Asking for fair pay is often treated like a bluff in rigid corporate systems.

When one employee repeatedly pushed HR for a higher salary, their boss brushed it off, confident they wouldn’t actually leave.

That confidence vanished the moment the employee switched departments and landed a massive raise, proving just how costly underestimating your own people can be.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

Want me to apply to another team? You got it!

I am a data analyst and have too many STEM degrees to count. I work at a big bank where the only thing that matters is years of experience.

It doesn’t matter if you have a PhD or a bachelor’s degree; they both mean the same thing. I came in as an entry-level employee at 28 because I spent so long in school.

Before long, the employee started to feel underpaid.

I was performing far above an entry-level analyst, so once my minimum years of experience hit, I told my director that I wanted $80k or I would apply to another team.

Of course, the boss quickly shut him down and refused to explore the issue further.

He told me there was no way I was going to get $80k from any team. I asked if he could at least check with HR because I didn’t really want to change teams, but I wanted to be paid what I felt I deserved.

The boss invited him to try and do better, so that’s exactly what he did.

He refused and said, “I’m not going to ask HR because I know 100% that you’re not going to get paid that much no matter what. If you want to waste time applying to other teams just to be told the same thing, then go ahead!”

So I applied to another team in the same department that same day. This was Monday.

This went even better than he was anticipating, and he was able to secure a massive raise.

On Wednesday, the director of that team called me for an interview. On Thursday, I received an offer.

The offer was for $92k. I accepted immediately and informed my current director that I had accepted a new position.

His old boss wasn’t pleased at all.

He was furious and asked why I would apply and accept a role without telling him. I replied, “You told me to.”

Two weeks later, I started my new position.

Once the higher-ups started looking into it, it was clear just how toxic this boss’ arrogance really was.

Shortly after, my old VP called me and asked why I left without giving them a chance to counteroffer.

I explained what had happened, and he was shocked. He told me they would have countered on the spot.

It turns out my old director never thought I would actually leave.

Jokes on him.

Let’s hope this boss learned a very valuable lesson from this.

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

Employers seem to underestimate just how important fair pay is to employees.

By the time managers finally wise up, it’s often too late.

It’s so satisfying when an employee can call their company’s bluff.

Turns out loyalty doesn’t pay nearly as well as confidence.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.