Why do they promise something they can’t deliver on?

It can be difficult to tell if the higher-ups at your company are being 100% honest with you. You’re not in the room when they discuss the precise figures for operational costs, revenue, and profit. You only know what they tell you, and what they tell the public, but sometimes those narratives are at odds with each other. Sometimes they’ll tell the world that they’re a world-class company that is doing better than ever, but they’ll tell you that there’s absolutely no way that they can afford to pay you any more, because the success is allegedly not enough to sustain a paltry pay increase. Maybe it’s true that they can’t afford to give raises and keep the lights on, but there are always signs that this isn’t the case.

If a company keeps hiring a bunch of new employees, they probably have some money to spare. If they’re getting rid of a lot of employees, they probably don’t. Employees aren’t stupid: they can tell when their bosses are lying through their teeth about the company not having enough money to give them a raise. It would be preferable for employers to simply say, «We don’t think you deserve a raise this year,» but companies obviously won’t do that because it would hurt people’s feelings. Professionalism is all about lying, but in order for it to be effective, you have to tell a believable lie. 

The CEO in this story lied to an employee about a raise, and she doesn’t know where to go from here. She’s particularly insulted by the pay gap between herself and the CEO, considering that they’re working for a non-profit.