How much would you help your boss/company out if you got fired?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Gawd if you get a job at a gun club - any gun club - you're my new best friend.

[Rick Lee]

I couldn't afford to have such a job as my only job. Trouble is that Scottsdale Gun Club is in the same shopping center, right nextdoor to the local BMW bike dealer and there's a class III gun store on the other side of the bike dealer. It's a very dangerous place for your bank account and I'd fear employee discounts greatly.

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

While I was on my honeymoon, our company decided to comp all work in relation to the CA wildfires raging at that time, as a PR and marketing stunt. No one in mgt. asked how we sales folks felt about being forced to donate our commission checks for that. When I returned to work and mentioned this to my boss, he said if I hadn't been out of the office on my honeymoon the previous week, I could have been working the phones, getting meetings with those places getting our freebies. I knew that was code for "shut the hell up and don't make a big deal out of it," as no rational person could really think like that.

That's quite an awful thing to say to you (see bold above).

[911Rob]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I couldn't afford to have such a job as my only job. Trouble is that Scottsdale Gun Club is in the same shopping center, right nextdoor to the local BMW bike dealer and there's a class III gun store on the other side of the bike dealer. It's a very dangerous place for your bank account and I'd fear employee discounts greatly.

Simple, just get a second job as a golf course marshall

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

While I was on my honeymoon, our company decided to comp all work in relation to the CA wildfires raging at that time, as a PR and marketing stunt. No one in mgt. asked how we sales folks felt about being forced to donate our commission checks for that. When I returned to work and mentioned this to my boss, he said if I hadn't been out of the office on my honeymoon the previous week, I could have been working the phones, getting meetings with those places getting our freebies. I knew that was code for "shut the hell up and don't make a big deal out of it," as no rational person could really think like that.

That's quite an awful thing to say to you (see bold above).

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by dd74

That's quite an awful thing to say to you (see bold above).

Yeah, I was pretty blown away by that one. I had to really hold my tongue when he let that out. FWIW, when sen. mgt. tried the same thing on the Sichuan earthquake and Myanmar cyclone, my boss did tell them this was our bread and butter and we should not be comping work for orgs. (that budget for services like ours) to do relief work exactly for such occasions. But that's just how the talking points turn into religion with some folks in the company. No matter what someone says, it gets turned back on them and made to be their fault.

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Yeah, I was pretty blown away by that one. I had to really hold my tongue when he let that out. FWIW, when sen. mgt. tried the same thing on the Sichuan earthquake and Myanmar cyclone, my boss did tell them this was our bread and butter and we should not be comping work for orgs. (that budget for services like ours) to do relief work exactly for such occasions. But that's just how the talking points turn into religion with some folks in the company. No matter what someone says, it gets turned back on them and made to be their fault.

Deals like that have never work. Just do the story and move on. What was your boss thinking? That he'd get better love from clients if he was sensitive to a catastrophic event on the backs of his own staff?

As I remember it, the game is whomever gets the wire story in first, wins that day's appearance in the paper. It isn't a matter of how sensitive one is to pain and hardship. That's not what news is/should be about.

[Rick Lee]

The gist of the comp was to foster some goodwill with the state and relief agencies who had news to distribute - governor's office, firefighters, Red Cross, etc. We got a nice write-up about it in PR Week, so that was worth something. But for the revenue we gave up, we could have bought a few full-page ads in that magazine. The big boss who hatched that idea was sacked last year, but I don't think it had anything to do with that. I know I didn't get a single new client from it, but I did "give up" a few grand in revenue. Thankfully, I didn't get any calls from clients asking for other freebies because we were giving them out for one disaster.

[Rick Lee]

UPDATE!!!!!

Just got my commission file for March and I was at 101.5% of goal for March, up from 92.8% in Feb. So, not only do I keep my job for another month, I also get the best commission check I've had in about two years. Yes, I'm savoring the moment, but it changes nothing. It's crazy that I have to sweat the first Monday every month because there's no way at all to track revenue until it's all done, truly a scratch-off lottery ticket. But I won this time.

Anyway, looks like I'll be in Dallas for meetings in two weeks, so I'll touch base with some of the local Pelican folks for happy hour.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I have a ton of stuff in the pipeline at work and a lot of my best clients I consider personal friends. While I survived the latest round of layoffs this week, there's a very high chance I'll be canned next week when March's numbers come out. I'm expecting it to not be on good terms if it happens and not called a layoff. I know no one is irreplaceable, but I also know they're gonna have a hell of a time sorting out my accounts and territory without my help, maybe causing some clients to bolt to competitors. If I get canned with no severance, should I help out when they call to ask about accounts and deals in the works? Or just tell them to pound sand until they agree to pay me on a consultant basis?

If you are saying that you can hold them by the nuts, the question is can you make it stick.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

UPDATE!!!!!

Just got my commission file for March and I was at 101.5% of goal for March, up from 92.8% in Feb. So, not only do I keep my job for another month, I also get the best commission check I've had in about two years. Yes, I'm savoring the moment, but it changes nothing. It's crazy that I have to sweat the first Monday every month because there's no way at all to track revenue until it's all done, truly a scratch-off lottery ticket. But I won this time.

