The Annual Raise

We received our annual raises on Friday to compensate for increased living costs. As usual, the raises barely (if at all) covered the increased costs of traveling and insurance.

Amazingly enough, I was surprised to get an extra 1% higher raise than last year. Seeming how gas prices have nearly doubled the cost I have to pay to drive my Focus 40 min to and 40 min from work, it's still a pittance. I do carpool with my husband, but I always have. So, whatever. I don't even have a clue as to how much my contribution to my benefits at work have increased.

But whatever.

It was kind of interesting how they decided to give the raises this year. Typically they leave an envelope in your mailbox, letting you know your raise amount. However, this time around, our manager (in this case, Step-on-me) had to give them out by hand. We thought it sounded fishy. Course, considering whom I work for, what doesn't make me paranoid?

As you might have expected (and we did see coming) there was bad news. Piper, the individual who got the nice new title--which she deserved--was declined any raise at all. 0% raise, simply because she makes too many mistakes in drafts. Too many mistakes, in drafts. Not, too many mistakes in final printed pieces, but too many mistakes in drafts. Yes, drafts, as in those pieces of paper that are proofread for mistakes in the first place. Too many mistakes in them, so NO RAISE FOR YOU.

Me, being the semi-pro-conspiracist, instantly suspect that their inability to give Piper a demeaning title with low-pay means that her new income bracket for her new title is SERIOUSLY higher than they want to pay. So, they’re pulling the ole’ ICE Squeeze on Piper.

The ICE Squeeze (thee before a vowel; thuh before a consonant) (see) (skweezee) Phrasal Verb

Refers to ICE upper management deciding that they don’t like a particular employee, so instead of firing said individual, they ‘squeeze’ them out of said position by making them very unhappy, unsatisfied, and very disgruntled. Said employee normally will quit the position of their own accord, enabling ICE to not pay any unemployment or severance pay because they didn’t have to fire said employee.

Squeezing usually involves one or more of the following:

1. Reducing responsibility.


2. Reducing managed staff.


3. Increasing job duties (this would be nothing that individual would enjoy doing).


4. Decreasing pay.


5. Demoting title.


6. Not giving a raise

I presume this is the first step of many that will make Piper disgruntled enough to want to leave ICE.

Please note:
• Piper was responsible for the ad campaign that netted ICE first place in a national advertising contest. However, upper management (and Step-on-me) have taken to point all honors for the campaign to Step-on-me.
• Piper’s new title and job description mention nothing of accuracy in drafts. In fact, Step-on-me declined Piper’s request to take a proofreading class, stating instead, that we need to be concerned on message and not accuracy.
• Piper only heard Step-on-me’s concerns about the accuracy in drafts during her annual review and didn’t know this was an on-going high concern.
• The marketing department, as a whole, has decreased the amount of mistakes made in printed brochures significantly in the past two years.
• The point of doing drafts is to catch mistakes made.
• A large portion of the mistakes made in Piper’s drafts were made in the information given to Piper. She had no other source of information to tell her that the information she received was incorrect.