for the first time in my entire life, i am going to ask for a raise. this is not sitting well with my creative, artistic soul. it’s making me feel all dirty all this thinking about and talking about money.
i feel like a hypocrit. well, i am a hypocrit a lot of the time (blame that on my gemininess)– but now i just feel really dirty. see, whenever i am in the early drafting stages of some propaganda campaign it’s always stuff like:
“if we can land a man on the moon, surely we can get you to buy our stuff.”
“just do it.”
“buy our stuff because we are greedy capitalist pig fuckers.”
“buy more stuff to pad my profit sharing check.”
see my point?
so here i am spending a vast majority of my time thinking about money and how i want to make more. my friendboy jeff tells me it’s the american way. but i still feel sorta icky about it.
i feel like i should be doing what i do for the love of words. for the joy it brings me to string words together. but then i got realistic. i am underpaid. i make 17K less than my coworker, who is my “equal.” i make 9K less than the lowest end of the current market value.
my idea and copy for our new product release announcement just happened to be one of the most successful campaigns we’ve ever launched on our trial users. my current spotlight campaign just happens to be the most profitable we’ve ever done.
i deserve a raise!
(yes this is still me trying to justify this all to myself)
Keep justifying, girl! Until you convince yourself that you’re right, because you are. Artistic, creative souls deserve to be paid fairly for their creations. 🙂
If you’re being paid less than the market average for what you do, then you MUST ask for a raise! NOW! You need no other justification! This is not about “capitalism,” or “selling out” or anything. This is about justice! This is about equality! This is about getting your fair share! This is about ham! (No, wait! This isn’t about ham at all, is it? Sorry…) The fact is, you have talent and bring value to the company. It’s only fair that the company compensate you properly.
You should ask for the raise, definitely. It’s not just about money, it’s about respect. If they respect you as much as your “equal”, they should pay you. Compensation is the only concrete way a company has to show your worth to them. I spent a year being dreadfully underpaid, and unfortunately, I knew what the people around me made and it made me bitter and angry. The longer you let it seep without saying something, the worse you’ll feel. You’ll eventually quit. Don’t let that happen. The worst thing they can say is no.
oh, i’ll be asking, don’t worry about that. i just feel so dirty doing it. i have my yearly review next week which seems to be the perfect time to do so, don’t you think?
Yes, do it at your review. But don’t bring up your co-worker’s salaries. Citing industry pay averages is a good start, and then make the bulk of your argument based on your performance citing specific examples, not based on playing “catch up” with other employees. Good luck!
Good luck, Jodi, you deserve that raise…
i don’t plan on mentioning ella at all in my review.
This is almost 3 years late but you shouldn’t listen to what those capitalist swine are encouraging you to do. Infact I don’t believe I saw a post with a view in your favor. So here’s my take on things. You shouldn’t have to ask for a raise. Yes you should be ashamed that you are even thinking about it. Here’s a suggestion depending on the rest of you’re fellow co-workers pay rates this may work. Have you ever thought about organizing a union? Just food for thought. Keep fighting the good fight. Peace.