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Curiosity can get you in trouble, especially at work.

One employee at a small company had taken on serious responsibility despite a modest salary, meekly assuming that was just how things worked.

Then his boss handed him a government garnishment order for a former employee and told him to sort it out, sending him digging through digital company files.

In the process, he accidentally stumbled into the payroll files and saw exactly what his coworkers and bosses actually earned.

He didn’t like what he discovered. Not one bit.

Keep reading for the full story.

I regret seeing what I saw

I work at a small company under 50 employees. I work in the office, and I have quite a bit of responsibility despite having a low salary.

Soon his boss volun-told him for a new assignment.

My boss handed me an income garnishment order from the government regarding an employee we let go.

He told me to figure it out.

That’s when the employee made a startling discovery.

So I’m going through company files (digital) to get this guy’s info, and I accidentally accessed payroll files. I saw just how much my coworkers and bosses make.

Now the employee can’t stop thinking about it.

It doesn’t bother me that they make more, but it bothers me knowing they make so much but they only gave me a small raise. I feel they should definitely pay me $10k more per year given my responsibilities.

I really want to go back to how things were 5 minutes ago.

Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

What did Reddit have to say?

Maybe generous raises are a thing of the past.

Sometimes you have to use leverage to get your way.

Maybe this employee could use this experience and find a better company that would actually appreciate it.

It’s a hard lesson, but a needed one.

It’s not like he was snooping; he was literally doing what his boss told him to do. The incident just happened to reveal an inconvenient truth.

Taking on serious responsibility for years while getting handed a “small raise” is tolerable only if you never see the actual numbers behind it.

Now that he has, ignoring that gap isn’t really an option anymore.

Being this underpaid is just inexcusable.