Company Loses $8 Million under Director’s Order, He Blames the Clerk Later

After the company laid off people from the team, the employee’s workload significantly increased. He had to work on behalf of four people, but the company paid him one person’s salary. 

He didn’t let the workload demotivate him. Instead, he worked hard and paid attention to details while reviewing contracts. Thinking about the company’s interest, he canceled a deal with a customer and replaced it with another one that yielded less profit.

The director was angry after knowing that the man had decreased their sales and threatened to fire him. A few days later, the employee revealed something that made the director fire another employee.

The man worked as a federal contractor, helping government organizations to buy computer hardware and software in bulk at a reasonable price. He was responsible for reviewing contracts and approving them if they were financially and legally viable. 

He felt the company should pay him more, especially after they reduced his team of 50 people to 30 because that increased the workload on him and other employees in his team. 

They had to work more and didn’t get a raise. The man revealed that he earned $70,000, which was less than the state wages. 

Despite knowing that the company wasn’t paying him well, he continued to work because he felt proud helping government organizations save tax money. 

He recalled that many organizations contacted them when the trend of working from home was at its peak. It was the perfect opportunity for them to make profits, but the man suggested that the company gives them a free 60-day trial.

It took him some time to convince the CEO, but he did. Eventually, the organizations contacted them after their trial period and were ready to sign up for a paid contract. 

However, the company didn’t listen to the man’s suggestion after the reorganization. He said it was because they thought he was decreasing their sales. 

On the other hand, the government organizations loved working with him because he never lied to them. He guided them truthfully, compelling them to return to him when their contract ended.

He believed in building customers’ trust, no matter if the company had to sacrifice a few dollars at first. He knew the customers would eventually return and allow the company to earn money. 

A government school reached out to their company because they had to buy computers in bulk. The sales team wanted to sell outdated laptops to get rid of them and charge the school maintenance fee worth thousands whenever the laptops stopped working. 

The sales team saw this as an opportunity to earn profits and reward their members with bonuses. However, when the school officials talked to the man, he told them it would be better to buy newer laptops and save the money they would otherwise spend on maintenance. 

“My job was to get the best quote to the customer and develop trust to sign a 5 or 10-year contract,” he stated. The school officials agreed to buy the newer laptops and saved money. However, the sales director wasn’t happy about the deal. 

He berated OP (Original Poster) before their manager for spending too much time on small contracts. The manager asked him to follow what the sales director said and “stop fussing over small contracts.”

He said that he paid attention to small contracts because they had the potential to turn into big ones. He warned them that it would cost them a lot if they didn’t look for mistakes in the contracts before approving them. 

The director yelled at OP, saying he had no idea how contracts worked and asked him to listen to his instructions instead of taking steps independently. 

OP then asked him to email him a list of suggestions that he could use to improve his performance. The director yelled at him again for not remembering what he had just said in the meeting. 

“Do not review contracts less than $100K and “trust” sales team that due diligence has been done,” the sales director stated in his email. OP copied this email and sent it to his manager, informing him that doing this could cause harm to the company, but the manager told him to listen to the director. 

After that day, OP spent ten minutes reviewing each contract instead of two hours. As a result, he had started reaching home early and got ample time to rest.

One day, he came across a contract that had an issue that could cause a considerable loss. However, he chose not to highlight the problem because the manager had told him to follow the sales director.

He approved the contract and sent it to the other team, so they started working on it. Ten months later, the same customer said they wanted to work with the company and gave them a contract worth $50 million.

OP said this was the company’s biggest contract, and everyone was excited to work on it. However, only he knew that the contract had a flaw that could cost the company millions of dollars.

After all the teams started working on this contract, the finance team revealed something shocking. They said the deal would make the company lose $8 million with zero profit. 

It turned out that the sales director had approved the deal without verifying the clauses. It was impossible to change the agreement now, so the legal team said the company had to bear the losses. 

The CEO hosted a meeting to discuss the contract. He asked the employees to tell who was at fault for approving this contract.

The sales director blamed OP for not going through the contract properly and told him he would get fired soon. He scolded him in front of 30 other employees. 

OP was ready with his response. He connected his laptop to the TV screen in the room and opened the email that the sales director had sent him earlier. 

In the email, he had asked OP not to review small contracts. All eyes in the room looked at the director. Then, OP scrolled down and showed the part of the email where he stated that not reviewing the contracts could cause the company a huge loss, but the director still told him not to review small agreements. 

Eventually, he had to leave the conference room. Soon, the company fired him and asked him to pay $300,000 to compensate for the company’s loss.

Instead of paying the money, he sued the company. He lost the case and had to pay $200,000 as a legal fee. He now owed the company $500,000. 

“I appreciate your professional pride; society depends on people like you doing the right thing even when the incentives aren’t there,” Redditor chrispmorgan stated. The user appreciated OP’s hard work and encouraged him to continue being honest. 

Redditor Arrasor pointed out a problem with the pay structure for sales employees. The user said salespeople mostly rely on bonuses, which makes them get more sales by any means, no matter if they are doing the wrong thing. 

They only care about increasing their numbers, so they get promoted. When such people become bosses, they expect their team members to increase their sales the same way they did. 

OP agreed and said the sales employees have a lower base salary and mostly depend on bonuses. He said new contracts give better rewards than repeat customers, and most employees usually accept agreements without understanding the customer’s needs. 

Questions to Ponder:

Do you think OP was being too honest?

OP was honest towards his work. He didn’t believe in making profits through deception. He felt it was better to be truthful and win customers’ trust instead of earning profits. Many people in his workplace thought his approach to his work was incorrect. Do you agree?

Do you think he should have informed the company about the potential loss?

After OP read the contract, he knew the company would face a considerable loss, but he chose to keep quiet to teach the sales director a lesson. He approved the agreement and made the company suffer a loss. Some people might think he did the wrong thing. They might feel he should have warned the CEO about the loss. What do you think?

If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about a boss who refused to pay his pregnant and sick employee. She later forwarded his email to everyone. 

All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.

Anomama