I got a little excited, “Is this okay? Will it cause outrage?”
“Of course it will.” Leon replied quickly.
“Then why did you let me do it?”
“It’s the only way you can solve this problem. Otherwise you would lose the game in the beginning. If you compromise with them, you can’t control the people below in the future. They won’t give you face, and won’t listen to any of your orders or arrangements.”
“So what if all those executives who were punished resigned? There would be so many openings, so many jobs. Who’s going to do it?” I questioned.
“It’s not going to happen.”
“How could this not be?”
Leon seemed a little impatient, “When you were working at the mall, would you resign just because you were punished by your manger?”
I thought about it for a moment and said no.
“Why?” Leon asked.
“I need that job to support my family.”
“Yes, that’s the main reason. Those managers are, for the most part, people with families. They also don’t want to get involved in factional conflicts, and they just want a good job that has a decent salary to support their families. The salary of Hai City Telecom is the highest in Hai City telecom industry. If these people quit, where are they going to find high-salary jobs? So they’re not going to quit just because you docked their bonus.”
His words convinced me. When Leon spoke seriously, his logic was very rigorous.
“Ok, then I’ll do it now.”
“Just do it. No matter who targets you, you just fight back. If you can’t handle it, I’ll help you.” Leon said.
I was a little touched by his words. So I said affectionately, “I knew you would protect me and always be there for me.”
I didn’t expect that this guy ignored my feeling and replied coldly, “I was worried that you would disgrace me, so I gave you an idea. Don’t expect too much.”
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
That was the way he was, and I’ve gotten used to it.
I didn’t know why he always refused to acknowledge his kindness after helping me, as if it was a shame to be nice to me.
I went back to the office and immediately asked Mengjie Zeng to inform those who was supposed to come to the meeting today but didn’t come without a reasonable excuse that their bonus would be deducted the month.
Unexpectedly, after the notification email went out for two hours, those who hadn’t attended the meeting in the sales department suddenly showed up at the company near the end of the day.
Twenty or so people crowded into my office and surrounded me.
This showed that these people actually had come to the company. It was just that they didn’t attend the meeting deliberately.
“Director Yao, what do you mean? Why would you deduct our bonuses on your first day of work? We’re salespeople, and we’re going out and selling, not sitting in an office every day. We don’t attend meetings because we go to work. What right do you have to deduct our bonuses?”
“That’s it, you’ve done nothing. Are you trying to show your power by docking our wages?” The others thus echoed.
I listened to their discontentment quietly until their voices slowly lowered.
“Are you guys done? If not, please continue.” I said coldly.
No one spoke.
“Why do you people surround me? Do you want to fight with me? Or are you going to throw me out? I understand that your job is to sell goods in the marketplace. But you have to understand that meetings are part of your job. I informed you yesterday that there was a meeting to be held and you also rushed back to the office, but were late to show up. Do you think you are working? You guys are banding together to give me a hard time, right?”
The people remained silent.
“I want to know, who encouraged you argue with me in my office? You tell me who he is and I’ll fire him now. I respect every one of you and understand the hard work every one of you have done for this company, but you cannot use that as a reason to target me. Whether you guys want me to be the director or not, I’m the director now and I’m your boss. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll have to fire you. Twenty minutes later, you’d better go to the conference room and finish the meeting that you did not attend today, and those who did not attend will be considered to have resigned automatically. Now please leave my office now and don’t interrupt my work.”
The men looked at each other, and then someone started moving towards the door. Some people, who were still on the fence, eventually went out too.
Twenty minutes later, I came to the conference room. Those who had come to me for trouble, sat there quietly.
I acted as if nothing had happened and started the meeting straight away.
I had already said what I was going to say at 2, 30 p. m., so I was more relaxed when I said it the second time.
They carefully took notes of the meeting, and as the meeting drew to a close they made presentations and debriefings and also gave suggestions
As Leon had said, these people were not troublemakers, most of them were good staff, and otherwise they would not be managers or supervisors.
The reason they didn’t attend the meeting was because they were asked to take sides, and they had to wait and see when they didn’t figure out the situation. After realizing that working against me could potentially make them lose their jobs, they certainly stopped hesitating. After all, living well with a good salary was the most important thing.
At this time, one of the supervisors came over and said somewhat hesitantly, “Director Yao, we are usually busy with each other and rarely get a chance to eat together, if you have no other plans, we invite you to have diner. It’s on us, by the way, to apologize for our behavior today.”
I smiled, “You don’t have to apologize. Let’s get together for dinner tonight then, my treat.”
The people next to me were listening to my talk. As soon as I said yes, they cheered.
These people were really not bad people. They had a positive personality in charge of sales because salespeople dealt with a wide variety of customers and they were the most communicative employees in the company.
I didn’t know where to go for dinner, so I asked Mengjie Zeng to help me book the restaurant. She quickly ordered me a restaurant that was perfect for small gatherings. It was said that these people often gather there because there was a KTV next to it, and they can continue with other entertainment after dinner.
As soon as we arrived at the restaurant, Leon’s phone came over and said that Alex was waiting to have dinner with me, and asked why I didn’t come back yet?
I told him what happened in the afternoon and said I was gathering with them now and might be back later.
“Okay, but you’re not allowed to drink.” Leon said.
I said, “It’s impossible not to drink. I’ll drink a little, but not get drunk. Don’t worry, I won’t make gaffes.”
But he was not happy, “You don’t understand what I’m saying, do you? You can’t drink when I say you can’t. I forbid you to drink with another man!”
How funny his words were. Was he jealous? Was a dinner with an employee considered a dinner with another man? It was obviously not.