Usyoso

I’ve recently hired an office staff. One of his tasks is to do bank runs, which means, to update our company passbooks in the different banks in the area.

We had our office staff accompany and train newbie to do this task.

Upon their return, she reported that after updating the passbooks, Newbie opened the passbooks one by one to see how much money was inside each account.

Do you know the saying, Curiosity Killed the Cat?

That seems to be an apt description on Newbie, who is an entry level staff.

I called in Newbie about this issue. Upon hearing it, he turned red and apologized profusely.

“Why did you open the company passbooks?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to hold and feel the company passbook, since I’ve never held one in my life,” he said.

“So why did you open it then?” I asked. It’s very frustrating for me when a staff cannot answer the question direct.

“Because I wanted to see how the amounts are added in and subtracted out,” he answered.

I stared at him.

“Okay, so why do you have to open all the passbooks and see all the amounts inside it?” I asked him again. “If you’re curious of one, you open one. Why did you open all?”

He looked at me and didn’t answer anymore.

“Well?” I asked.

“I opened it because I was curious about how much money was inside,” he then answered.

“As an employee, what’s in it for you to open the passbook? Why is it your business to find out something that’s confidential?” I then asked.

“It’s like a package or bag that’s given to you to hand to another person,” I said. “If someone entrusted the bag to you, and asks you to hand over the bag to someone else, would you for any reason open the bag, look through its contents and then after your curiosity is satisfied, close the bag and then return the bag to that second person?”

“No, opening the bag is wrong,” he said.

“Well, so why open the company passbooks?” I asked again.

He said nothing.

I think it’s troubling to have someone so new poke his hole in business that’s not his own. I didn’t like how he answered me where he didn’t take responsibility for his actions at first, nor did I like the fact that he is okay with doing something without worrying about getting caught.

“Okay, now that you got caught,” I asked, “How do you feel?”

“Embarrassed and ashamed,” he said.

“Well, if you are embarrassed and ashamed, why can’t you stop yourself from doing it?”

He said nothing again.

The staff is only in its first week but is now in troubled waters. It’s just his issue, not anyone else. Let’s see how he fares and if he survives the second week. We’ll just check and see.

How about you? How would you react if you were in my situation? Really annoying, right? But is such issue troubling enough to fire a staff?

Have a good Saturday everyone.

Business Series: Working with Integrity

Many businesses take their sweet time in paying their suppliers.

For them, the longer they pay, the better it is. If possible, they will try to delay for as long as possible, hoping against hope that you may actually forget that they owe you money.

Last year, we rented out a parking space in our building to one of the largest businesses in the Philippines. They owed us Php 11,435.94.

Now, this company has acquired around 50+ sites for its community malls. Ten of their malls have already started operations since 2017. They are one of the hottest companies in the PSE.

And yet, it took me ONE WHOLE YEAR of sending multiple emails, calls, legal threats etc. to finally get their accounting to pay us.

And for the meager amount of Php 11,435.94!!!

Compare this to a small parenting shop in New Manila, The Parenting Emporium.

They were very easy to talk to, and after talking to the co-owner, we then delivered our soft plushy rocking horses to them.

Imagine our surprise when during the time for payment, their billing actually took the initiative to call and text me to followup on the bank details so they can transfer the money to us.

They then texted me to follow up the next day on the bank details.

I have done business with many suppliers throughout the years, and many businesses are NOT like the Parenting Emporium. Their accounting is incompetent, the boss is not on top of operations, and they shy away with everything that’s related to collections.

Such effort for me is noteworthy. Given just this small example, it shows that The Parenting Emporium is a company of integrity, and I think many businesses should love transacting with them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When you have a business, it is critical that you operate WITH INTEGRITY.

You always pay people whom you owe timely. You do not cheat them on the terms. And you try your best effort to act in good faith in all your transactions.

My parents were in the business of exporting coffee beans when I was young.

Some suppliers would jack up the prices when the current prices went higher than the future price. Other suppliers would refuse to sell their beans when the price is too low.

But my parents?

They sold the beans at the price to what was stated for the day, even though they bought the beans at a loss. Their clients saw them as a businessman that’s good as their word, and do not hesitate to buy from them, as they knew that my parents would sell them the beans at the agreed price, and can reliably supply even when the bean prices fell.

My parents are my hero, and I look up to them. 

As I manage our small business, it is a source of pride for me to always fulfill my obligations in the timeliest ways possible.

I try my best to pay my people on time. Many businesses delay the salaries either because they’re assholes or because they cannot get the capital on time.

I pay my suppliers and don’t change the prices especially when our suppliers deliver the goods.

People know our credit is good, and we will pay the amount that was agreed with. I don’t try to shortchange my suppliers even after their work is done. This is because some companies in the Philippines re-negotiate the terms after the service is delivered, which is a very assholic thing to do.

Integrity.

Word of honor.

Hindi malabong kausap.

These are the tenents of owning a managing a business long term.

Especially given that the Philippines community is small, how you manage a business is as important as how much money you make.

You may be like this big shot real estate/retail/restaurateur company,  but if you try to escape from paying your Lessor Php 11,435.94, one day the bricks will fall, and people will see what a whack you really are. How can a blue chip company operate in such a manner? Sure, blame your accounting, but I think it’s irresponsible for a business owner to let their Accounting take the fall, when they should be on top of their operations.

