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Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 08:38:01 AM

Title: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 08:38:01 AM
I have a guy does marketing work for me - a lot of which is phone work - calling people up we've identified as prospective partners or media companies we can contribute content to and then arranging joint events etc.. Cut a long story short, we are both in Asia but most of the partners/media companies we deal with are in US - mostly Chicago.

So, we end up doing a lot of stuff during the US AM which is our evening.

Tonight we had some calls lined up, tomorrow we have a joint marketing email to send out (which hasn't been written) & we also needed to sort out a booking with another company that's going to give us access to their customers but looks like it conflicts with something else they are doing..

And the guy calls me up - shitfaced. Slurring. Obviously drunk. 8PM his time. He admitted to being drunk but said he was fine to carry on our discussion which I flatly refused to do.

Now I know we work evenings, we work from home most of the time too - so you have to be disciplined. But really, how hard is it to work 5 days a week sober?

I've been here before - being in Asia, there's a helluva lot of westerners going off the rails. The guy is good at what he does. But now the worry is he may have been in this state when talking to people on our behalf.

Part of me says give him a chance. Part of me says boot him immediately.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Howard on June 17, 2015, 08:40:45 AM
A true getbigger would try to have drunken phone sex with you  ;)

Fire him based on his failure to go for it.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 17, 2015, 08:45:11 AM
Is he so good at what he does that binning him will be detrimental to you? Or is he replaceable?
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: herefortheglitter on June 17, 2015, 08:46:05 AM
I have a guy does marketing work for me - a lot of which is phone work - calling people up we've identified as prospective partners or media companies we can contribute content to and then arranging joint events etc.. Cut a long story short, we are both in Asia but most of the partners/media companies we deal with are in US - mostly Chicago.

So, we end up doing a lot of stuff during the US AM which is our evening.

Tonight we had some calls lined up, tomorrow we have a joint marketing email to send out (which hasn't been written) & we also needed to sort out a booking with another company that's going to give us access to their customers but looks like it conflicts with something else they are doing..

And the guy calls me up - shitfaced. Slurring. Obviously drunk. 8PM his time. He admitted to being drunk but said he was fine to carry on our discussion which I flatly refused to do.

Now I know we work evenings, we work from home most of the time too - so you have to be disciplined. But really, how hard is it to work 5 days a week sober?

I've been here before - being in Asia, there's a helluva lot of westerners going off the rails. The guy is good at what he does. But now the worry is he may have been in this state when talking to people on our behalf.

Part of me says give him a chance. Part of me says boot him immediately.


Has he ever made any mistakes before? Also, is he in Chicago? Just won the Stanley Cup and the whole city is drunk. Haha
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 08:49:41 AM
Is he so good at what he does that binning him will be detrimental to you? Or is he replaceable?

From my perspective, it would be detrimental - it takes a long time to get somebody new up to speed with how the industry works and all the lingo. So there is a big learning curve. That will be a massive pain in the ass.

On the other hand, if he's calling people drunk, it may already be detrimental - although I've never head complaints that he's called people drunk.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 08:53:10 AM
Has he ever made any mistakes before? Also, is he in Chicago? Just won the Stanley Cup and the whole city is drunk. Haha

Well, everybody makes mistakes - but he's never majorly fucked up in any way. Then again, I give him lists of people to go after and who is to say his hit rate isn't down because he's called someone slurring?

Scratch that - he has done the odd day here & there where he's disappeared and come up with an excuse the next day as opposed to calling in.

Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Howard on June 17, 2015, 08:53:47 AM
From my perspective, it would be detrimental - it takes a long time to get somebody new up to speed with how the industry works and all the lingo. So there is a big learning curve. That will be a massive pain in the ass.

On the other hand, if he's calling people drunk, it may already be detrimental - although I've never head complaints that he's called people drunk.

Fire him and hire any number of competent getbiggers.
I'm sure the mods would allow a sticky, "help wanted ad" on this forum page.

Hope that helps.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 17, 2015, 08:54:15 AM
From my perspective, it would be detrimental - it takes a long time to get somebody new up to speed with how the industry works and all the lingo. So there is a big learning curve. That will be a massive pain in the ass.

On the other hand, if he's calling people drunk, it may already be detrimental - although I've never head complaints that he's called people drunk.

That's the thing, if this is a habit yet business is good and nobody complains, as unprofessional as it is he can seemingly pull it off.

