Now that I was defending myself, it was a "professional relationship" and I had to respect my leader.
I dropped the meat on her desk, my voice deadly calm. "Joanna, I'm getting back to work. Remember to transfer me the money for the meat."
I sat down and woke my computer. A notification popped up immediately—a trending post: *Don't let small companies steal your passion.*
The top comment read: *[The boss's way of rewarding your ability to endure hardship is to give you more work, not more money.]*
I froze for two seconds, reflecting on my last two years.
The first year, the accounts showed results. One viral video brought the company 100,000 in revenue. Blake's reward? Assigning me five new accounts.
The second year, all six accounts broke 500,000 followers. The company's quarterly revenue topped a million. With no change in my workload, Blake assigned me even more content.
I had asked for a raise twice. Both times, Blake said young people shouldn't be too calculating. He told me to look at the long-term returns—stock options and a partnership once we went public.
Every application for a salary increase was rejected.
I opened a recruiting app and uploaded my resume.