Employers love to frame every small benefit as a “win for the team.”

But those feel-good speeches fall apart fast when real-world expenses tell a different story.

This worker saw the gap firsthand when their rent skyrocketed while their raise barely covered pocket change.

Read on for the full story.

Got a salary increase that doesn’t even cover the rent increase.

My rent went up by $120.

My annual raise came out to an extra $60 a month before taxes.

The company seemed to be entirely out of touch with their employees’ economic reality.

The company framed it like they were doing us this huge favor and told us to “celebrate our progress together.”

Meanwhile, I’m calculating which groceries I can skip this month.

I’m so tired of pretending these tiny crumbs are meaningful.

The cost of living crisis is really taking its toll on working class people.

What did Reddit make of this?

Rent isn’t the only expense that’s going up like crazy.

This commenter feels the crushing pressure a rising cost of living can bring.

Inflation is the killer of all good wages.

Some bosses end up revealing just how out of touch they are.

In the end, no amount of corporate cheerleading can hide numbers that don’t add up.

And at some point, workers stop clapping and start calculating — and that’s when the real truth comes out.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.