Asking for a raise can be kind of awkward. You want to make sure you're making what you're worth, but you also don't want to risk upsetting the applecart.
Well one Wells Fargo employee had no such qualms, emailing the company's CEO and copying some 200,000 employees on the note to ask for a $3 BILLION raise.
And no, this wasn't a joke. But he didn't want it all for himself, either.
A copy of Tyrel Oates' letter was posted to Reddit. In it, he says the bank has a chance to be at the forefront in reducing income inequality and show "the other large corporations that it is very possible to maintain a profitable company that not only looks out for its consumers and shareholders, but its employees as well."
Oates estimates the bank has roughly 300,000 employees. His proposal: Give each one of those employees a $10,000 raise — a total of $3 billion. That would work out to roughly a $4.71 hourly raise.
Oates notes that would be just a fraction of what the company pulls in each year — and he's right. 2013 was a phenomenally successful year for Wells Fargo.
The bank had a net income of nearly $22 billion, making it the most profitable bank in the United States. JPMorgan Chase, which had held that title for the previous three years, came in second.
And Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, to whom Oates addressed his letter, pulled in $19.3 million in total compensation last year.
According to the Charlotte Observer, Oates is a customer relations worker for the bank in Oregon. He has reportedly been with the company for nearly seven years and currently makes slightly more than $15 an hour. He was making about $13 an hour when he started.
Oates told the paper his manager has assured him his job is not in jeopardy, though Stumpf has yet to reply to his email.