You have to weigh up your morals etc against good returns I guess. And decide how much you trust the guy.

Maybe he can learn from it and improve too.

Fuck knows, hard to judge knowing next to nothing.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 08:54:38 AM
Fire him and hire any number of competent getbiggers.
I'm sure the mods would allow a sticky, "help wanted ad" on this forum page.

Hope that helps.

I doubt I could afford a GetBigger.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 17, 2015, 08:55:51 AM
Well, everybody makes mistakes - but he's never majorly fucked up in any way. Then again, I give him lists of people to go after and who is to say his hit rate isn't down because he's called someone slurring?

Scratch that - he has done the odd day here & there where he's disappeared and come up with an excuse the next day as opposed to calling in.



That last bit doesn't bode well.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Automation on June 17, 2015, 08:59:15 AM
Fuck it man, if you are in marketing, it is part of the job to be drunk, give him a break.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: herefortheglitter on June 17, 2015, 09:02:15 AM
That's the thing, if this is a habit yet business is good and nobody complains, as unprofessional as it is he can seemingly pull it off.

You have to weigh up your morals etc against good returns I guess. And decide how much you trust the guy.

Maybe he can learn from it and improve too.

Fuck knows, hard to judge knowing next to nothing.


This ^^

Although the "no-call no-show" shit is aggravating. You are expected to behave as a professional and he does not seem to be. I would give him a written very formal warning and outline these key points and issues. Many people who believe they are in positions where they cannot be replaced become cocky about this and continue to push the limits. Let it be known that this shit isn't going to fly.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Natural Man on June 17, 2015, 09:03:22 AM
so the point of this thread is to let us know how almighty you are to have the power to get someone else fired in real life...
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 17, 2015, 09:04:43 AM
so the point of this thread is to let us know how almighty you are to have the power to get someone else fired in real life...

Shit, was it?

Scrap my previous posts.

Can I be your friend Almighty Pedro?
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 09:08:22 AM
One guy I employed, here in Thailand was teaching math at an International school. I took him on as a developer - again - working from home mostly. Pay was better.

Being a teacher, he had to control his drinking but when he worked from home, he ended up having Heineken for breakfast and slow burning the booze all day.

He was a functional alcoholic but if he didn't keep it at the right pace in the day, he'd end up drunk and would drop off the grid.

We had many heated discussions about it - at one point I thought he was clean, he'd gone into rehab - or so I thought. He'd actually fucked off to Chiang Mai for a month to get shitfaced.

This ended abruptly November last year. One day he fell over drunk and hit his head. He ended up in brain surgery. The docs took about a microsecond looking at him to come to the conclusion he was an alcoholic and they had to give him anti-seizure drugs for alcohol withdrawal. I hadn't seen him for a month (we just chatted on skype most of the time) but I've never seen his skin in such poor condition and so blotchy. He'd obviously worked his way up to a terrific amount of consumption in the prior weeks.

Despite good care in hospital, he wasn't improving. The doctors said this was partly because he was so deficient in Thiamine but basically, he was a shell of a man and what would have been a minor injury for most caused him serious damage. We ended up having the air ambulance service ship him back to the UK. At 4 Months he was nowhere near the state he could work and at that point, I couldn't hold on any longer and I replaced him.

He ended up back with his parents - who are in their 80's. This guy is 51, penniless and unable to work. I remember a month after the accident showing him a picture of his 2 daughters from his wallet and asking who they were - he had no idea.

Anyway - I've been here before. Hence considering cutting my losses.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 17, 2015, 09:10:31 AM
One guy I employed, here in Thailand was teaching math at an International school. I took him on as a developer - again - working from home mostly. Pay was better.

Being a teacher, he had to control his drinking but when he worked from home, he ended up having Heineken for breakfast and slow burning the booze all day.

He was a functional alcoholic but if he didn't keep it at the right pace in the day, he'd end up drunk and would drop off the grid.

We had many heated discussions about it - at one point I thought he was clean, he'd gone into rehab - or so I thought. He'd actually fucked off to Chiang Mai for a month to get shitfaced.

This ended abruptly November last year. One day he fell over drunk and hit his head. He ended up in brain surgery. The docs took about a microsecond looking at him to come to the conclusion he was an alcoholic and they had to give him anti-seizure drugs for alcohol withdrawal. I hadn't seen him for a month (we just chatted on skype most of the time) but I've never seen his skin in such poor condition and so blotchy. He'd obviously worked his way up to a terrific amount of consumption in the prior weeks.

