My boss told my colleagues I asked for a raise, so I quit. Should I tattletale on my boss?

Hi there, I (26f) think I have a bit of a toxic work environment. I work in healthcare as a clinic manager and i manage 5 health coordinators and 5 clinical techs. My boss is the regional director who manages 10 locations in my area. All 10 Clinic Managers report directly to her.

I am a high achiever - i try hard at my job to do a good job, keep my staff happy, be kind and supportive. I try to go above and beyond at all work I have to do. I asked for a raise about a month ago and I explained my reasoning (i.e. being the busiest location, training the most # of staff, covering another site when someone was on maternity leave, as well as living in a HCOL area and my salary doesn’t match market rate). I have never received any negative feedback about my performance, productivity, team, character, or quality of work. I’m not perfect - i have made mistakes but i try to fix them quickly. My boss even told me I was the best manager out of all 10 locations.

I sent an to my boss, Belinda, asking for a compensation review. Belinda sent it to her boss, Trey, who is brand new with the company. He is the VP of operations. For context i make a 60k salary, and I asked for 70k, hoping to negotiate and land around 65-68k.

I was turned down by Trey. He said that they will revisit this topic when I hit my 2 years anniversary with the company which is 2 months away. I let them know that I understood, and I will follow up in 2 months.

A few weeks passed by, and I learned that Belinda told at least 3 other locations’ managers, health coordinators, and clinical techs that I asked for a raise. She said that she couldn’t believe I asked for a raise because she’s so busy and therefore I’m undeserving of a raise. She also said she’s overworked, and to receive a raise request from me was out of pocket because she’s was too overstimulated to deal with that when I sent it. It put her over the edge (that is my mistake if it was a timing issue? This is my first time in my career asking for a raise). The staff from three other locations independently told me that Belinda was freely giving out this info telling them how much I make and how much I asked for. The staff at other locations see me as helpful, smart, and sweet so I think that’s why they felt like they could tell me. I’m just trying to say that I’m not some slacker who’s asking for a raise for no reason. Anyway, Belinda is definitely known to be a huge gossip. If you tell her anything, the whole company will know by the end of the week.

After hearing that she exposed that information I decided to quit my job. (There were other reasons as well, such as wanting to do nursing school instead of be an administrator, but Belinda’s loud mouth was my final straw). I am wondering if I should send an email to Trey and ask for an exit interview. In the exit interview I would let him know that the reason I’m leaving is due to a lack of confidentiality + a terrible gossip culture. I’m super conflicted about if I should do this. To be clear, I’m not upset that I didn’t get a raise. I’m upset that my salary became a topic of discussion with people who don’t control my salary at all.

On one hand, I want to prevent Belinda from doing this again. It’s wildly unprofessional and I want Trey to be aware of this behavior. He is relatively new to the company so I want him to see Belinda’s behavior and potentially address it with her.

On the other hand, I am 26, I am early in my career, and I’m afraid to burn bridges. I work in healthcare and I’m aware there are a lot of “mean girls” in this industry. I don’t want Belinda to get in trouble but I don’t want her to continue this ever again.

Should I just let Belinda dig her own grave, or should I explain to Trey why I’m leaving? Thank you for any wisdom you can provide.