Steffen H. 2025-09-11T19:08:42Z
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Rain lashed against the window as I stared at the PDF, those numbers blurring like smudged ink. My annual bonus notification had arrived, promising financial relief after months of medical bills. Yet when the deposit hit my account, it felt like someone had siphoned half of it into a black hole. I remember the chill crawling up my spine—not from the storm outside, but from that gut-punch discrepancy between gross and net. My fingers trembled tapping calculator apps that spat generic estimates, u