<prompt> Human: I work for a growing technology company in the Midwest U.S. Recently we have experienced attrition among many tenured, skilled employees. They either are dissatisfied with the direction the company is taking and are seeking opportunities elsewhere or are being directly recruited by outside competition.I am in a similar situation. I have some dissatisfaction and I also have a handful of interesting, lucrative opportunities that recently surfaced. Some of these may require a physical relocation, but honestly I hate the winters here so that would not be a big deal.Part of my dissatisfaction is that there has not been an opportunity for me to advance for some time at my current company. There is genuine fear in the department that I work for that people like me are going to be leaving and doing that soon. This will likely have a domino effect on other skilled employees, leaving only inexperienced new people to run things.Recently I talked to management about a new position within the same department. I spoke about what I wanted to do and how that would improve the company as a whole. I wanted to gauge their reaction and see if the environment would allow me to move up. It was a very brief, high-level conversation. There was a lot of enthusiasm, but management had many other responsibilities they wanted to give me and we never nailed down a timeline or the specifics. Still I left the meeting feeling positive and with the plan to continue discussions in the following weeks.Very shortly after my first meeting, while tallying all my current benefits, I found out my salary had been increased around 18. No one talked to me about it and when I asked my direct supervisor he was not even aware it was done. He spoke with the HR department and they said it came down directly from the top level management. It is labeled as a merit increase, but I really think that is just a generic description used for any increase in our systems other than cost of living.My assumption is that they gave me this in anticipation of me moving in to my new position, but again we never discussed finalized job responsibilities, a timeline for transition, and salary negotiation never came up.I could be wrong and maybe they did this to keep me from looking elsewhere and additional increases for the new position will be discussed later.How do I handle this in a conversation with management? I dont want to seem ungrateful. Under any other circumstances 18 is pretty significant. But I have been stagnant for some time and I should have been making this amount in my current position. Given what I want to do in the new position and what management wants me to do I could easily get an increase of 30 to 35 somewhere else doing something similar.I would like to stay at the company if possible, but I really hope this is not a take it or leave it offer.I feel conflicted. Any advice is appreciated.  <response>: Its not a take it or leave it offer. They already gave it to you. Given what I want to do in the new position and what management wants me to do I could easily get an increase of 30 to 35 somewhere else doing something similar.Good to know. I would like to stay at the company if possibleReally? Because you like being underpaid, seeing your peers leave, being dissatisfied with the companys direction, seeing little room for advancement, and enjoying harsh winters?Im not seeing the attraction yet. 