Small print shop, four employees, profitable in the way that means I take home less than he would after this raise. He’s asked for 20%. And the problem is he’s worth it. He’s the reason two of our biggest accounts stayed through a rough patch last year, he trains everyone else, and if he walks I’m in real trouble in a way I don’t think he understands. I can’t do 20%. I’ve run the numbers four times hoping I was wrong. I could maybe do 8% and it would hurt. What I keep turning over. Do I show him the actual books, which feels honest but also unfair, dumping the business’s problems on an employee, and there’s a part of me scared he looks at my margins and realizes he could just do this himself. Do I offer something that isn’t cash, more time off, a title, some kind of share down the road, though every time I’ve seen a title handed out instead of money it went bad within a year. Or do I just tell him straight, you’re worth it, I can’t do it, and start bracing for him to leave. The conversation is Thursday and I don’t want to walk in there without knowing what I’m actually offering. Anyone been the owner on this and had it end somewhere other than the person leaving anyway?