I had just moved from the city to the outer suburbs and was looking for work in my chosen profession. I found the salaries offered to be less than adequate and accepted a position offering a paltry salary with the written promise of a wage increase if all targets were met within the next 12 months.
The company receptionist happened to be a major gossip and one afternoon delighted in telling me how most of the people working in senior management also had their significant others listed on the payroll (ie, the financial controller earned $40k per year and his wife was also on the payroll earning $40k — less tax to pay on two separate incomes than on a single wage of $80k).
In addition to this, the company’s managing director also had his ex-wife and teenage children on the company’s payroll. I worked for the company for about 18 months and approximately half of the people listed on his company’s payroll never set a foot in the office or made a work-related phone call to our office.
After 12 months had passed, all targets had not only been met but also surpassed. The company’s owner (who was also the managing director) made a sad speech about how he’d just outlaid money for the new premises — not mentioning the $2000 per month the company was lashing out on his “company car” and the $4000 per month the company paid to the bank for his boat that had never seen a company function in its life.
He also forgot to mention his ex-wife and three teenage children attending private schools that were on the payroll to the tune of $12,000 per month. The ex-wife was listed as senior manager on $80,000 and the children were listed as employees all earning $25,000 per year — which also just happened to be the same amount as the private schools’ annual fees.
I was told my wage increase could not be met and that a new promise was on offer. The increase offered was substantially lower than the figures originally agreed on and in addition this salary increase would not be included in my base salary but instead would be offered as an incentive to achieve an even higher target than the one I had just achieved.
I expressed my displeasure at this and was surprised to find that both the managing director and financial controller thought I was being unfair in not accepting their “generous” offer. It was explained to me that this new offer was “amazing and extremely fair” and they could not understand why I didn’t agree with them.
Discussions were had and I decided to leave as I had been offered a position with one of our company’s clients. Before leaving, I set a plan in motion. I contacted the taxation office to confirm that due to the nature of information I had access to, the “Agreement of Non-Disclosure” I had signed with said company was null and void.
Time went by and I was now working for the ex-boss’s major client when a rumour swept through the office. I made some enquiries and found that the tax office had completed an investigation based on my information.
The company no longer exists and the owner/managing director no longer owns a waterfront property, a huge yacht or an obnoxiously expensive motor vehicle. I also heard his kids are now finishing their education at some of our state’s finest public schools.
What a hard way for a man to learn that “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.
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