Despite good care in hospital, he wasn't improving. The doctors said this was partly because he was so deficient in Thiamine but basically, he was a shell of a man and what would have been a minor injury for most caused him serious damage. We ended up having the air ambulance service ship him back to the UK. At 4 Months he was nowhere near the state he could work and at that point, I couldn't hold on any longer and I replaced him.

He ended up back with his parents - who are in their 80's. This guy is 51, penniless and unable to work. I remember a month after the accident showing him a picture of his 2 daughters from his wallet and asking who they were - he had no idea.

Anyway - I've been here before. Hence considering cutting my losses.

You're just a big fat enabler.

Is this other guy younger and just having a good time when he shouldn't? Or an alcoholic?
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Hulk-smash! on June 17, 2015, 09:12:09 AM
Ask him what he's wearing ;D
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 09:15:17 AM
Shit, was it?

Scrap my previous posts.

Can I be your friend Almighty Pedro?

I think this depends mostly on your ability to stay in Bangkok or Manila and keep your shit together 5 days a week.

Some people that are really clever in many ways appear to have a real knack for leaving their self control at the airport.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 09:22:12 AM
You're just a big fat enabler.

Is this other guy younger and just having a good time when he shouldn't? Or an alcoholic?

I did totally enable the older guys boozing - I was never around alcoholics before and I honestly didn't know the signs, even though some of the physical signs are pretty obvious.

The guy today, he is younger - with a new baby, living with a chick in Manila.

So it's not like he's bar hopping - it was too early for that, my guess would be drinking at home.

He could do the bar scene after working - could be done & dusted by 11pm his time & out in slutsville - although his missus would probably put the brakes on that.

He did work for a friend of mine who I called tonight & it turns out he'd done this there once - but only once. But that was working in an office. My friend also told me that on occasions they'd go out, this guy liked to go way past fun drunk to the point he'd be completely incoherent.

So I think it's fair to say - he likes a drink.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: herefortheglitter on June 17, 2015, 09:27:27 AM
I did totally enable the older guys boozing - I was never around alcoholics before and I honestly didn't know the signs, even though some of the physical signs are pretty obvious.

The guy today, he is younger - with a new baby, living with a chick in Manila.

So it's not like he's bar hopping - it was too early for that, my guess would be drinking at home.

He could do the bar scene after working - could be done & dusted by 11pm his time & out in slutsville - although his missus would probably put the brakes on that.

He did work for a friend of mine who I called tonight & it turns out he'd done this there once - but only once. But that was working in an office. My friend also told me that on occasions they'd go out, this guy liked to go way past fun drunk to the point he'd be completely incoherent.

So I think it's fair to say - he likes a drink he is an alcohol who probably shouldn't be trusted after this.

fixed
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: NaturalWonder83 on June 17, 2015, 11:25:43 AM
This is a bodybuilding forum
No one here cares about the drama in your life

Post this rubbish on the general or business board
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 17, 2015, 06:42:51 PM
This is a bodybuilding forum
No one here cares about the drama in your life

Post this rubbish on the general or business board

My apologies - I didn't realize it'd mess with your OCD
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Princess L on June 17, 2015, 07:18:10 PM
Well, everybody makes mistakes - but he's never majorly fucked up in any way. Then again, I give him lists of people to go after and who is to say his hit rate isn't down because he's called someone slurring?

Scratch that - he has done the odd day here & there where he's disappeared and come up with an excuse the next day as opposed to calling in.



Is there any way to "add some insiders" to that list to report back to you after you've put him on notice?
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: OlympiaGym on June 17, 2015, 07:33:05 PM
Deduct $13K from his annual salary & lease a $125 a month "company" car for him
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: ritch on June 17, 2015, 07:44:59 PM
keep an eye on him over the next while, if it gets worse you have a case against him. Let him know you have a problem with this in case he dosen't.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Dr.J on June 17, 2015, 09:25:50 PM
Cut him loose,  more problems will come if you don't.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: BigCyp on June 18, 2015, 06:43:18 AM
Send him a picture of Shizzo to warn him of the dangers.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 18, 2015, 06:58:47 AM
Have decided to look for a replacement but let him carry on for now.

Funny thing - going to meet an Italian guy tomorrow who wants to stay in Thailand, after meeting someone here.

Now I'm worried he'll end up going off the rails if I do employ him!

Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: BigCyp on June 18, 2015, 08:05:25 AM
Have decided to look for a replacement but let him carry on for now.

Funny thing - going to meet an Italian guy tomorrow who wants to stay in Thailand, after meeting someone here.

Now I'm worried he'll end up going off the rails if I do employ him!



Maybe this time don't give them a case of Johnny Walker as their welcome present  ;D
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Zillotch on June 18, 2015, 08:07:18 AM
Not reading that drivel...... but I say NO CHANCE!
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Waller on June 18, 2015, 08:11:13 AM
Have decided to look for a replacement but let him carry on for now.

Funny thing - going to meet an Italian guy tomorrow who wants to stay in Thailand, after meeting someone here.

Now I'm worried he'll end up going off the rails if I do employ him!



Is it that hard for someone not to go off the rails there?
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Skorp1o on June 18, 2015, 09:18:15 AM
If he had the balls to speak to you drunk....he is likely doing it to your business lines and that's my take.

Can you afford the reputational damage?

Unless you can come up with a solution to control it....better off cutting it...what's wrong with drinking on weekends.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 18, 2015, 06:47:49 PM
Is it that hard for someone not to go off the rails there?

The guy I will meet today is young and although I've only briefly spoken to him, I gather he's been on holiday here and is returning to live with the girl/boy he met here.

You have a lot of older guys that do the same thing - mostly retirees. The younger one's mostly end up as school teachers. The older ones become sugar-daddies.

So it becomes sort of an extension of your holiday. Plus if you are young, you are literally a pussy magnet but none of it is real.

If the gal they came back to is a "bar girl" - these girls are used to partying every night. Despite Thailand being hard on drugs, you can get anything here and usually pretty quickly.

So there you are, a pussy magnet, most likely with a party girl, away from home with nobody to slow you down and tell you to ease off. It's not real. It's like Disneyworld for sex, booze & drug addicts.

Plus the fact is - most of the working girls here are married or have Thai boyfriends, so they fake a relationship with you to extract as much money as possible in as short a time as possible. I don't just mean a few thousand either - I know men that have brought houses in their girlfriends name and once signed, the girl move their Thai boyfriend in and never let them move in.That's enough to break most men.

When I came here, I was contracting in Japan and they sent me here to oversee an implementation in a Hard Disk Factory. I was about 27, I worked for 6 weeks and decided not to go back to Japan (on account of working there is like being in Boot Camp) then someone who was going to open a company the following year paid me contract rates for 6 months to stay here and NOT work, so that I could head up the tech side of his new firm. How I survived that I don't know but basically I saw a lot of shells on bar stools and even on my first day here I saw older guys and I thought "fuck, I hope I never end up like that".

If he had the balls to speak to you drunk....he is likely doing it to your business lines and that's my take.

Can you afford the reputational damage?

Unless you can come up with a solution to control it....better off cutting it...what's wrong with drinking on weekends.

Good point and thus far there hasn't been any and there are plenty of channels where views are aired on the company.

When he called me he said "look, to be honest I've had a few beers but we can have our meeting anyway".  "had a few beers" = totally shitfaced. So my gut feel is he's not done this with the partners yet. For sure, he's building relationships and I've not heard complaints but I am going to do what Princess said and throw a few people I know into the mix and have him call them and get their feedback.

He's got the gift on the phone, plus he can get past the 'gatekeepers', that's a relatively rare skill.

This is a small company and he's the only guy doing this stuff so right now, I have to risk having him carry on in the short term.

If it was a bigger company with multiple people doing the same thing it'd be fine but it is what it is....

We are currently in the process of seeking funding for our next generation product, part of that plan is to intentionally take our eyes of the ball so to speak in terms of keeping sales of the current product up.  So if that happens, this all becomes a non-issue because we could effectively back off marketing for 6 months.
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: Dokey111 on June 18, 2015, 06:53:49 PM
yes you are one hell of a businessman asking getbiggers maybe its a joke tho
Title: Re: One chance or no chance?
Post by: pedro01 on June 18, 2015, 06:59:21 PM
yes you are one hell of a businessman asking getbiggers maybe its a joke tho

Well - I'll do what I'm gonna do - but it's always good to throw things out there

But anyway, I do tend to discuss things with other people to get their perspectives on issues as opposed to only considering my own viewpoint

Then I do what the fuck I was going to do in the first place...  ;D

Princess had a good idea about giving him people to call that I know to test him out