lox.Journal

Doing the Right Thing

Posted on 2006/07/13 14:46:40 (July 2006).

[13th July 2006]

And so it was time to make some decisions, the Japanese company wrote me a nice letter saying that they'll be shortening the process as much as possible, and basically promising me that the contract will be offered.

To quote the mail he wrote that "I can not say we can guarantee officially, but you can believe and trust us 100% that we will work together from 1st Sept. There is no one reason, no one possibility somebody says not to make contract with you. We really wish to start to work with you form 1st of Sept. immediately after you finish your contract with XXXXX (present employer)."

Based on this intelligence I was then confronted by the usual ethical problem that I have been wrestling with in the past weeks:

Shall I tell the Prato company or not?

Not telling is good for me, keeps my options opened till the last point, if by any chance the offer from Japan doesn't arrive I still have the other company waiting for me.
Telling, on the other side, is the good thing to do, because if I tell these people too late they are going to have all sorts of troubles, many more than if I tell them now.

After a Machiavellian inspiration I have decided to opt for the soft approach; telling with a twist.
Basically in order not to compromise relationship with these people (it's never good to have enemies especially in a small field like this one), I thought that it would have been far better if they were to make the decision of not employing me, rather than me telling them that I am not coming.

I then wrote a nice letter, saying that I had just got news from Japan of a POSSIBLE offer, and saying that it meant that I might consider that option if it was good. In the meantime I wrote that I felt correct to tell them, and that if THEY wanted to look for some other salesman I would have certainly stepped aside, although the offer from Japan is not confirmed.

In this way, it's up to them to make the move. They have very little time to find a substitute, and they seemed quite in "love" with me, so there might be the chance that the option with them might be still open. I can always say that they didn't offer anything in the end so no problems in joining their company.
On the contrary if they find someone I can hardly complain but at least my image will not be compromised (I did act correctly after all).

As for the risk factor I did not make a great decision. I am aware of that and I cannot say that I am not scared.
If the Prato company lets me go or doesn't want me anymore, I might be left with no options if the Japanese side doesn't offer anything or comes back at me with a shite contract (although we have already discussed the details).
As they say, "nothing ventured, nothing gained", and I could not live easily knowing that I was deliberately putting a company in troubles by witholding informations that were important to them, so that why I decided to take the risk.

I hope that it all works out for the better and that I can start the job with the Japanese company, at the time of writing the Prato company did not reply to my mail or even called me, that puts me off a little, but on the other side I couldn't think that the news were going to be taken easily...

I have taken yet the hardest route to walk on, I have acted yet again following moral values and not so much personal interests, let's hope I don't live to regret it, it would shatter my beliefs in one shot (and will destroy my career and prospects of going back to Florence)...

Comment 1

Well done, Lox. It was the right way to do it. You can sleep happier now. If the Prato company doesn't appreciate your efforts, maybe they weren't the best company to work for (?) Better to learn now than later...

Some people don't care so much though. I remember one lady started with us and after her first day (training with me, it has to be said!) didn't come back again, saying she had found better work elsewhere... And could we forward on the one-days pay she was owed?!

Some people...

:))))

Posted by Nigel at 2006/07/13 16:02:14.

Comment 2

This is getting tedious, Lox, tedious... ;-)
What about your sex life ?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/07/13 22:07:03.

Comment 3

Sheri: At the moment the highest spot of sex life involves onanistic practices.. :(