Five Years In, I'm the Poorest Employee

My boss, Grant Conner, tells me that since the company has doubled its sales performance this year, he'll make sure to reward me nicely.

I'm filled with anticipation, thinking that perhaps it's time he's giving me a raise.

When everyone's having dinner at the year-end party, they are all discussing how much they'll get for the year-end bonus.

"Allow me to toast to you, Shania!"

Clare Randall, an intern who has joined the company for a month, shakily stands up to her feet while holding a full glass of red wine.

Her cheeks were flushed. She was clearly drunk.

"I feel so lucky, Shania! I'm just a fresh grad who doesn't know anything at all, and yet my boss has given me a six-thousand-dollar base salary! On top of that, I even get to learn from a wonderful mentor like you…"

My hand trembles violently at Clare's words, almost resulting in me spilling juice all over the table.

I've been working at this company for five years, and yet I've never received a raise before. But Clare's salary is twice my salary even though she's just joined!

In that moment, the noise around my table in the private hall seemed to disappear. The only thing left echoing in the air was the laughter of Clare Randall, the intern.

I slowly lowered my cup, my fingertips turning slightly white from the pressure.

Five years ago, the company had only a dozen or so employees, all crammed into a dilapidated residential unit.

During the interview, the company's founder, Grant Conner, held my hand and spoke sincerely.

"Shania, the company is just starting out. Right now, I can only offer you three thousand dollars. But rest assured, as long as we grow and succeed, I'll make sure you get your fair share."

I believed him.

For five years, I handled administration, human resources, and part of the business development work all by myself.

I watched the company grow from a dozen employees to the 300 it had today. I watched Mr. Conner's car upgrade from a used Volkswagen to a Porsche Cayenne.

I always thought everyone was like me—still scraping by on meager wages and working together to get through hard times for the company's future.

After all, at every meeting, Mr. Conner would plead poverty, saying the company was expanding too fast and cash flow was tight.

That was why I never had the heart to bring up a raise. I didn't want to make things difficult for Mr. Conner.

But now, a fresh graduate who couldn't even use Excel functions properly was getting a base salary of five thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, I was still earning a salary of three thousand dollars.

The sheer absurdity of the situation made my stomach churn.

I instinctively turned to look at a few of my longtime colleagues sitting at the same table.

Wendy Johnson, Ivan Weaver, and Anna Curtis were all veterans in the finance department who had started around the same time as me.