My salary situation at ’Morning Joe’ wasn’t right. I made five attempts to fix it, then realized I’d made the same mistake every time: I apologised for asking.

Brzezinski frames a pay dispute as a lesson in negotiation and self-advocacy, especially for women in workplaces where asking for equitable compensation can be socially penalized. The key insight is that the substance of the request mattered less than the posture: repeatedly “apologising for asking” signaled discomfort and invited dismissal, undermining her leverage. The quote critiques internalized norms that equate assertiveness with impropriety, and it suggests that effective bargaining requires treating fair pay as legitimate rather than as a favor. It also implies a broader structural issue—pay inequity—while emphasizing the practical, behavioral change of asking without apology.