Apple have awards for resellers that excel in different areas. This quarter, there are trips to San Francisco on offer for a handful of Australian resellers that sell the most iPods, or Mac Pros, etc. Last quarter, we sold the most AppleCare in our “class”, and the boss was given a trip to Macworld.
But the boss has a pregnant wife, who will be unable to fly, and nearly ready to give birth around the time of the trip. He tried to change the dates, but he couldn’t, and he has decided to give the trip to the service manager.
Which is all well and good, aside from two key issues.
1. I sold the most AppleCare. I encouraged other staff members to sell AppleCare. I speak to many customers every day about the benefits of AppleCare, and I add it to every quote I do, and for every quote that I revise for another staff member. I hassled Apple into giving us training in how to sell AppleCare, and since I started doing all this, our AppleCare “attach rate” has been geting higher and higher. I don’t consider myself to be gods gift to sales, but AppleCare is a product I believe in (I buy it myself on every mac that I own), and I don’t feel that I am being immodest by claiming ownership of that award. I truly belive that we sold the most AppleCare because of ME.
2. The boss made the decision to give the trip to “not me”, acted on the decision, and then called me to let me know his decision. It is irreversible, and I had no say in it.
So I am pissed off. Not pissed off that I didn’t get a trip I never expected to get in the first place, but pissed off that I had everything to do with earning the award, but no say in the distribution of the award.
I have been slowly driving myself nuts working towards getting my brothers business out of difficulty, not because I expected financial rewards, but because I believed in my brother and in his business. I belived in myself enough to think that I could make a difference, that I could help turn things around, and that I could (and should) help my brother.
But now I’m left feeling like I’ve been shat on from a great height. It’s not about some stinking bloody conference, it’s about respect. I earned that damn trip, and I deserved to be told about the decision before it was made, and I deserved to be given a chance to give my side of the story.
Mark and I probably couldn’t have gone anyway – it would have cost us more than we have saved, and the savings are for the house (that looks further away than ever now), but I deserved better than a phone call that started of with, “you’re probably not going to like what I have to say”, and ended with “we can talk about this later, but the decision has been made”.
Disco Knitter 
As the award is titled ‘Channel Principal Award’ and I am the channel principal, it is up to me to make decisions that will benefit the business, and I try to make decisions that benefit the business and the people who work there.
I was given until 5PM today to nominate someone to go, and made the decision in the best interests of the business and us in general.
I am responsible for making a lot of decisions, and I’ve made some bad ones, but ultimately I am responsible for the results, good or bad. I have to counsel or get rid of people who don’t follow the rules, and coax better performance from everybody in general.
I’ve just completed a more than 12 hour day, and I love my job enough to face up to issues like this all the time, despite the fact that I encourage people to talk to me about their problems before airing them in a public forum. Even in conversations earlier that day.
Yes I knew I would get shit about this, but as part of the team that won the award you understand that not everything goes your way all the time certainly not for me- what about you dear reader?
Over the years I’ve made and lost a lot of money, and I have responsibility to other interested parties to do the best I can for the business. That’s why I work nights and weekends, and try to get others to do their jobs in the most efficient way possible. And that’s why you got a new computer last week, even though you were on leave and unable to use it.
Did you deserve more than a phone call? I’ll leave that to you to discuss with me in person. And remember respect goes more than one way.
LikeLike
First of all, this is the best blog drama I have EVER seen! I can’t wait for the next instalment.
Secondly,
To ME: As a ‘dear reader’ I understand from your response that you are saying the following:
1. You made a mistake choosing the other person
For the following reasons:
1. You were pressed for time to nominate
2. You have a history of making bad decisions
3. You love your job enough to stand by your bad decisions (I don’t understand the connection here but may I point out that the phrase ‘face up to’ is incorrect English. You ‘face’ something, not ‘face up to’ something. Just so you know, it makes you sound stupid, please excuse me for being old fashioned.)
4. You resent Lara for not working weekends and for taking leave, whilst you slave over a hot keyboard.
5. You are afraid that your subordinates don’t respect you. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t.
And Lara: I would say this is as close to an apology that this person is able to muster. Take it graciously. Go you!
LikeLike
Lara, I think you’re very much being taken for granted, to say the least.
LikeLike