When she walked into work, she knew she wouldn't see a reply email to her inquiry. But she had made her stance clear, and if there were any questions, the invitation to meet to talk should have sealed the deal. But a part of her knew that her boss would not be warm to the invitation or inquiry. As she sat at her new desk, her boss happened to come in to the office, avoided her eyes and walked to the cubicle right next to her and went to fiddle with a phone installation she didn't have equipment to fix it with.
She had to call her name three times and indicate she was asking about a question on how to address another employee's time out, in order for her boss to say, "oh," turn around and face her to answer her question. Once the question was answered, her boss turned, literally, her back to her and kept fiddling with the phone.
As soon as her boss saw she was busy with a client and distracted, the boss made a dash out the door, never to return. The next day, her boss came to talk shop with her new boss' associate, then took off again. She made a point of saying hello, and went about her business. She would see her at her offices tomorrow, as she would be covering for her old post, as her boss was supposedly looking for a new replacement. She would bide her time, let her boss stew and wonder.
After she got her things together and took care of some work, she went about planning on how to approach her soon to be former boss on what her new salary would be. She approached someone as a mentor to see what feedback she could get on what to say, what to expect when she approached her boss.
The mentor gave her some very good advice, to simply touch on whether her soon to be ex boss had seen her email, and inquire about the salary issue. The mentor stated to observe the response, and then based on the answer, or lack of one, simply send a follow-up email stating "per our conversation today, in order to make a fully informed decision, I would need the following information to complete the picture," or something to that effect.
She nodded, relieved, as she relayed her reservations on how her boss would treat her, and noted how others didn't fare as well despite being well thought of in the department. The mentor simply focused her thoughts on what was important, what she was concerned about, the lack of information such as the salary and what her job description, title and level would be. After discussing a few minutes more, she got a better picture from her mentor what she should look at, what should be addressed, and what could be negotiated or be brought up as negotiation points when the time comes.
It was a revealing and informative conversation. Relieved and armed with a plan, she thanked her mentor and moved on, her mind clear and focused. The only thing that could put a slight pause on her getting her agenda done would be if her boss didn't show up the next day when she would be covering her old desk for the day. She decided, enough of that, and she would think about it tomorrow. Tonight it was to go to the gym, get a good workout, eat dinner, and have a good rest to prepare for tomorrow's day.
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