure that he was going to tell me that the committee had met, and I was going to get my raise. It never happened. I never asked him or the office manager or anyone else if they had any idea as to when the committee would meet. (This might have been a mistake, since maybe TPTB figured that since I wasn’t nagging anyone about getting a raise, that meant that I really didn’t want one.) I found out that there were lots of other employees waiting for the committee to meet. We weren’t told who was on the committee, so we were unable to say that all of them were in the office every single day that week, so why couldn’t they meet.

After six weeks, I decided to look for another job. It took me a few weeks to get one. When I gave two weeks notice, part of me was triumphant, and part of me was very hurt that TPTB didn’t think enough of me to try to keep me by giving me a raise. I joined the chorus of many, many other employees who said, “I got tired of waiting for the committee to meet.” TPTB guaranteed that the committee would meet by the end of the year. (This was at the end of July.) I said that I didn’t want to wait that long. The committee did not meet at the end of the year. I eventually found out that the committee didn’t even meet by the following March.

I just can’t believe in advice that tells you how to get a raise, because NOTHING would have worked on my former company. TPTB would just have told you to wait for the committee to meet. And I have a feeling that if I had asked regularly for any updates as to when the committee would meet, they would have fired me.