A young woman recently shared a story about her job at a mid-sized marketing company. She had worked there for almost two years and described herself as someone who always tried to help out when things got busy. But when her coworker suddenly left, her manager dumped all the extra work on her without any extra pay, calling it “just business.” Now, she’s left feeling overwhelmed and unsure if she made the right choices.
How the situation started
The woman had a good relationship with her coworker, Sarah. They shared an office and often split big projects, taking turns handling tough clients or meeting tight deadlines. Their manager, Nick, was usually friendly, but he was also known for avoiding tough conversations and expecting his team to pick up slack without much discussion.
When Sarah announced she was leaving for a new job, everyone wished her well. The woman assumed the company would start looking for a replacement soon, and that things would be hectic for a few weeks.
What led to the conflict
After Sarah’s last day, the woman noticed her inbox filling up with new assignments—tasks she recognized as the ones Sarah used to handle. At first, she thought it was temporary. But after a week, she still hadn’t heard anything about hiring someone new.
She decided to talk to Nick about it. She asked if there were plans to hire a replacement, mentioning that she’d been swamped trying to keep up with both her own work and Sarah’s. Nick just shrugged and told her, “It’s just business. Sometimes we all have to step up.” He brushed off her question about extra compensation, saying there wasn’t room in the budget for raises right now.
How the situation escalated
After that meeting, the woman felt frustrated and taken advantage of. She was putting in extra hours every day and still getting emails from clients asking why their projects weren’t done yet. Some coworkers started noticing, too—one even joked that she was “the new Sarah now.”
She tried to keep up, but the stress started showing. She missed a deadline for one client because she was juggling too many things at once, and Nick emailed her about it. She replied, reminding him she’d asked for help and was now handling double the workload, but Nick only replied with, “We all have to make sacrifices. That’s just the way it is here.”
Why they’re now questioning their decision
Now, the woman is wondering if agreeing to take on all that extra work without a raise was the right choice. She feels burned out and unappreciated. She worries that if she keeps quiet, the company will just expect her to do two people’s jobs forever, but she also doesn’t want to risk her position by pushing back too hard.
She’s started looking at job postings in her spare time, but she still isn’t sure what to do next.
Now they’re asking the internet for advice
Feeling stuck and frustrated, the woman shared her story online to ask others what they think. She wanted advice about how to handle the extra workload, whether she was wrong to expect a raise, and what her next steps should be. She hoped someone else out there might have been through something similar and could help her figure out what to do.
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