I worked at a company where you could only get a raise when you scored high on the performance appraisal. I was young and really worked my ass off, really went

I worked at a company where you could only get a raise when you scored high on the performance appraisal. I was young and really worked my ass off, really went for it. Never got a good appraisal. Years later I work at another company, and my previous manager is now my team colleague. He eventually tells me: Yeah, we where not allowed to give more then two people, in our department of sixty, a high appraisal. Since we did not want to give people a raise. He agreed it was shitty, but he was just middle management and had to play ball. I was naive; working hard does not get noticed, it does not matter. Learning what the managers actually want and making them dependent on you is what gets noticed and rewarded. It's just sickening. So I went freelance.