Without any context, I might agree. But... > As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail

Without any context, I might agree. But... > As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail you. With the assumption that he fulfilled all his duties at work (i.e. good work performance), there is nothing wrong with asking to be paid close to / comparable to his peers. Salary contention is the easiest to fix. If you let go everyone who asks for a raise, then either your company is paying way below market rate or it is simply an excuse to get out of the organisation. > Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. I agree, but what I get is that the conversation happened via email exchanges. It wasn't clear whether the f* was directed at the CEO / boss or something outside of the conversation (i.e. venting). > Would I hire someone who creates a blog to make his boss look bad? No. He's obviously desperate to find a way out of a bad situation, thus the cry for help.