Thursday, May 03, 2007

Rough Waters

Wow. Lots of stuff going on. Let's see.....I came within about an inch of quitting my job. It was a salary dispute where the amount that was promised was not the same amount that was deposited. Something I definitely wasn't going to let slide since I transferred to HK for them. Anyways, I don't think anyone was out to shaft me, but I do think it was a matter of somebody not paying attention and not paying attention is just bad business. For some reason, after I brought this to everyone's attention, the general consensus was that I would just accept their refusal since I wouldn't dare risk my job. I think I surprised some people when I gave the ultimatum to keep their word or I would walk. I really enjoy the work I'm doing and I think the mission of the company is great, but there is no reason to stay with a company that doesn't keep its word, regardless of whether or not it was intentional. Anyways, no one wanted to take responsibility for this and kept pushing me to someone else until I was talking to the President. Honestly speaking, it should never have gotten that far. This was a simple issue that could have been handled by one of the mid-level managers. Unfortunately, I think one of the biggest problems with the company is everyone is afraid of taking responsibility and won't do anything unless someone higher up tells them to. Costly in a business where timing is everything. Anyways, I made a proposal with some conditions that I thought would work out for both me and the company. The president was cool with it and things are back to normal. Very quick, very simple. But again, this should have been taken care of at a lower level, but no one made any proposal or even an attempt to compromise. What was funny was that the initial negotiations regarding compensation before my transfer to HK were handled in English, but after I started making noise about the salary discrepancies, suddenly, it seemed that everyone forgot English. Funny since I do that all the time. Anyways, moral of the story is always get it in writing.

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