My former boss and I had a disagreement on business strategy, plus a lot of personal matters were bothering me at the time so I had to choose to quit.
It wasn’t a formal job at a big company, it was an undercover full time job with a part time job contract, on top of that, the job contract ended due to the restructuring of the company. So I had no proof whatsoever to demand my last month’s salary.
That’s not what I wanted to talk about though. So this company was a very tiny start up hotel business, at the point my boss was fully ambitious to get her hands dirty in two new business fields that neither she nor I had any experience in: food delivery and manufacturing + online retail. To start these two new businesses she needed large amount of capital to purchase raw material and build a legit website, but at the time the company was running short of cash, actually it basically ran out of cash at all. But she still decided to go that way, I couldn’t stand the suicidal idea and I quit, she was furious at the time of course.
Anyway, we had very good relationship during my time spent working for her, she was very much a perfectionist and narcissist, people worked with her usually quit or get fired after one or two months, even a few weeks, but I stuck around all the time, watching my colleagues come and go, I can tell that she had extraordinary trust and confidence in me, and I also put huge faith in her until her crazy new ideas emerged. So upon leaving I told her it is okay not to pay my last month’s salary, she can hold on to it till she got enough cash flow, because I knew she wasn’t able to pay immediately. Also I felt guilty about leaving her, probably as many people did during career transition period, so I didn’t ask for salary before I left. Later it proved that it was a huge mistake.
So at first I was okay with it, I didn’t care that much, but later on when I was running out of cash myself, and couldn’t find a job right away, I felt I could really use that money!
We met twice since I left, once I helped her with some technique problems on her computer, she behaved like an old friend and treated me with all her warmness and passion as she always had, then she promised to pay me in February (I quit in early December), which she eventually didn’t. Then I waited and waited, we met again for some other reason and she again assured me that she’ll pay me right away, which again she didn’t. And at that time I was still fine with it, until April I am really at the verge of accepting financial help from my parents, which I really hated to, so I brought it up to her, she told me “if you really intend to, I give you half”. What kind of answer was that? Half? That is downright an insult. But at this point I already lost all my leverage to negotiate, pay or not all depends on her, not that there’s any legal proof anyway, so I said Okay, then I sent her my IBAN number. Guess what, she didn’t pay, not even the half she promised. A few days ago I demanded again, she’s not even responding.
The biggest mistake of mine, I quit before I got my paycheck. I was too cowardly giving away what belongs to me to ensure her benefit, which is INSANE, I wasn’t SELFISH enough to protect my own right, to claim what I deserved. I feared too much that if I quit after I got last paycheck, I would get a bad reputation of traitor. Guess what, now I’m the good guy and do I feel better than being the “bad guy”? Absolutely no.
Second major mistake is me being too naive. I really thought friendship could comes before business. Well, she’s a businesswoman, money is everything to her, once I left, we don’t do business together, there’s no way I still be considered relevant to her.
Another mistake is that I waited too long to ask. When time passed and the matter gradually faded away, nobody really cares anymore, certainly not the person who owes money. So if you want to get your money back, do it now, or never.
Anyway, it’s not like I would die if I didn’t get the last paycheck, it probably can make me enjoy two more months life staying home sitting on bed watching TV but I like to think this way: my life is still moving forward and what I am going to accomplish is much more important than this little trouble behind me.
You either be the sheep, or the wolf. Lesson learned, move on with my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment