Friday, June 03, 2005
OK, it's official, I can now resent my boss. I've long seen the man's reckless spending and otherwise Peter Pan-like attitude (hat tip: E) but I've cast a blind eye to it. It's his money to spend as he pleases and I still get a check when pay day rolls around. In the back of my head I've always been a little concerned, but have never really let it get to me because, well, that's really none of my business how the Director of Operations manages his time/life. But today I witnessed something first hand which made me think.
It started innocently enough. I was eating my lunch when Boss's #2 came in and told me we had to meet the big B for a meeting. Big B was at a local bar/grill finishing up a "business lunch" with one of our younger CSRs (again, this has been going on for awhile, but it's really none of my business so I look the other way. And what could/would I do anyway?). So #2 and I walk in and there's Big B, the Boss, playing video poker at the bar. This is something I've heard he's fond of doing, and I've heard from #2 that Big B plays "fast and hard" at this amusement (like in the neighborhood of $25 a hand). Today the Boss wasn't playing $25 hands but he did blow $500 with $10 hands like it was nothing in about 10 mins. For those of you not familiar with Nevada/Vegas these in-bar video poker machines are a ubiquitous adornment to every flat surface in the town, just about. To see someone blow $500 in that amount of time was a little hard. I couldn't help but think of all the other useful things that money could have been put toward. Hell, from a practical stand point think of how many groceries you could buy with that!! Sorry, but I am a practical, simple man at heart.
But what really got to me was when I thought of this money and the incredibly stupid sized salary this man must be paying himself. Nice when you own the company, eh? He already drives a convertible German sports car, how much dough does this guy roll around in? I know he doesn't own a house, he rents, and he has a roommate, so maybe the guy just sees things differently about where to invest your money (property = bad/video poker machine = good). I dunno. But I also thought aside from the personal salary thing, think about how we could use these funds for the company! Think about how we could actually pay our branch offices in a timely manner! That would be nice. Or maybe we could see a little more trickle down to the staff (myself included)? They are (we are) all working hard and could use a little more compensation for our time. This situation is further exacerbated by the fact that I am in the middle of drafting employment contracts for five new sales people and I am privy to the amount our company is shelling out for their services. Granted, these people have proven track records of bringing in money so they may very well be worth it, but it does make me lift an eye brow. ¶ 4:41 PM
It started innocently enough. I was eating my lunch when Boss's #2 came in and told me we had to meet the big B for a meeting. Big B was at a local bar/grill finishing up a "business lunch" with one of our younger CSRs (again, this has been going on for awhile, but it's really none of my business so I look the other way. And what could/would I do anyway?). So #2 and I walk in and there's Big B, the Boss, playing video poker at the bar. This is something I've heard he's fond of doing, and I've heard from #2 that Big B plays "fast and hard" at this amusement (like in the neighborhood of $25 a hand). Today the Boss wasn't playing $25 hands but he did blow $500 with $10 hands like it was nothing in about 10 mins. For those of you not familiar with Nevada/Vegas these in-bar video poker machines are a ubiquitous adornment to every flat surface in the town, just about. To see someone blow $500 in that amount of time was a little hard. I couldn't help but think of all the other useful things that money could have been put toward. Hell, from a practical stand point think of how many groceries you could buy with that!! Sorry, but I am a practical, simple man at heart.
But what really got to me was when I thought of this money and the incredibly stupid sized salary this man must be paying himself. Nice when you own the company, eh? He already drives a convertible German sports car, how much dough does this guy roll around in? I know he doesn't own a house, he rents, and he has a roommate, so maybe the guy just sees things differently about where to invest your money (property = bad/video poker machine = good). I dunno. But I also thought aside from the personal salary thing, think about how we could use these funds for the company! Think about how we could actually pay our branch offices in a timely manner! That would be nice. Or maybe we could see a little more trickle down to the staff (myself included)? They are (we are) all working hard and could use a little more compensation for our time. This situation is further exacerbated by the fact that I am in the middle of drafting employment contracts for five new sales people and I am privy to the amount our company is shelling out for their services. Granted, these people have proven track records of bringing in money so they may very well be worth it, but it does make me lift an eye brow. ¶ 4:41 PM
