Hmmm...I could have sworn that they held back a paycheck, but here is my last check, commission only and for only a couple of sales when there were more. I do not want to get too specific here about anything - just in case - and the real idea of blogging this is to share the unemployment experience with others. I think it is interesting because I have not been through this in 24 years.
Last company informed me that they would no longer be able to pay me, or anyone else in sales, that we were going to full commission and that would be cut by 13%. Interesting. It was in my contract to go to full commission, however, there was no talk of lowering commission percentages and no time line mentioned, this is a start-up only 4 months old, and I had not even been there 90 days. The first 3-4 weeks were spent setting up the service. Most people know it takes an average 6 month turn around for full commission pay. This job was not at all presented this way. This makes the job at the paper far superior, assuming our department was still there.
Anyway, when starting a business, I have now seen a lot of ways to succeed and fail. This is helpful to me for my own business and invaluable as a tool for job seekers! I never really considered that the place I apply for work may not be there within the next 6 months or so. Perhaps that makes me naive, but I think it is just the way things are right now. Things have changed dramatically and that leaves a lot of room for opportunity when approached in a realistic way.
If you have a business with employees, you should not tell them about your investors or share the day to day stress with them. Not only is it none of their business, but they will likely lose faith in you if they know about your nightmares. Your nightmares are for you - they have their own. Let them function in the way an employee does, for the company. Do not make them feel that they are the company. That is what I call undo pressure. I feel that I am my own company, because I am, but I am not someone else's company - especially if that knowledge is peppered with insults and reverse motivation tactics while under micromanagement.
Saturdays are completely voluntary. It is up to you if you want to come in and be a team player for absolutely no pay. Of course, if you do not come in, that would count against you in every argument going forward. Not a salaried position. I actually do it until the last few Saturdays. And I work on holiday days that end up not being paid. All that extra effort.
I become 'Milton' in "Office Space" and, they tell me, everyone in my department, works now for commission only. We will not be receiving paychecks unless they are commission. Interesting since I am in the office "full-time" and others are "part-time" and always "outside". My understanding is that it will "work itself out naturally" as in "Office Space". I am encouraged to still work Saturdays and through the night, etc., to be a team player. I do this for 3 days and realize there will be no check at the end of the week besides commission, if that goes through and however they decide to calculate it. Unemployment asks me if I was laid off? I tell them this exactly, "they could no longer afford to pay me and put us on commission only before there is steady commission coming in". Interpretation: "No work". These are not my words. And I realize there is plenty of work, but very little pay. Of course, if I operated my business that way, I could hire tons of commission only salespeople and keep them in the office, encouraging volunteer days and - well, you get the idea.
There are, no doubt, people reading this wondering why I did not just "pull myself up by my bootstraps and sell more!". Well, sales is a funny thing. When you are not sure how the people who supply a service are going to treat you, then you are not sure how they will treat your customers. Not ideal selling conditions. I am not writing this to gripe and bitch and I know my situation will turn around very quickly - it already is. There are certainly going to be replies saying that this is a normal setup. It is not how my contract was laid out or how I understood my position to be compensated. Offers of gas money to make it in to work after being there for 6 weeks, well, not our agreement.
The crazy thing is if I could afford to work under those conditions, I might have continued on. Applicant beware.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
It Begins...
It begins and I have just been reminded that today also begins the Chinese New Year. 2009 is the year of the Ox. First thing that comes to mind is work and that does seem to be the general idea, well respected hard work. Canada's Global News reports that the new US President Obama was born in the Year of the Ox. Well respected hard work. Hard work. Work...
I am out of work. For the first time in 24 years, I filed for Unemployment Benefits today. I went out into the bitterly cold January afternoon in the Detroit area in a state that has a higher than 10% unemployment rate and registered for work with the State of Michigan. You would think the place would be packed - on a Monday, no less - but it wasn't. There were about 10 contestants in the small office besides my husband and me. We even sat together without too much of a problem. I thought most of the applicants were there just to go through the motions, but listening in on some conversations revealed people who were ready and interested in work. That lifted my spirits.
My husband showed me where the office was located. It was not in a high traffic area and would be easy to miss. Apparently, one must sign up for work in order to qualify for benefits. I wanted to sign up anyway. Our bank account is overdrawn. I have a bizarre feeling that I am responsible for my entire household. Bizarre because that is not the usual order of things, I suppose, and because it makes me feel better to call it bizarre - then if I accomplish supporting the household, it's really something! (As opposed to just another day). But it is just another day and I have not yet accomplished it...I am still working on it! (Thank God for b in pig Latin).
I did everything quickly and was really well organized. I signed in rather than printing - oops. First, you are asked to fill out your resume by hand, writing with a pen! This felt completely useless and I kept wondering who in the world would be trying to decipher the handwriting of all of these people...no one seemed to be looking at forms where I was... I realized this is a point in the process where people may struggle and give up. It's funny how these things are set up to present additional struggles for people who are already struggling. I cannot imagine who would give up during this portion, but I can picture someone without a face getting frustrated and storming off, declaring this as a useless waste of time. I was beginning to think that perhaps our little area was so far behind the times there was no hope they could help me get another job!
