Employee finally quits toxic job of 7 years after being belittled and denied deserved raise by boss

Appraisals are one of the few important factors that motivate an employee to work harder for their company. But at many workplaces, the system of performance reviews to provide appraisals looks like a scam created to mislead employees. Workplace trends shared how only 55% of employees found the performance appraisal system effective. Some employers are using it as a tool to stop employees from getting what they truly deserve. u/Piccolo-Brave shared his story of how the system made him feel devalued and pushed him to take an immediate step, impacting his prospects in the company. The employee shared their entire story on Reddit.

The individual began the post by giving some context to his present situation. He has been employed in a 'grunt-esque secretarial/administrative role' for seven years. This job was his first outing in the professional world after college and because of this, he thought it was okay to accept a meager 36K a year with no real benefits. Even after years of rigorous hard work, he only managed to rise to $50k. Therefore, he was really looking forward to his appraisal which was happening for the first time in 4 years. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to live in California on this income and considering the dedication he put into his work, he believed he deserved the appraisal.

He went above and beyond for the company despite the toxic environment during his time there. The environment was full of "physical assaults, verbal abuse, sexism, racism and even some weird nepotism." Apart from his professional commitments, he also did a lot of personal favors for his boss like "being a shuttle service for his girlfriend, going to his house to turn off his alarm and even being a food delivery person, etc." Unfortunately, all his hopes were doomed when the appraisal day came and the negotiations began.

The meeting turned "into an hours-long performance review." In the meeting, they went over his output and work ethic minutely. After a thorough analysis, the company could only come up with "not turning off the light when I leave a room" or "not turning off the AC when I leave for the day." In spite of the small scale of the mistakes, the employer rejected his desired appraisal. He was informed that the only way for him to achieve that was by impressing his supervisors. This immediately alerted the employee that this was all a sham and that the company never wanted to give him the appraisal in the first place.

The raise that the employee ended up getting was considerably less than what he was initially asking. He was visibly upset about the stunt the company pulled about his "performance issues" and seeing his disappointment, the owner called him in for a second meeting. It was evident that he was an esteemed employee of the company and they did not want to let him go, at least not till they had used him to his last bits. The boss tried to explain his side of the story by saying that "he has to make tough business decisions and that he's never going to be able to give people what they want." The words sounded hollow as he "lives in two multi-million-dollar homes in the Bay Area and Southern California."

The words that pushed u/Piccolo-Brave to the edge were, "You're also not the type of person who has the caliber to make the $80-$90,000 you want to make." This was completely uncalled for as the fact that they were having this conversation proved that the employee was integral to the company. They wouldn't give him the time of day just for the sake of his sentiments as the whole system had no emotional conscience. Not wanting to suffer like this any longer, the employee handed in his resignation and gave his notice.

The comment section supported his decision. u/Xynrae encouraged the employee's decision, "That insult was uncalled for. Use your experience to find a better job and leave no notice. Normally I'd give a notice if the company has treated me fairly well, but in this case, it's up to you; however I wouldn't begrudge you at all if you just walked off." u/Moebius80 wished him luck for his future, "I'm glad you found your line in the sand OP, the place sounds toxic and you definitely should start looking for something better." The employee, in an update, shared that he has found a better job with a 50% hike and "100% more growth potential."