Hey, when it comes to work and your finances, you gotta take care of Number One, baby!

But that doesn’t mean you have to be shady or dishonest…

Did this guy do anything wrong when he accepted a raise with his company after he said he’d take another position elsewhere?

Read his story and see what you think.

AITA for accepting a counter offer from my current employer when I said that I wouldn’t?

“I (26M) have been working for my current employer (an advertising firm) for four years.

It was my first job out of college and so far I have genuinely enjoyed working for them.

A few weeks ago I was approached by a former colleague now working at a new firm, and was asked if I would like to join her new team.

He decided to give it a shot.

Initially I said no thanks, but after some persistence on her part I decided it couldn’t hurt to interview.

The first interview went really well and I was intrigued by the team they were building.

I ended up going all the way through the process to the point where their internal HR Rep made me an offer to come join.

The first offer was for $70K, about $10K more than I make now. Since I was happy with my current employer and only wanted to leave for a significant raise, I asked if they could come up to $75K.

To which the HR rep responded that it was unlikely he could get that much, but if I would agree on the spot to not accept a counter from my current employer, he we go back to the team and lobby them to bump it to $72K.

I was a bit caught off guard as this was the first time in my professional career I was negotiating leaving for a new company, but decided the raise was worth it and said okay.

The rep called me back an hour later and said he was able to get me the extra $2K.

We then discussed turning in my two weeks and agreed on a target start date.

He had to break the news…

Fast forward a few days and I go to my manager’s office and tell her about the new job. She and I have had a great working relationship and I consider her a mentor.

She said she was sad to see me go but understood.

She asked if there was anything she could do to make me stay, to which I replied no and informed her of my agreement to not take a counter, which she respected.

The following day I officially handed my notice to our HR manager, who also asked if I wanted to hear a counter offer, to which I once again replied no thanks.

It looked like the hard part was over but later that afternoon I got a message from my boss asking me to come to her office.

Once I arrived there were two senior VPs already sitting down.

After I walked in my boss told me that while they respected my decision they felt they had to at least attempt to make me stay.

One of the VPs (who I had met a handful of times prior) spoke up and said that he believed I had a bright future ahead of me at the firm and offered me $75K and the assurance that I was on the short list to be promoted in the coming months.

This was getting interesting.

I understand to some this probably sounds like typical corporate bull ****, but his words felt very sincere and in my experience with this company they have always taken care of their people and delivered on promises.

I told him I appreciated the offer, but had already agreed that i would not take a counter.

However, he assured me that accepting a counter even after expressing that you wouldn’t, is completely normal in this industry and that it happens quite often.

He went on to say that while the other firm may be upset they should ultimately respect that I have to do what’s best for me.

He made a decision.

The meeting ended with me accepting their offer and feeling like I made the best decision I could, I was genuinely excited that I wouldn’t be leaving after all and felt a huge weight off my shoulders.

That is until a few hours later…

That afternoon I called my former colleague and told her the news.

I apologized for pulling out at the last minute and while she was a bit disappointed, she ultimately understood and told me she doesn’t take these things personally, and that it is a normal part of business.

Uh oh…

However about 15 minutes later I received a call from the HR rep that I originally negotiated with.

He said that he was “disturbed” to hear I would be accepting the counter offer, and that he stuck his neck out to get me from $70K to $72K.

For the next minute or so he went on to absolutely berate me over the phone, shouting things like “this is not what a man does, a real man is true to his word”, “this business is a small world and you’ll regret this” and finally “You can tell me to go **** myself, but I’m going to give it to you straight”.

I was unable to get a word in given that he was literally yelling into the phone, I considered hanging up but I did have a since of guilt over the fact that I went back on my word, and felt that maybe I deserved to hear this.

He finally finished his rant, took a breath and said “I wish you well” before hanging up.

The interaction left me in a daze as I’ve never had a confrontation like that in a professional setting.

AITA for taking the counter offer? and was the HR rep’s reaction justified or did he take it too far?”

Check out how Reddit users reacted to this story.

This person said he’s NTA.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user spoke up.

Another reader chimed in.

And this individual weighed offered some advice.

He was looking out for himself…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So HR can shut up.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.