My girlfriend takes a job as marketing director for a friend's company. She does this as a favor to the owner, who she has known for years, and takes the job at  a reduced rate, plus bonuses, because he has no confidence that the Internet division she will be working on will make any money, but she feels that its a good chance for her to sharpen her marketing skills before she goes back to the Fortune 500 world (if she chooses to).

Anyway, the business she is working for does a couple million a year; its successful on the brick and mortar side. The Internet business does an average of something like $40 per order, and they've been working to automate it to minimize the cost associated with running it, as well as building it up.  It does an average of $100K/month in business.

Girlfriend gets in contact with a municipal entity out west that is starting a new project and will require a very large start-up order.  Her boss tells her it's a waste of time, since these things "never pan out, especially from Internet leads."  She puts the proposal together, gets a guy from engineering to help her with the technical details (using about an hour of his time) and sends it off.  Toatl investment; about two days of her efforts and an hour of tech support.  Boss tells her it's OK, but to try not to do this sort of thing in the future (keep in mind her bonuses are dependent upon the $$$$ generated from Internet related sales), since it almost never pans out.

Today she gets a phone call and a fax; they won the bidding for the contract. The order size?

$300,000 +

(Remember, the average Internet generated order, most of which end up getting phoned in, is $40)

Her boss' response?

"That's nice."

No "well done, good job, etc." No recognition that if she hadn't done this they would have blown it off, no mention that the order exceeds the total of all orders for the last three months (summers are slow).  No one seems to care despite the fact that her outbound marketing has generated individual orders larger than they have ever received from the net side (consistent $10k plus orders).

The current managament (Ops Mgr and Owner) really don't seem to have any Interest in the Internet side of things and the owner seem to think it is going to go away (implied by action, never spoken of).

My girlfriend will get a nice bonus from the order, but she is the type of person who needs at least minor acknowledgment of her business successes. A "Good job" would have been enough.

That's messed up but so common is many businesses!

she shuodl quit

That type of thing pisses me off. Happens all the time at my work, took me 6 months to finally get my promotion and raise in hand. And everyone else is still waiting for thiers.

She should have barged into her boss's office, slapped the fax on his table, bellowed "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout" (with an optional "Beotch" added at the end) in his face, and then run around the office high-fiving everyone.

David,

She should do as the Prof said!

Seriously, she should work at finding happiness within herself. No one else can give it to her. I appreciate an "atta boy" as much as the next person but I am a lot happier now that I no longer seek them.

Tell her we said good job!

Bob

management is so bad in the tech world it's almost beyond belief.
that's so common it's not even funny
and now, after creating all this money for the company, she's wanting to leave (i'm sure) because of a simple thank you
the tech world sucks, and yes I live in it every day.

Lots of businesses just don't get the potential of the Internet.  More than that, if you actually DO run an Internet op and think that Internet leads don't 'pan out' you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Quoted: My girlfriend will get a nice bonus from the order, but she is the type of person who needs at least minor acknowledgment of her business successes. A "Good job" would have been enough.

Huh...

Nice bonus = more than minor acknowledgment

There's a lot of people (PHB types) that simply don't "get" the Internet and its potential.

Too many are hard-wired to think ONLY of B&M type operations and the whole idea of "teh Intraweb" is too intangible for them to get their minds around.  To them money invested in it "vanishes" and somehow money made from it has less value than that earned from over-the-counter and telephone sales.

I was at a company working IT in the mid-90's when the whole idea of e-commerce was starting.  Those running the show couldn't figure out how to make a floppy disk work in a notebook, forget the basic potential of Internet based business.

I fear it hasn't changed much today.  Either they think computers have reached the level of LCARS or they're souped up adding machines.  The ones that do REALLY "get it" are rare.

Haven't you heard? This internet thing is just a fad!

-Foxxz

I was working for an idiot of the same caliber.

I had the opportunity to bring in 50-100 new clients from relationships I had made years before while working for a now defunct competitor.

He didn't want them because they were MD's and lawyers......

Imagine that, he didn't want customers that paid their bills on time and provided lots of work.

