What someone says and how they feel about it can be two different things.

So, what would you do if your manager told you there was no room for growth and encouraged you to look elsewhere, but then got upset when you didn’t tell them about an interview that led to a better role? Would you be satisfied with your handling of the situation? Or would it leave you feeling bad?

In the following story, one employee experiences this exact situation and is unsure how to feel. Here’s his story.

AITAH for not giving a notice to my manager about a job interview?

I’ve been working in a particular corporation for almost 4 years in a customer service position.

Throughout this time, I’ve grown to become one of the seniors, or unofficial “advisors,” in my role, helping many people, including people in higher roles, sometimes stepping in for cases or to address clients who should be escalated to different teams.

I’ve had a few missteps where my manager vouched for me, but overall, our relationship I would consider is good, but strictly professional, with attentiveness to mutual respect and ability to count on one another in situations when he or I needs help, but knowing our age gap and “loosely thrown opinions,” we weren’t very close friends.

He received good advice from the manager in the past.

Last year, I had a conversation with my manager about how I’m looking for an opportunity to get a better salary (which includes searching for other roles).

He told me bluntly that there is no chance of my getting a raise or any opportunity for a promotion (with clarification that I can have a different “senior” title, but it won’t be following any financial benefits, to which I’ve agreed).

Additionally, he said that the best chance would be for me to find a better place at a different company and later apply again to my original place, as this is often the only way to renegotiate a better contract.

Then, the offer came.

Throughout the past six months, I’ve been looking for another place to work, without any luck. Throughout my tenure in my current role, I’ve applied twice for a vacant position on my team that would lead to a higher role (advisor), but I was rejected both times.

In my head, I was thinking that he’s aware that I’m looking for a better opportunity elsewhere, and a couple of weeks ago, it happened.

I had a meeting with a new department manager in my current company and I received a job offer for a different role, not in customer-service but more advanced (in regards to assisting with client’s onboardings, which is a brand new team in my company).

This came with better money, considering what I’ve been making (or what was predicted I’d be making this year, as my salary is tied to my performance rating). I said I could accept it, but first I wanted to speak to my manager to tell him about it, which I did the next Monday (I received the offer Friday evening; he was off by then).

It was clear that his manager was upset.

During my conversation with him, he told me he’s happy and congratulated me, but I could tell he was upset. He also mentioned that I should have given him notice that I have an interview.

He said it’s part of the company policy, which 1) I wasn’t aware of/must have slipped my mind during any courses that we have to do annually, 2) I really didn’t think much of it, considering that it’s been a 20+ offer I’ve applied to and didn’t have much luck so far, so I just assume that nothing would come out of it anyway.

In addition, another teammate of mine has applied to this and also got in, saying, “There can’t be a better promotion to join our team,” as two mid-to-senior members are moving to a different department.

As a result, I have the last 5 weeks in my current role, as he gave HR the green light for both of us, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve done him dirty.

AITA?

Yikes! Situations like this are always awkward.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about how it handled this.

According to this reader, companies be like that.

For this reader, it’s about him doing a lot of work for little pay.

This person doesn’t think you should disclose an interview.

Here’s someone else who doesn’t think you should ever share that info.

He handled it perfectly. Sharing this info too soon doesn’t always play out well either.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.