#WeekendCoffeeShare: Get a Raise and Move On?

Published on by Yinglan

Good morning and thank you for joining me for this lovely chat on this beautiful Saturday. First of all, I would like to say that Mother Nature is having a fit.

All week long we had nice cool upper 80’s-degree-Fahrenheit weather, then when the weekend comes, it climbs up to 95 or 96 degrees. I’m like why are you teasing me? Stop this and give me fall weather now!

Anyway, since it’s not cool enough, I’ll have one-half cup of cappuccino with one-half cup of soy milk. Not to worry, I didn’t fall off the caffeine wagon, this stuff is 99.9% de-caffeinated. How about you? What would you like?

I would tell you I was busy last weekend, successfully single-handedly assembling two bookcases and moving them to their places. However, I didn’t put carpet tape on the vinyl runner to secure it to the carpet. I bought the tape on Friday but decided to return it on Saturday. I figure, as long as I don’t stumble around the carpet like a drunkard, I shouldn’t need to secure the runner to the carpet.

Last Sunday, I went to Mirror Lake. It was four hours round-trip. I was so exhausted when I got home that I fell asleep instantly. After dinner, I wanted to take an immediate shower and climb into bed but my mom said it’s ill advised to shower right after dinner. So I ended up watching Food Network but after about 10 minutes, I fell asleep AGAIN and before I knew it, two hours had flew by. Crap!

Oh yeah, the trip was absolutely worth it. I not only got to see some breathtaking scenery but I got some awesome landscapes. I haven’t finished looking at them yet but hopefully, I will finish looking at them this weekend and post more in later posts.

Mirror Lake
Pedal boarding
Mirror Lake

This week was an okay week at work. All in all, it’s been quiet and peaceful without Mr. COO and I’m grateful. I passed my three-month mark this week and on the day of my three-month work-aversary, my boss, Mr. CEO, called me into his office. I felt like I was in trouble. “Congratulation, you made it to three months.” He began. “What do you think of the company so far?”

“Okay,” I said though I wanted to say a lot more but what I feared it would get me fired.

“What can I do to make your experience better?” He said.

“Raise my salary?” I have no idea why I stated it like a question. He crossed his legs and asked me how much I had in mind. “Like 5-dollars more per hour?” Please keep in mind I have never asked for a raise and I tend to be explicit and frank when someone ask me something.

“How much would that be?”

“25-dollars per hour?” I began fidgeting, playing with my fingers of such. I was starting to regret I raised the question at all but I told myself, you can do this. This is a free country, you have the right to ask a raise. 

“That’s a 25% raise, a little much, don’t you think?”

I was really regretting this. Why did I had to be such big mouth? “Perhaps, it’s a little much. Maybe we can go slow, baby steps.” I couldn’t believe I said “baby steps.” That’s not professional language. I ended up getting a 15% pay-raise.

The next day was when I began to feel guilty because I applied for a job 15 minutes from my home. About 30 minutes after I applied, the company called me for an interview. The lady who called me sounded desperate. So I went to an interview the next day, Friday.

It’s a trampoline park management firm. It sounded fun and I would be able to cut commute by 45 minutes. Although my gut was telling me the interview went well, my heart was telling me I probably won’t get the job. Maybe I”m just afraid to break the news to my current boss if the company decided to hire me. What a conundrum!

I do hope I get this job though because it would cut my commute time and I would not have to deal with a micromanaging boss. Crossing my fingers.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for now. Thank you for joining me and hope you can join me again same time next Saturday.

21 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare: Get a Raise and Move On?”

  3. I’m happy you’ve gotten a raise. 15 percent is good and I know myself how hard negotiating raises can be. Someone told me once to negotiate like your a guy, like your the best and they’re lucky to have you. You have all this experience from before and, honestly, paying you $25.00 comes out to $50,000 annually which isn’t a lot to live on. Do you receive or will you receive company health benefits?

    Plus, you’re doing both your job and the job in HR. I know it feels much different when you’re standing in front of your boss and you may become anxious. Bur I’m just thinking, for all the work you do and what you put up with, you are worth what you wanted (even more).

    But maybe in 3 to 6 months you’ll have that $25.00/hr or you can ask for $27.00/hr to start with to make sure u get that $25.00 or even $26.00? Vacation time is also negotiable. I don’t know how much you received to start? Some places start with two weeks, but most I know now, start with 3 weeks, so that’s something to mention if you end up staying at that company in the future too.

    Or, the same things are applicable when/if you find a better place to work and are negotiating your starting salary and vacation time. Overestimate your worth, that’s my advice. Don’t underestimate it. That was my mistake at my first job!

    Cheers Yinglan,

    Have a great week!

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    Reply

    1. $50,000 is actually considered middle class where I live. The standard of living is fairly low here compared to Canada. I’ve been there and everything, especially food, is more expensive there. So I get where you’re coming from when you say $50,000 isn’t a lot to live on.

      And no, I’m not getting any kind of benefits from the company. Startup companies cannot purchase any employee health insurance and other benefits like retirement fund until it’s been in business for a year. So I won’t have any benefits until next year.

      I’m not doing HR duties anymore. However, I am performing more duties than what was written in my job description.

      Two weeks vacation?! I wish I have that much. I only get 5 vacation days and 3 sick days. The previous HR who wrote the handbook was super inexperienced and I’m kinda glad she quit because she only gave me 4 or 5 national holiday day off. I was hoping the current HR would change that but she just made it worse. 😒

      All in all, I had learned a hard lesson from this job. When I went into the job interview yesterday, I told the assistant director my wage expectation and now, I just hope he didn’t think I was asking for too high.

      Have a great weekend to you. ☺

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      Reply

      1. No worries. I really do think you deserve two weeks vacation at least and you should be able to have 1 sick day a month outside of time for the occasional doctor’s appointment. Crossing my fingers for you, that this place accepts your wage expectations and that more holidays and benefits happen with this job. $50 000 isn’t bad by any means in Canada, however, with your experience you should get higher is what I’m saying, praying for you!

        Liked by 1 person

  6. I am sending some wisdom your way, Yinglan. Not necessarily from me, but from inside yourself to make the best decision if you’re put in that position. Congratulations on the raise and for standing up for yourself. Well done. Never tried that myself.
    Hope you have a great week.
    xx Rowena

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