Is it worth it?

Posted on 2007/05/18 16:21:36 (May 2007).

[15-17 May]

From Monday to Thursday the director of the team where I work came from Japan because he wanted to go and see some suppliers to discuss the coming season's business.

His coming also meant that we were going to discuss about all the contractual and work related problems that have afflicted our relationship in the first half of this year.
Endless mails have been exchanged during April and May, but if a typical Japanese way nothing was really sorted.

The account of the three days is rather boring, I did almost nothing all time, just sat there listening to my boss talking about what he wanted to have made, what price, what delivery and so on. I had to spend also two nights away from Florence, in Biella to be precise, where a lot of suppliers are based.

We also went back to Ratti, my previous employer, once again is quite hard for me to go there, there are so many friendly faces that I miss, but on the other side there are also a lot of bad memories, so all in all it is better that I left them.
Five years of your life cannot be forgotten in a second, so I guess that I will feel like that for a long time to come!

Contract wise there have been two major "meetings", one held in my car and one held in the lobby of the hotel.
The first one was to talk about the job that they expect me to do. To make long things short the guy told me that since I have to learn their job he is not going to give me any responsibility whatsoever until I know how to work, in any case the tasks that he will allow me to deal with in the future are, in my opinion, only a part of what I should really do.
I told him that I did not agree with what he wanted, but he is calling the shots so I cannot do anything but comply.

The second round took place the day after and was by far the more "emotional" of them all. Basically this time I was confronted with the money point of view. My boss took out a simulation of what I might have had to pay for taxes in the future, so that we could calculate how much to pay me.
When we decided the amount they told me that 20% of that amount was linked to a commission, but unfortunately in the first 9 months of this job no commission was ever paid to me.
This brought me to complain quite a lot...

Well, he took out the excel list and started telling me that all the calculations were wrong, and that they were paying for a lot of things that normally I should pay by myself (like rent, utilities and so on)...
While technically they give me a contribution for all these things, he made a mistake reading the excel list and he went on for ten minutes saying that basically they were paying me enough.
Needless to say that when I realized the mistake (quite blatant actually) I told him "But, look here, this subtraction is quite evident, it's not like you say! Before talking about things that you do not know you should at least read things in a correct way! I am not trying to steal anybody's money here!".

FIVE MINUTES of silence followed.

I mean FIVE minutes are a lot, I kept looking at him, he kept looking at the excel sheet. Then he admitted the mistake, saying that he will talk to the directors of the company, but in general I would not get what I asked for. He then changed subject (and I let him do it as there was no point in arguing)...

It is clear that I must finish this pantomime that I am living. It's a joke. Now it's quite evident that they do not trust me, do not trust my skills or capabilities, there is no respect at all.

Will I be lucky again to find another job soon?!

Oh well, we will see, time to refresh all those CVs around the net...

Sounds really awkward!

How many times did you clear your throat during that five minutes?

Posted by John at 2007/05/18 19:17:25.

Wow! I'm actually really impressed that the two of you could keep silent, but in each other's company, for five whole minutes! As John says, how many times can you examine your shoe-laces or glance at your watch?

This all does sound like the classic scenario (I went through it once) where a new foreign employer uses you for a short while to milk your knowledge, planning all along to "let you go" after the information has been deemed to have dried up...

Time to move on, as you say...

Posted by Nigel at 2007/05/18 22:41:56.

Well he covered his eyes with the excel sheet paper, and I kept looking away. Generally speaking the problem is the fact that they (or better HE) thought that I could be used in a different way, but that option was soon discarded. He thought that since I am a great friend of the president of one of the clients then through me he could get 50% increase in sales just by employing me... Needless to say that this plan is completely shit and if he told me I would have never accepted in the first place... Now the problem is to find a suitable way out without breaking too many bones.

Posted by Lox at 2007/05/18 23:36:47.

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