I suffered through a similar situation myself, although fortunately I was never promised raises that never came - I just never got promised anything, haha. One

I suffered through a similar situation myself, although fortunately I was never promised raises that never came - I just never got promised anything, haha. One thing that helped me suffer through it all was the notion that "We're all in it together". My boss and my coworker were as underpaid as I was (more so in the case of my coworker), and so it was sort of a team effort: We're all suffering without the right level of pay, and we'll all share in the spoils once things take off. They never did. You can read about it here if you'd like: http://lookingbackaretrospective.posterous.com http://lookingbackaretrospective.posterous.com Your trip to China is certainly an interesting topic, and I'd love to read a series of posts on what your life was like while you were over there. Congrats on your decision to move on - It's an incredibly hard choice to make, and a lot of people struggle with it. Hopefully you can take it as a learning experience in putting yourself first when it matters, and be better for it in the long run. Thanks for writing about this!