I agree with all of what you're saying. I was just trying to point out to the OP that s/he doesn't need to feel dirty doing all this. I also don't think you ne

I agree with all of what you're saying. I was just trying to point out to the OP that s/he doesn't need to feel dirty doing all this. I also don't think you need to be dishonest about any of this. In my case, instead of letting the cat out of the bag by telling them I wanted to take the job, I should've said the offer was well below my expectation (true) and said nothing about whether I wanted to take the job (no lying involved). One advantage of doing what I did (i.e. not bring in another offer) is that I can now get even more when I quit from here. My suggestion is that if you're getting screwed over and the company want to keep you - get the best deal your company can give and then use THIS as a baseline for your next offer.