Anyway, looks like I'll be in Dallas for meetings in two weeks, so I'll touch base with some of the local Pelican folks for happy hour.

Good for you. I still don't understand how you can't track what you brought in...do they not give you credit for some stuff? I've never worked in sales, but did review some commission stuff the sale staff at the bank did. Funny how when they were close to breaking into the next level, accounts with last names like theirs would be opened. They must have tracked it somehow.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

UPDATE!!!!!

Just got my commission file for March and I was at 101.5% of goal for March, up from 92.8% in Feb. So, not only do I keep my job for another month, I also get the best commission check I've had in about two years. Yes, I'm savoring the moment, but it changes nothing. It's crazy that I have to sweat the first Monday every month because there's no way at all to track revenue until it's all done, truly a scratch-off lottery ticket. But I won this time.

Anyway, looks like I'll be in Dallas for meetings in two weeks, so I'll touch base with some of the local Pelican folks for happy hour.

Good news. Probably not a bad idea to keep looking for something else though.

Tom

[Rick Lee]

My company has extremely complicated billing procedures and we have customized pricing for many different clients. Discounts range from 0-50% off rate sheet, depending on volume and there are literally hundreds of products and distribution levels. Even if I had the countless billing codes memorized, I can't spend my day tracking every bit of work clients send in. Then there are the errors and credits. So even though I'm at 101.5% of goal now, it's not too remote for a few errors and credits to bring that back down below 100% in the next week or two. That's what's so frustrating. You never know if the billing is correct, which means you never know if your revenue numbers are correct. The wealthiest foundation in the world is a client of mine and they owe a boatload of money. They're not deadbeats. We just haven't billed them for a few mos. and it's our mistake. That will account for 1/4 my quota if it gets billed next month. In my previous job (before current company acquired us), I was able to track revenue every day and knew exactly what I had made each day in commissions. That was much easier to feel the progress.

[lowyder993s]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I couldn't afford to have such a job as my only job. Trouble is that Scottsdale Gun Club is in the same shopping center, right nextdoor to the local BMW bike dealer and there's a class III gun store on the other side of the bike dealer. It's a very dangerous place for your bank account and I'd fear employee discounts greatly.

Haha...I was there last week bustin' caps at the SGC...beauty place, esp the Titanium Room
I could think of worse places to work...lunch at the Salty Senorita was a treat for the eyes...fell in and outta love a couple times!!!

[Noah930]

Slightly off topic, but, Rick, I don't see how you work in the environment you do. Between your stressful "will I have a job next month" situation, combined with the spineless "bosses," plethora of moronic co-workers, and spiteful work environment, your place of employment sounds like it's more than dysfunctional. Why aren't you actively looking to bail on your hellhole?

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Why aren't you actively looking to bail on your hellhole?

I am, I am! But well-paying jobs don't grow on trees right now. And the good part of this job is working from home, travelling to visit customers (and Pelicans along the way) and an ever increasing commission check. Kinda hard to discount those.

[charleskieffner]

being in a sheraton last weekend had me thinking how much "PHFUNN" i used to have traveling all over hells 1/2 acre playing salesman and sales mgr. , literally planes/trains/automobiles 24/7/365. deadlines and commitments, call reports, employee expense acct reviews, etc

after a couple days of watching the races, i realized about the ONLY THING I MISSED about the lifestyle was some of the people i had met along the way, AND ALL OF THE GUN SHOPS AND ARMY/NAVY SURPLUS stores thru out the southwest!

it was like the perpetual GRATEFUL DEAD ROADTRIP over and over and over EVERY MONDAY getting on a plane or into a rental car. it was very easy at the sheraton to pick out the FRAZZLED/TOASTED/MENTALLY PERTURBED OUTSIDE SALESMAN!

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Slightly off topic, but, Rick, I don't see how you work in the environment you do. Between your stressful "will I have a job next month" situation, combined with the spineless "bosses," plethora of moronic co-workers, and spiteful work environment, your place of employment sounds like it's more than dysfunctional. Why aren't you actively looking to bail on your hellhole?

Amen to that!

[dd74]

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

being in a sheraton last weekend had me thinking how much "PHFUNN" i used to have traveling all over hells 1/2 acre playing salesman and sales mgr. , literally planes/trains/automobiles 24/7/365. deadlines and commitments, call reports, employee expense acct reviews, etc

after a couple days of watching the races, i realized about the ONLY THING I MISSED about the lifestyle was some of the people i had met along the way, AND ALL OF THE GUN SHOPS AND ARMY/NAVY SURPLUS stores thru out the southwest!

it was like the perpetual GRATEFUL DEAD ROADTRIP over and over and over EVERY MONDAY getting on a plane or into a rental car. it was very easy at the sheraton to pick out the FRAZZLED/TOASTED/MENTALLY PERTURBED OUTSIDE SALESMAN!

How many of those 24/7/365 guys were married and had families? I've always wondered how matrimonial/familial commitments hold up against jobs like what you describe.

[911Rob]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

UPDATE!!!!!

Just got my commission file for March ......

Cheers Buddy!
I'm glad it worked out the way you wanted it to.