[masraum]

Not quite the same, but similar. I worked at a retail auto parts store years ago. I pretty quickly worked my way up to managing a store. As a manager, you got a base salary, a monthly bonus based on controllable expenses, and a monthly sales bonus. When they gave me a store, the previous manager had let the inventory drop down to the point where an inventory only showed that we had about 70% of the part numbers in stock that were available. Monthly sales were $16k. My first month they gave me a goal of $18K, I hit 19k. Second month they gave me a goal of $20k, and I hit that one too. Third month they gave me a goal of $22k. I hit that one too. The following month they gave me a goal of something like $28k. I was no where near that. They left the goal there for a couple of months and then dropped it back down to something attainable for 2 months, then raised it back up. It quickly became obvious to me that the "monthly goals" were crap and were a way of controlling compensation. They'd let you get a few and then make sure you didn't get a few, rinse, repeat.