People love to say that hard work pays off eventually, but stories like this make you question if that is still true.

A man spent years trying to do everything “right” career-wise.

He left a stressful job for something that seemed more stable, got laid off when the company started struggling, enrolled in an apprenticeship program, switched positions multiple times, and kept adapting whenever the industry changed around him.

The problem is that none of it actually seemed to move him forward in any meaningful way.

Every time he got close to better pay or more stability, something else got in the way.

Now, after almost ten years of working, retraining, and sticking it out, he realized he’s only making about six dollars more than before… What the heck?!

Read on for the full story.

It’s taken me almost ten years to make $6.

This is just a little rant to complain about the state of the work that I feel will have a few people who relate.

In 2017, I left a job I had been at for about 12 years.

I went from a worker, to a supervisor, back to an hourly, but was able to still keep my salary rate.

(Which at the time was just a few dollars off my previous pay, but cost me money because I went from doing 12 hour days to 16 hour salaried days).

I left this high stress job to help a friend of the family’s business in a similar industry to expand and upgrade their processes.

But things didn’t improve like he thought they would.

I took a $2 pay cut taking this job in exchange for a daily commute reduction from an hour and a half to 20 minutes.

After about eight months, the company took a turn and I ended up getting laid off.

And though I didn’t burn any bridges when I left the other place, the hiring manager who I was friends with was out on medical leave and the man who was covering for him ended up being someone who I had had issues with and he basically sandbagged any chance of me returning to the company.

Things needed to change, so he kept trying.

Luckily, while I was in unemployment, I enrolled in an apprenticeship program in a trade industry that I was interested in.

Nailed the interview, impressed the group sponsoring the program, managed to negotiate my target pay.

Coming up Milhouse.

Then when it started, found out that they were going to have me work at a prorated rate until I completed the program.

Earning a dollar towards my negotiated pay rate until completion of the program, six month minimum between raises.

It didn’t seem like a bad deal.

Ok, I was not paying for schooling but getting experience and education while getting pain.

Acceptable pay off.

Plus, because of my age, became a de facto spokesperson for this apprenticeship program that was being run by the state, showing up in articles, podcasts, conferences, and brochures selling this program.

But the main rub was that there were no merit increases for apprentices during the program, so no matter how hard I worked, I wasn’t getting more than an inch towards my “starting” pay.

He kept trying different strategies.

After a promotion with a small increase after two years, I switched to a position that worked at a higher pay rate.

But I got undercut on that rate by a few bucks because of my experience level and because they hired another guy back in the same area for considerably less than what he worked before.

They shorted me because they were afraid he’d find out I was making more than him.

Whatever.

But here I am now, never making more than a 2% increase a year on merit, no cost of living increases, no prospects for promotions.

It doesn’t feel right.

Even when I tried to change departments, they told me I’d have to take a cut to get that job because they work at a different scale.

Eventually I get dragged back to the job I was originally hired to do at the company because the customer got bought out and the new owners wanted to restart the project.

Being the only one left in the company who knows how to do the job, I was forced into it.

The only perk is that I’m basically irreplaceable at the moment and they are trying to keep me happy.

So I didn’t lose my job title or rate, and this merit raise I just received was the first time in my life I ever made an over a 3% increase.

But he’s not happy.

This is what brought me back to where I was when I left my old job, where the people I used to work with who are still there in the same positions are making at least $10 more than me at this time.

They are just as miserable, but they can at least afford to take vacations.

I’ve tried to look for other places in this industry, but almost everyone in it is being asked to work temp to hire, and I’m almost 50 now, I’m not going to spend ~3 months for **** pay on the promise of a job.

No one should at any age.

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I guess that in the end, I think it’s ludicrous that this is how the economy and world works.

Things need to improve for everyone, indeed.

What did Reddit think?

This is bad.

Yikes.

Another reader shares their experience.

Smart move.

Honestly, I get why he sounds so frustrated and almost hopeless. It’s not even about someone refusing to work hard or make sacrifices.

This guy kept adjusting over and over again trying to make things work.

He took pay cuts, learned new skills, switched departments, accepted slow raises and stayed loyal to companies that didn’t value him nearly as much as they should have.

Meanwhile, people around him who stayed put ended up making considerably more money anyway.

The worst part is that he’s apparently important enough to be considered “irreplaceable” but still not important enough to be paid what his experience is actually worth.

After almost a decade of effort, stress, and constant career pivots, ending up only a few dollars ahead feels less like progress and more like surviving a system designed to keep people stuck in place.

Just getting a “good job” is no longer enough.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a job-hunter who was shocked when the recruiting company told them too turn down a job because the salary was too low.