I don't know what to do with this one.  I've been advised by a family member to find a "labor attorney" to talk to about it.

I was having a bit of an e-mail disagreement with someone who is not my boss, who I have never met, but who was telling me that I had to do something a specific way.  I attempted to explain to her that if I did it that way every time (demanding that much information from clients, potential clients, and even clients who may be on the borderline with using us again), no matter the situation, that it was a little too close to what the Nazis did in the 1930's and 1940's when they asked "papers, please."

Now this should have been a conversation between she and I, but she immediately took this to the VP of marketing, and now I'm being accused of calling our own staff (I guess both of them?) Nazis.

I most assuredly didn't call anyone anything, and basically conveyed that if I did it that way, it would be considered very rude by some customers who may not have wanted to give me five seconds of their time to begin with.

I'm standing my ground as I have always strived to do what is best for this company, and have also never been one to call anyone names, but am to have a meeting on the situation I guess tomorrow.  

This is, of course, in Florida, so I don't think my side matters at all, but at some point the accusations, claims and insults from a multi-manager e-mail seemed to become slanderous.  I do believe that people who are not stars at reading comprehension have claimed I did something I didn't do, and have sent it out across the lines to other managers.

I'm sort of shocked, and sort of ambivalent as I know I've done the best I can for the company, did better than others attempting the same job (prior to me, and in other locations), and am now in trouble for not adhering to an office-sitter's / clerk's rules that in no way reflect the reality of dealing with such a varied clientele.

Suggestions?  Thank you in advance.  Tell me if I screwed up, and how badly I screwed up - I don't really know, and won't be sure of my legal standing if I am fired in a day or two.  I've never been fired, so being let go for this at 45 years of age... I'm OK with not working for a company who isn't OK with go-getter salesmen who try to communicate with its clerks, but am not looking forward to the financial hardship that may be coming (I never made what any educated 45 year old should have made doing a job like this, and was lied to about the potential to make money).

If this was a private (personal) email exchange it was not a good idea to do the Nazi comment.

If this was on the "office" email system... you made a MAJOR mistake.

It is a fucking shame that EVERY MOTHERFUKKIN SHITBIRD on the planet has become so totally pussified as to be on red alert for the most microscopically small slur, insult, gaffe in order to fuck over a fellow human being. Having a pretty decent education, I for one can appreciate the use of the "Papers Please" metaphor. Personally I respect someone who can carry on a conversation anywhere above the level of "nahmeen, like, omg, etc, etc". I appreciate someone who can inject certain levels of emphasis into a conversation through the accurate use of a past cultural reference.

What is worse is that the other party to the conversation was such a POS that they ratted you out up the line instead of dealing with it between the two of you. Methinks she saw an opportunity to fuck you over because you were not respecting her self-assumed authoritah and basically telling her she does not know what the fuck your job, actually dealing with the CUSTOMERS THAT PAY ALL OF YA'lls salaries, entails. STAND YOUR GROUND!! Tell them that you do not answer to the clerk/office puke, and she needs to grow up and butt the fuck out.

Point out to them the facts behind your always being a team player, looking out for the Company's best interests etc. A good honest salesman can always find a place to call home. If they fuck you over, get Wage and Labor involved. See an attorney to see if you have a case in re BEING LIED TO about potential earnings with the company. Good luck brother.




 

Thank you.  You really seem to have summed up the experience and the issue she wanted to have with me (or, really all of us). The clerks demand information that we just can't get every time without pissing the customer - some of whom are already working with us and paying us - right the heck off.   The CRM database was sold to us in the field as being our tool, a storage platform and form of communication for us to use and reference.  Instead, if we don't have everything about a prospective influencer - some of whom we still haven't met face-to-face - the clerks don't want the information we do have about the person (nickname, cell phone, etc.) in the system.  By me pointing out that this can hurt the company by not having the data in there, all of a sudden I'm the bad guy.  Meanwhile, I'm one of the few who tries to use it diligently, and the other guys doing my job are continually reminded that they need to start using it.  

It's a shame some people get butt-hurt that way.

Knowing how things are, no way in hell would I have ever made such a comment... even if I were close friends with the receiving person... some things now days are just an open invite to a shit storm.

As far as getting additional personal information, if you're a good salesman, certainly you could candy-coat the conversation and obtain the information no? After all, being able to control a conversation and get what you want while maintaining good relations IS good salesmanship.

In my job, we have to ask lots of questions... personal questions, just like you do as a salesman. Doing what your people are asking for requires talent, It's an acquired art and skill. Maybe you should have looked at it that way and come up with a creative way to satisfy your employer and your clients...

Just thinking out loud here... hope it blows over and you get the situation handled and under control.

Advice?

Pepper your angus.

Edit: Thank you for the support, fellas.

Well, in the end I was terminated for insubordination.

My direct manager offered to be a reference for me, as he has seen how I was the hardest working guy, out of five of us, doing the job here in south Florida.  He said he's in a bit of shock because he just lost the only guy who was pushing it upward and forward.  It didn't make sense, and was not expected.

I am specifically in this mess solely because I was doing so much of what they said they wanted, and I kept coming up against a brick wall that the other guys are just ignoring by not doing their jobs, or by having set and unbelievably small territories (what this means for them is that they aren't changing and updating the contact management anywhere near what I'm doing, and I've been adding in new companies and contacts like a madman).  For example - one of the tightest territories in Miami is eight miles by eight miles across.  That guy can hit 20 different businesses, lease his car, and still have half the day off.  My territory was 100 miles (almost exactly) South to North, and into the middle of the state.  I could not lease a vehicle because I put on 20k miles on my vehicle in six months, so my out-of-pocket expenditures were always way higher (for the vehicle, insurance for the mileage, wear and tear), and I sure as heck wasn't getting home half-way through the day.

I stood up for what was right, and got terminated by the process of doing the job to the best of my ability.  I opened more accounts, sold more products, and garnered more business than any of them, but apparently pissed off the Vice President of Marketing (whomever that is), and was given a rude awakening.

As a salesman, I learned a few things from this process, and will look at any position a lot more closely in the future.   Same expectations, rules and pay for vastly different territories is not anything I want to have to pay to play for ever again.  I realized I was getting shafted by January and February of this year, but stuck it out based on the assurances of the entire division that "things are gong to change!" and that people in the position I was in were finally going to get a pay structure that would pay us (instead of guys outside of our territories who got paid on the accounts) for what we were earning for the company.   I only came to admit about two weeks ago that since we've heard nothing about them cleaning up the accounts, specific guys were going to keep making the big money, while some of us were going to continue being shafted for products and services we were supporting and selling in our areas.

Call on your competitors. FL business is booming.

Huh, they wanted you to be more aggressive with customers.  You got more aggressive with them about how that was a bad idea, and they fired you for it.  Ironic.

Anyway, that's how I'd explain it to a prospective employer.  My former employer wanted me to behave in a way that I believed would antagonize potential clients, and when I demonstrated that behavior toward my former employer they let me go because of it.