Everyone should be like The Parenting Emporium, who manage their business with a responsible heart. I know they’re not yet as big, but if you operate with integrity, I think it’s just a matter of time.

Really appreciate you being a good payer. I’m glad that despite the challenges of working in the Philippines, there’s still many businesses that are very lovely to work with.

Have a great week ahead!

When someone doubts your integrity

One of my staff got paid her back pay today. The amount was about php39,000, about 3x the minimum wage.

Her backpay consisted of one month of wages. She had been with us for 3 years before resigning to get married. The backpay is released two months after the exit interview.

This morning, the agency emailed us. Apparently old staff was harassing and threatening them days before her backpay was released.

In Tagalog, the staff was telling the agency to be careful. “Make sure you give me every cent of my salary. Do not cheat me. I demand a complete breakdown of my backpay.”

The funny thing was, the backpay given to her was correct, irrelevant of her threat. Backpay is attendance + incentive so it’s pretty hard to cheat.

Since she’s been with us for 3 years, and have actually gotten rich with us all that time — she was paid well above the minimum wage — I don’t know why she is so paranoid. She has never been cheated on. Her salary is always paid on time. And she got more than her fair share.

So I feel that her defensiveness and paranoia are unfounded.

In fact, I am insulted that she would even think that we or the agency will cheat her from money earned. We have never cheated anyone, and we aren’t ready to cheat anyone now.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

“Why are you bothered?” Husband asks me. “That’s how they are. They don’t have utang ng loob. Even after 3 years of getting the right pay, they still feel that you will cheat them.”

For someone who values her integrity and reputation, I am insulted when someone questions it. I am even more insulted because her full backpay was deposited even before I knew that she was harassing our agency!

I hope that when she sees her backpay, she will feel foolish. She will feel stupid for ever doubting us. But knowing her, she will feel as if she deserved every penny and how she owes us nothing.

That’s fine — I don’t think she will ever get that same level of compensation in any other company. Good luck to her and your career.

“I’d still hire her though,” husband said. “Even with an attitude like that, she is still useful.”

I won’t.

And that’s how I deal with people who are ungrateful and defensive. Since I cannot change them, I will simply not hire them ever again.

How about you? What will you do in my shoes?

When a Deal Falls Apart

Last Monday, I signed a one-year lease contract for a small unit my husband owns.

I have been showing the unit off a few times, and finally, I was able to lease it out with cash upfront. Of course, I was exhilarated.

“I finally closed the deal,” I excitedly called my husband. The amount wasn’t big, but at least, it’s one problem off our hands. The new tenants were very nice too.

As I was applying for a Move in Form to turn over the unit to the new tenant, I was dismayed to see the following in small font:

No unit shall be used as light industrial factories, industrial plants, manpower/security / janitorial agency, recruitment/training/teaching room, or similar crowd generating undertakings such as, but limited to, networking and direct selling including call centers (BPO) or 24/7 type of operations, nor shall the same be used for any offensive, unlawful and/or immoral activities.

Our new tenant was a up and coming security agency.

My happiness and excitement turned into alarm and trepidation. All I have worked for the last few weeks, from showing off the unit, to the signing of the contract and proper turnover, gone…. because of a rule that I was unaware of.

The fault was mine of course. I should have known the building rules.

However, I have been to the building admin multiple times, and they have said nothing about the rules. It is only in a small paper inserted on a Move-in Form that such rule was indicated, and I have only encountered it AFTER we have signed the contract.

I know what to do, but it’s so hard to do it. There were two choices:

1. I can keep quiet about it, and hope that admin will not notice that our new tenant was a security agency, or
2. I can inform the new tenant about the new rule, and adjust in a way that the building admin would allow them to move in.

Either way, if the admin doesn’t notice it, it will be harder for them to remove an existing tenant especially since the client has already moved in. Then, I get to keep the money. We can just talk about booting them out after their lease is up.

Honestly, I thought about whether I should just keep quiet about it. It is so easy just to keep quiet about it.

But it is wrong.

If I allow the tenant to move in, IF the admin does not allow them to come in, I would be acting in bad faith against the tenant. Because the admin will create trouble for our tenant the entire year since they are not following the rules. In a way, the tenant cannot fulfill their purpose of being a recruitment agency.

If I don’t say anything for the admin despite knowledge of fault, then it shows badly about my character. Sure, I get the lease amount, but at what cost? Integrity should be not worth just a small amount of money.

In the end, I talked to the Admin about it up front.

They told me they will allow the tenant if they will not aggressively recruit inside the building.

I then talked to the new tenant about it. They decided that if there is problems, it’s better that they don’t proceed.

I gave them the money back. They will return the keys tomorrow. I am left again with the job of finding new tenants for the small unit.

Did I do the right thing? The real question might be, did I really have any choice?

I think I did have a choice. I could have kept quiet and let leaves fall as they may. But at what cost?

It is better for me to find a new tenant than to act in bad faith.

So now, we are looking again. I have a viewing later this afternoon. I do not know if it will pan out or not. However, such is life. When a deal falls, try and try again.

Do you think I did the right thing?