I was not going to bring in the slow pay clients.....

What an idiot!

Similar thing happened to me. I was the top producer in my sales group and grossed more profit than the other 6 sales groups that averaged 5-6 people in each group. No additional promotions, bonuses, thank you, or anything else. I increased sales in my group from 50-60 units per year to 210-230 per year over the course of 7 years at an average profit of $4000 per unit.
When I quit they couldn't understand why and offered no incentive to stay. Their sales have dropped through the floor since I and 2 others have left.

Most bosses are total idiots. They forgot what its like to be the employee.

She's just not very money motivated; when I worked the corporate world my mantra was 'I don't care what the job title is; I just want the big bucks."  She likes to get the bonuses and such, but takes more pride in doing something they told her couldn't be done.  The bonus structure was negotiated before she took the job.  The money isn't the point with her or she wouldn't have taken this job for well under the industry norm for someone whith her skills and experience. The challenge was a big part of the reason, as well as helping out an old friend.

She's also the only woman with a management position; the other women in the business are all clerical. Nobody knows quite what to do with her, in terms of office relationships.

This business is also not even remotely high-tech. The technology involved has changed little sine the 50's when the current owner's father started the business.  The owner learned the business from the ground up and really has trouble seeing outside his very narrowly focused business worldview.

Sounds like the boss DID compliment her when he said "That's nice"  I doubt any boss gets upset over a sale like that.

Plus she gets a bonus on top of that.

I fail to see the problem.

She should ask her boss to put his hand on the Xerox machine and make a copy.  She can then hang it in her cubicle.  When she needs a pat on the back she can rub up against it.

She needs to start her own marketing/consulting firm.
Sounds like she good at her job

Quoted: She should ask her boss to put his hand on the Xerox machine and make a copy.  She can then hang it in her cubicle.  When she needs a pat on the back she can rub up against it.

Now that is funny!

Makes me think that some internal politics is taking place.

(David's girlfriend's boss thinking to himself)

"If the internet sales are real good, maybe they won't need me anymore?  I'll be replaced by a web server."

At what point does she expect it to stop being an uphill fight? Seriously. She's doing a job on a part-time basis that the guy doesn't want any part of. What the heck is he supposed to, start showering her with heaps of praise and admit he was wrong? Not going to happen - ever.

If she's serious about moving on with her career, she should do it right away. She's never going to have any real satisfaction from this engagement, and it's not like the guy is going to give her some stellar recommendation, either. She's clearly not wanted, so she should go somewhere that she's not treated like a red-headed step-child.

Apologies to the red-headed step-children in the audience. It's a figure of speech.

Quoted: management is so bad in the tech world it's almost beyond belief. that's so common it's not even funny and now, after creating all this money for the company, she's wanting to leave (i'm sure) because of a simple thank you the tech world sucks, and yes I live in it every day.

Here here.

I got lucky though in my new job, our management is top notch.
I'm thankful for this every damned day!

Quoted: At what point does she expect it to stop being an uphill fight? Seriously. She's doing a job on a part-time basis that the guy doesn't want any part of. What the heck is he supposed to, start showering her with heaps of praise and admit he was wrong? Not going to happen - ever. If she's serious about moving on with her career, she should do it right away. She's never going to have any real satisfaction from this engagement, and it's not like the guy is going to give her some stellar recommendation, either. She's clearly not wanted, so she should go somewhere that she's not treated like a red-headed step-child. Apologies to the red-headed step-children in the audience. It's a figure of speech.

Part-time? Where did that come from?

And this isn't the start of her career; she has a long track record and we're looking to retire when my kids get out of school in about 7 years.  If I was willing to move away from my kids we could beoth be easily hoding down $200k/year jobs. Being close to my kids so I can see them as often as possible is worth the pay cut to me, and, as I said, money isn't her prime motivator.

The reason for this post wasn't to garner sympathy for her, it was just a commentary on how some (even successful) business folks just don't get it.

She also isn't complaining about this, she just called me and related what the reaction was to getting the order. She found it somewhat silly.

