Richard was on the phone when I walked into his office. He pointed to a chair and signaled that he
was close to finishing up on his call. I
found a mock-up of a new product catalog that was ready to go to print on the
coffee table and leafed through it while I waited. The company had hired yet another graphic
designer to add his input to the chorus of other designers SlipNot already had
on staff. I swear this guy must have
come straight out of porno films. All of
his graphics looked like the kind of stuff that used to adorn the movie posters
in Times Square a generation earlier. He
managed to turn the images of all of the models we’d hired into slut shots and
the lettering was in those lurid, creepy fonts that were so popular in the
Blaxploitation films of the 1970’s.
Think “Debbie Does Dallas” meets “Blacula” and you’ll get the general
idea. I closed the catalog just as
Richard hung up.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Les is trying to figure out how to get in touch with a pile of new clients
that have just been handed off; your old clients, in fact. He’s swamped with meetings here for the next
couple of days, so he wondered if I could get you to make those calls for him.” Richard smiled thinly before adding, “Under
the circumstances, I felt it wasn’t the most prudent course of action.”
He opened a file folder and glanced quickly at the top paper
on the small pile of documents it held.
“Michael, Keith wanted me to talk with you about the rather
heated discussion the two of you had on Tuesday. As you know, we’ve all accepted the fact that
you can be a little ‘colorful’ with your use of language. That’s never been an issue because none of
our clients has ever complained about it.
However, you are aware that the use of some of the more coarse words
that seem to come so naturally to you is actually a firing offense. It’s right
in the Employee Manual. Your profane
tirade against Keith was unacceptable.
He’s the owner! Even if he were
not, you have to maintain a professional attitude about your work and using the
‘F-word’ during a business meeting is unconscionable. Accordingly, I have prepared a memo that will
be filed with Human Resources, attesting to the fact that I have verbally
warned you about your behavior and that any future breach of conduct will
result in your immediate termination as an employee at SlipNot. You can consider yourself on probation until I inform you otherwise.”
He took the top sheet of paper off of the pile and set it
aside. He then removed a small piece of
paper, which I recognized as the note I had passed to Keith in his office two
days before. He looked at it briefly
before setting it aside and directing his attention back to me.
“Keith handed me this set of numbers you gave him. I wonder if you might explain them to me.”
“When he told me what was happening to my commission base,
that it was going away, I just calculated how much my existing accounts would
have paid me. The first number is my
estimate of how much the commissions on new business I closed since Vegas would
come to over the coming year. The other
is what I’d been getting in commissions, prior to the Vegas conference.”
“Okay, so you figure that you’re going to lose $2850 a month
from the new business you’ve just closed and another $2400 per month in
commissions from your existing accounts?”
“That’s right.”
Richard paused for a few seconds and appeared to be running
those facts through his mind. “Of
course,” he said slowly, “I’ll have to verify them.”
I realized that Richard was considering an offer instead of a
severance settlement. He’d already put
me on probation, so it was clear the decision had been made to keep me on. I did my best not to say a word, or to let my
facial expression betray my surprise.
I’d tossed those numbers at Keith as an insult. I never expected to see that slip of paper
again. But there it was, laying on
Richard’s desk and the guy was apparently actually considering that it might be
a valid claim. What was even more
remarkable was the implication that Keith had either told Richard it was
legitimate or had passed it along for his reading of the situation. Either way, I was astonished. What was it with these people? I had insulted the owner of the company,
attempted to shame him for his move to cut my pay and in almost any other
company in the known world; this course of action was a sure way to get you
fired. Maybe Allan was right. You just couldn’t get canned at SlipNot.
“Michael, Keith and I have discussed these numbers together
and with Bosco. We all agree that the
roughly $60,000 you’ve claimed is a lot of money. Do you understand that?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, so it follows that it would impact SlipNot’s cash flow
if it were to be paid out to you.
Agreed?”
“Actually, no.” I
looked steadily into Richard’s eyes.
“Michael, 60 grand is a good deal of money.”
“But in order to earn it, I first had to close about a
million and a quarter in new business.
The company gets to keep the lion’s share, wouldn’t you agree? My piece is pretty small and you only write
me a check once the client has made his full payment, so I don’t see the risk.”
“Bosco mentioned you might feel that way.”
“He’s right.”
“But Michael, it sends a very bad message to everyone
else. No one gets paid for media sales
here.”
“And that really isn’t my problem. The fact remains that I was hired with the
understanding that I would receive that commission. Now that I’m making some real headway, you
guys have decided to keep all the money. That’s a disincentive to succeed. I don’t show up for work every day for my
salary anymore than a waiter comes to his restaurant each night for the hourly
wage he receives. He comes to wait on
tables, to earn tips. I’m here for the
commissions, just like every other salesperson in this company. You take that away and you kill the
relationship.”
“But this subject isn’t up for debate. It’s a policy that has been instituted. There’s really nothing to discuss here.”
“Except for breach of contract. Admittedly, you’ve got my balls because of
the whole thing with Keith. But, you’ve
already made up your mind that this isn’t a firing offense either and you’ve
documented it. You also have established
a pattern of paying me commissions on media sales that goes back well over a
year. That’s also documented. You’ve set the precedents, not me.”
Richard gave me a thin smile.
“You’re not planning any legal action, are you Michael?”
“Why would I? It’s
just the two of us, having a friendly conversation, isn’t it?”
“There is no way SlipNot will pay you commissions on this,”
he insisted again. “But I have been
authorized to offer you 12 monthly payments of $4000, providing that you keep
everything we’ve said confidential. You
will receive that in addition to your regular salary.”
I was savvy enough to realize that $48,000 was less than the
$63,000 I had claimed, but this had all been a bluff on my part to begin
with. I was stunned that the company was
even considering paying me off. Still,
there was one thing that concerned me.
“What happens after the 12th payment?” I asked.
“I suppose that’s something we could take up after you’re off
probation.”
Richard replaced the two pieces of paper he had removed from
my folder and closed it. The discussion
was over.
The next episode of SlipNot will be published on November 3rd.
If you'd like to read SlipNot in its entirety, GO HERE.
ONLY 4 MORE EPISODES LEFT!
No comments:
Post a Comment