1 year and 4 months! That’s 16 months, or 485 days (approx). That’s how long I’ve had to wait for a promotion hike. That feels like a very long time to me. And now I finally have the papers to prove that yes, the company is no longer to deny me what I deserve. But I’m not happy with what they have given me.

I was promoted to the current profile back in July 2008. I didn’t get any pay hike at that time. I asked for one and was told that I would get one in September. I didn’t get anything. I expected one in December and was disappointed once again. I voiced out my dissatisfaction to those concerned and was told to wait till April. April came and went and no increase in salary. I was getting frustrated.

In May, I got the news that I’ve been promoted to Assistant Manager and I was elated. The grade change was with effect from the 1st of April – did they just play an April’s fool on me? Where was the money? “Recession” is what I got back as a reply. This and that and about cost cuts. While Managers, DGMs, GMs & VPs traveled & stayed in luxury and carried laptops and expensive clothes. Fucked once again.

In June I was told that I would get a hike only by October’s salary, which I get in hand by November 1st. I was like “What the fuck?” I tried looking out for a new job many times. I came close a few times. A couple of places they laughed at the salary that I was drawing and insulted me. A couple of others I came towards the end but something or the other would cost me the opportunity. I grew more and more depressed.

So finally I have the papers and I know that my salary hike is hitting me in a couple of weeks. But it is much lower that I expected. As I explained I know that I should have a salary correction when I got promoted to this profile and then one more when I became an AM. Plus there is an annual increment based on performance. They lumped all that together. The minimum that I was expecting is Rs.5k more than what I have got. How can I be satisfied?

I can now use this as a building block for my next job. In January I would have completed 3 years in this company and that’s good enough. Time to move to greener pastures.