i worked as a manager for a cafe, me and my boss had a good relationship texting after hours, bonus's.
in lock down i was furloughed so i moved across to another city to live with my partner through lock down, my boss out-of-the-blue calls me in the evening telling me to go into work the next morning, something that wasn't possible, she went on to say "if you don't want to work here then just say" i did go in later that week and she said stuff like "there's plenty of others who'd have your job" for the record i was good at what i did, had no issues prior, anyway, a few weeks of this so i found another job, told her as much and handed in my resignation and the look that washed over her face.
she called a few times through the year asking if i'd come back.
moral of the story, as much as i liked working there i will not allow someone to call me expendable.
we should all have more respect for others and self respect.
I had a friend/coworker that was a top five most valuable employee in a software company of 500 and didn't seem to realize it. They called him in for every critical project, to bail out failing projects, and to help with hiring. He was client facing, technical, and co-workers followed his every word.
As middle management, I knew he made a lot less than me and others in his position. I told him it was ridiculous. He finally asked for a raise and they offered something paltry, saying it was the best they could do. My friend finally quit. Suddenly the company can easily match a 60% pay raise. Too late.
I know first hand there loss cost the company millions. I followed suit not much later and frabbed a nice 30% raise. All of my clients have since abandoned the company. They're down to less than 200 employees last I heard and fuck all for revenue.
Frankly, he's still being too nice. By splitting his pie among his whole team instead of demanding that the pie expand to improve their pay, he's still being taken advantage of.