About a week ago, they moved me to a different department at work, and changed my job description. I'm now officially supposed to do the things I've been doing for the past nine months — that is, 95% of what I do is not what I was originally hired to do. However, that still includes some pretty high-level tasks (enterprise-wide system administration, programming, upper-level support, and so on), but my pay hasn't changed; I'm still only being paid as a first-level hardware tech.

The Überboss promised me he'd put in the paperwork to bring me into the company itself (I'm currently working as a contractor) with a substantial raise, but he's now gone on vacation. He's very good at letting people know what he's done on their behalf, but he left without telling me that he had, in fact, submitted said paperwork. (He does, by the way, frequently voice his discontent with people who promise to do something and then fail to actually do it by the time they've said they'll do it — so hopefully he was just too busy to let me know.)

I've told my new immediate supervisor that I will not work indefinitely at this pay level, and he said if the company won't pay me what I'm worth, he'll write me as many glowing letters of recommendation as I need. (Though I've heard that before...) Starting Monday, I'll be beginning a countdown on my To Do whiteboard¹. If the promised employment-with-raise fails to materialize before the countdown reaches zero, I shall, with regret, terminate my association with the company. It will indeed be with regret, as I enjoy my job and most of the people I work with. But I don't think it's unreasonable to desire a salary commensurate with the work I'm expected to perform. All I ask is to be treated fairly.

And given that the Überboss frequently proclaims that he treats others the way he wants to be treated, I'm fairly hopeful that he will make good on his promise. After all, nobody wants to be taken advantage of...

1. Currently labeled "Things I'm not being paid enough to do".