Bitter Truth

Posted on 2006/03/03 24:51:05 (March 2006).

[3rd March 2006]

The truth is that I am an idiot.

A person that believes in his principles, and that goes an extra length for the people that he thinks are in his “circle of trust”, to use an expression taken from “Meet the Parents”.

Today Marta will sign the contract with the new division, leaving her position with us at the end of next week.
The replacement is a young girl who knows fuck-all about out job, products, clients and so on.

In a whopping 5 days (only half of the day, ‘cause the other half Marta needs to go to attend to her new position), the new person will be instructed to her new job. Impossible task due to the complexity of the work that we do. Then both her and me are off to Asia, for our respective business trips, so nobody knowledgeable of the market is there to look at what this person is doing.

What I am extremely bitter about, apart from the fact that the company decided not to tell me anything official for weeks (I am the responsible of the market, I would have hoped at least for a brief mention to this decision, just to do things in a considerate way), is that Marta accepted the position and accepted to go away for her first trip next week, mentioning that it will be quite inconvenient due to the short notice, but hardly breaking sweat over it.

In a single shot I have had my alleged girlfriend gently inserting a 20 centimetres blade right behind my back, and my company preparing the coffin, ready to go.

The funny thing is that the offer that they made her is quite poor; basically she did me in for a mere 130 Euro (around 80 quid) that she will see only in 6 months time, and the promise of a further raise to that date.
She was selling already in our division already so the change of responsibility is non existant.

I thought I was worth more than 80 quid.

Needless to say that I have spent the last 3 days boiling over this issue, unfortunately I have nothing to do and that doesn’t help, but I am afraid that if I was there now it would be extremely compromising for me.

So far March brought quite a lot of crap, and as usually happens in these situation I fear that the worse has yet to come.

With any luck, when you'll go back to your flat up in the north, Marta will have removed all the furniture, leaving you just with a phone in the middle of the main room...! (Mind you, Ikea is not far...)

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/03 14:18:10.

Unlikely. She's got a spinal hernia and weightlifting is not exactely her best sport... Plus the furniture are not ours they are the landlord's.. :)

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/03 16:29:04.

I think I must be thick, but I really don't get what is so bad about what Martha did...

Posted by John at 2006/03/04 07:51:42.

She's just a scapegoat, John, enduring Loxe's bad temper and perpetual *mal-être*... :p

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/04 09:13:21.

John/Sheri: Let's put it that way. I believe that in a couple, if you try to act like that, there are cases (like this one) where a prospect of an improvement on one side makes things dreadful for the other side.

If you want to act couple, then, still in my view, one has to be prepared to sacrifice what he/she might have for the good of the other person.

Though I might seem cold and unattached, I act in this way, not only with my partner but also with my close friends.

Marta already has a position in sales with us, so in terms of CV nothing changes for her (as she still wants to leave the company anyways).
Yes what changes is that she will get these 130 euro and the chance to travel to Japan.
On the other side by going away she leaves me in a terrible situation at work, which, no matter how hard I try is going to afftect my results.
This is exactely what they are waiting for to put me out of the door, and she knows perfectly well about it.

I repeat, I am not upset about her leaving, is leaving in these conditions, on a 5 days notice that is not right.

It's clear that she went for the money/trip to japan, without really thinking about the whole picture and especially how the choice was going to affect me.

I have to think seriously about a relationship with a person like this, great at speaking but hardly accountable when acting.

As my company was so sure that she would go for the offer they didn't bother interviewing anyone else, she could have just said that she was interested but not at these conditions as it would have put in jeopardy the place that she is leaving.
A different arrangement is not hard to find, it just takes a bit of guts and proposal skills, of course on the other side it's a lot easier to just accept what she is fed with.

It's too easy later to say: "Oh but they wanted it that way..."

I stand by the side of those I care, no matter what, I think it's fair to expect more or less the same.

I hope it's clearer now..

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/04 10:39:18.

There might be another reason. Maybe Marta no longer wanted to be under your *supervision*. Perhaps she wanted to break free from you (and your fool temper...).
And peharps your boss wants to undermine your position, by breaking the extra professional bond which exists between you and her. But look at the bright side of it: the girl who replaces her could be a sex bomb...! You haven't seen her yet, have you?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/04 11:05:44.

Lorenzo il Magnifi.... no.... il Miserabile !

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/04 11:07:55.

Sheri, no she is piggy ugly apprently.

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/04 11:55:02.

Well, basically you're fucked!

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/04 15:26:52.

It's like a Shakespeare's tragedy: Titus Andronicus.
You are general Titus and Marta is the queen Tamora....

Posted by Jack at 2006/03/06 14:48:41.

Nice quote there Jack! :) How are you old shoe?

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/06 16:25:58.

On a second thought, when do I get to serve a Human Flesh Pie to my sworn enemy Tamora?

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/06 16:29:42.

Shakespeare ? Is it that Chinese guy from around the corner?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/03/07 07:53:53.

Pretty much so Sheri, pretty much so... :D

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/07 09:31:51.

Lox: Remember... Women (beautiful, charming, frustrating and annoying, but very necessary creatures as they are) don't think like us men! You are Italian - you must know this :))))

If Marta didn't actually mean to hurt you, then all is ok. She is just grabbing at what might be a rare opportunity for a lady in your business. And good for her!

Can you talk together about it?

Posted by Nigel at 2006/03/07 13:29:53.

Nigel: Eventually we discussed about it and it's all settled now. But it was bloody hard...

Posted by Lox at 2006/03/10 15:43:08.

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