He's an asshole who cannot admit he was wrong.  

To hijack my own post....


You know folks, just because I have a "girlfriend", doesn't make me a twentysomething. It seems from reading the responses that at least half the replies are from people who think that my girlfriend and I are kids.


I guess we need a new word for grownups who are in relationships but aren't married.

Quoted: Part-time? Where did that come from?

Well, I guess I inferred that from the "reduced-rate" status of her employment. So, then, she's working full-time for part-time pay, for somebody who hardly recognizes, let alone appreciates, what it is she's adding to the company? Wow.

I agree with you that there are a lot of otherwise-successful people in business who seem to be completely devoid of the acumen required to gain the full trust and support of their employees.

Since your girlfriend seems to be good at what she does, I think it's best for her to stop enabling the dysfunctional behavior of the clod she's working for. She's not really doing him any favors.

Quoted: I guess we need a new word for grownups who are in relationships but aren't married.

I agree!

Quoted: [Well, I guess I inferred that from the "reduced-rate" status of her employment. .

Positions doing what she does are rarely bonus based (unless it's a total performance of the company type thing). She took a smaller salary along with the bonuses to give the company a capability they otherwise couldn't (or wouldn't) afford.

I keep telling her to freelance, but she has seen how cyclical my work is, despite decent overall income, and prefers the steady paycheck. She's coming around, though, and has started looking for things we could launch as a side business with the intent it become our primary business.

I know exactly how she feels.  We had a job about 5 years ago that had a certain specialized piece of equipment in it.  We had another company build it for us.  It didn't work, very well, and to top it off it was very expensive.  While watching these idiots fuck around with this thing, trying to get it to do what they said it would, I figured out how it worked, and built a prototype of it using inexpensive off the shelf components.  I tested it, and it worked a hell of a lot better than the one they just paid 25K for.  
Fast forward about 8 months, and they come to me saying they had a job for another one, and what should we do?  I explained that I had built a working prototype, and it worked fine.  They were skeptical.  Even though they did not understand how it worked.  I talked them into letting me build one.  They reluctantly said ok.  I build the unit.  It works fine.  No thanks, great job, nothing.  Keep in mind that the first unit they bought costs 25K and the unit I built was about 3K.  
Fast forward another couple of months and I figure out a way to make this thing more versatile by adding a variable speed part to the unit.  Someone sells a job with 4 of these things, now with Coast Guard inspection.  I build 4 of them.  The CG can't believe how quiet and how well they work.  Still no recognition.  Oh, and now it is "our unit", the "unit we build".  They still don't understand how it works, and I am the only one who knows how to put it together.  
This is not to be meant to be a hijack just to show she is not alone.

Have her buy the Internet unit and run it as her own business.

All too common.


She should take the bonus, look for a new job, and tell this fool to FOAD ASAP.

Tell your girlfriend, good job! from me.  But also tell her to remeber that if she's doing her job so that people like her and think she is swell, then business will often be dissappointing. (edited to better reflect my meaning)

This moron for whom she did the job could have reacted this way for a number of  reasons such as he was just shown to be a moron, he wants that division to die, he wants certain people to get burned, he hates being shown up by a woman,  etc.   For some people business is personal and soon become irrational.

I like the suggestion of buying the internet  unit and raking in the money. Noticing that someone with a great untapped business opportunity is  how a lot of people get rich.

Would you rather the boss gave her a tittie squeeze or an ass grab for good work?


Gee, you get paid to work.  Bonus and such too................never enough................

Tell your girlfriend, good job! from me. But also tell her to remeber that if she's doing her job so that people like her and think she is swell, then business will often be dissappointing. (edited to better reflect my meaning) This moron for whom she did the job could have reacted this way for a number of reasons such as he was just shown to be a moron, he wants that division to die, he wants certain people to get burned, he hates being shown up by a woman, etc. For some people business is personal and soon become irrational. I like the suggestion of buying the internet unit and raking in the money. Noticing that someone with a great untapped business opportunity is how a lot of people get rich.

+1