How to Ask for a Raise After Reading an Email Chain

Have you ever thought about how to ask for a raise as you read through your email? Have you ever received a reprimand by email after successfully completing a project on time and within budget? Reprimand? Shouldn’t “on time” and “within budget” deserve praise and compliments? The answer is Yes to the praise/compliment and yes to the reprimand. I recently received an email from the boss with a reprimand for not completing a project much sooner than the deadline. The budget was $0 dollars so I was well within the budget. It was completed before the deadline so it was on time.

The boss (in his head only) wanted it done much before the deadline; he just didn’t tell anyone. As I was reading the email reprimand, I noticed that it was part of a long chain of emails, so I scrolled down. I normally don’t have time to scroll through long email chains; it was just that this particular one was very annoying since I was being reprimanded. At the very bottom of the email (the first email that started the chain), there was an email to the boss: Congratulations on a job well done! It turns out that the boss takes a lot of credit for my work and receives a lot of compliments for my work. When the boss passes the compliments on to me, they turn out as criticisms. It just goes to show that no matter how friendly your boss is to you in person, you can never trust your boss. The boss will tell you something in person and then act as if it never occurred. One step of learning how to ask for a raise is to make sure you have everything in writing.

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