That is when someone led me into the next room, a room filled with computers (thank goodness!). Here, I was directed to just follow the prompts and post my resume online. Really? Didn't I just handwrite my resume for you - which, by the way, I also brought printed on perky chartreuse paper. Make no waves. Right. Enter it online, of course. Could I have done this from home? No. You MUST come into the office the first time. Agree and be agreeable. Smile and nod. Sit down and begin typing. I proceeded to now type everything I had just handwritten from looking off my perfect little chartreuse printed resume. I was not in the least bothered by this and I think it's because I had already figured out that this is just another opportunity for me to give up my rights to benefits. The online resume even asked for the same information 3 times and when finished, I printed out my resume, which bore a resemblance to my original chartreuse resume, but was not as nice or detailed. Must have been the repetition.
Now here is a funny thing. The office closes at 4:30 pm and we had arrived at 3 pm. You have never seen more relieved people than those tidying up my information around 4:10 pm. When you arrive, they have no way of determining whether you will be quick or slow, smooth or wrought with problems. I also shared with them that I had not filed in over 20 years, a frightening fact for someone looking at her work clock on Monday afternoon. There is something about a government office that makes it run more efficiently when it is close, but reasonably near closing and we took advantage of that fact.
Tomorrow I will write a little about my last employer who decided that beginning Jan. 1st, they would stop paying people, and we were still welcome to come in on Sat. as a purely volunteer effort. Interesting, no?
I am out of work. For the first time in 24 years, I filed for Unemployment Benefits today. I went out into the bitterly cold January afternoon in the Detroit area in a state that has a higher than 10% unemployment rate and registered for work with the State of Michigan. You would think the place would be packed - on a Monday, no less - but it wasn't. There were about 10 contestants in the small office besides my husband and me. We even sat together without too much of a problem. I thought most of the applicants were there just to go through the motions, but listening in on some conversations revealed people who were ready and interested in work. That lifted my spirits.
My husband showed me where the office was located. It was not in a high traffic area and would be easy to miss. Apparently, one must sign up for work in order to qualify for benefits. I wanted to sign up anyway. Our bank account is overdrawn. I have a bizarre feeling that I am responsible for my entire household. Bizarre because that is not the usual order of things, I suppose, and because it makes me feel better to call it bizarre - then if I accomplish supporting the household, it's really something! (As opposed to just another day). But it is just another day and I have not yet accomplished it...I am still working on it! (Thank God for b in pig Latin).
I did everything quickly and was really well organized. I signed in rather than printing - oops. First, you are asked to fill out your resume by hand, writing with a pen! This felt completely useless and I kept wondering who in the world would be trying to decipher the handwriting of all of these people...no one seemed to be looking at forms where I was... I realized this is a point in the process where people may struggle and give up. It's funny how these things are set up to present additional struggles for people who are already struggling. I cannot imagine who would give up during this portion, but I can picture someone without a face getting frustrated and storming off, declaring this as a useless waste of time. I was beginning to think that perhaps our little area was so far behind the times there was no hope they could help me get another job!
That is when someone led me into the next room, a room filled with computers (thank goodness!). Here, I was directed to just follow the prompts and post my resume online. Really? Didn't I just handwrite my resume for you - which, by the way, I also brought printed on perky chartreuse paper. Make no waves. Right. Enter it online, of course. Could I have done this from home? No. You MUST come into the office the first time. Agree and be agreeable. Smile and nod. Sit down and begin typing. I proceeded to now type everything I had just handwritten from looking off my perfect little chartreuse printed resume. I was not in the least bothered by this and I think it's because I had already figured out that this is just another opportunity for me to give up my rights to benefits. The online resume even asked for the same information 3 times and when finished, I printed out my resume, which bore a resemblance to my original chartreuse resume, but was not as nice or detailed. Must have been the repetition.
Now here is a funny thing. The office closes at 4:30 pm and we had arrived at 3 pm. You have never seen more relieved people than those tidying up my information around 4:10 pm. When you arrive, they have no way of determining whether you will be quick or slow, smooth or wrought with problems. I also shared with them that I had not filed in over 20 years, a frightening fact for someone looking at her work clock on Monday afternoon. There is something about a government office that makes it run more efficiently when it is close, but reasonably near closing and we took advantage of that fact.
Tomorrow I will write a little about my last employer who decided that beginning Jan. 1st, they would stop paying people, and we were still welcome to come in on Sat. as a purely volunteer effort. Interesting, no?
Now for General Blog...ModelSupplies Moved
1-26-09
For ingredient and skin care information, please see ModelSupplies Blog.
This blog will be converted into a blog post about the adventures of the unemployed in Michigan. MI has above 10% unemployment rate.
Anita
For ingredient and skin care information, please see ModelSupplies Blog.
This blog will be converted into a blog post about the adventures of the unemployed in Michigan. MI has above 10% unemployment rate.
Anita
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