Business is ruthless...I get it but I can also be ruthless.
I left a company I worked for a year ago and I never really shared why I left but after I found out what they did today to an employee, to a friend. Well fc*k it I have decided to share my story. Hope you all enjoy getting to know the brand you think you respect.....
As many of you know for the past 3 years I have worked at a specific endurance event company managing the Customer Service department and our entire one - off events. I have always said that I was a member of the community first and an employee second, ALWAYS in all ways. This long post will keep with that mantra and my goal is to provide transparency into the company I fell in love with. Some senior managers like to provide the illusion of transparency by sharing financials but what they do not share is the story about the people behind the curtains. This by no means is slander or liable as everything below is true and other employees can bear witness to it. While some of you will understandably take this a "disgruntled employee", keep in mind, I left, they did not terminate me. Does my tone reek of discontent and anger, yes… but how would you feel when you pour 3 years into a company that slaps you in the face when you confide in them to offer a resolution to a problem and nothing is done. However, as I learned, one should always lead with transparency and do right by people that have done right by me. This post is aimed to shed light on what it really looks like behind the scenes at one of the alleged most premier team building companies in the world.
Upon my yearly review, I explained to the CEO that I was looking to leave my CSR management role and focus on growing our business by focusing full time on selling our one-off events. It made sense to me, I fell in love with the events part of the company, I was excelling at it and it seemed to be more in line with where I wanted my future to be. The CEO agrees and asked me to set up time to speak with another member of the senior management to help me with the scope of work and transitional phase. Once I had that, I was to send it up the chain for each department head to sign off on.
This senior manager, we will call him CC for the sake of keeping his name private…sent me 3 proposals for sales payout/commission structure. I sat with CC at my desk to go over all 3 of them. If you have ever been to our office you know the lay out…I sat in my chair and CC was right behind me sitting on the wooden beam.
I looked over all 3 proposals very analytically line by line dissecting the information. I asked CC how I was going to achieve these numbers and goals that he suggested and asked what resources I would be given? I also told him I thought that the commission structure should be higher and he asked me why.
I answered him by saying the job function is not only sales but also about coordination of the events and he said, "I do NOT coordinate anything and I never have. I only sell the events and that the cadre do the rest." If you and I have had the pleasure of working together in the past you know how deeply involved I am and how quickly I reply to your needs. I explained to him how I work with our clients on patches, event logistics, social media pages, and promotion of the events. Additionally I always work with our customers to ensure that their vision of success is relayed over to the people that actually run the events and to me that felt a lot like event coordination as opposed to just event sales because from start to end I was there for my clients. I also provided proof and instances as well as references of certain personal and clients who can attest to how much I am involved in the event despite CC’s disbelief in that notion that I am not involved at all. His rebuttal to my explanation of the event involvement was simply..."Ill take care of the patches from here on out". I explained how that a month ago when several team members met about the patch process that it made sense for me to just own that part of the one off events process. CC offered me no further explanation on number, goals and resources I would have to achieve these but solely his reply was about him doing the patches. I explained to CC that makes little sense to involve more people in something that does not need to be complicated and then circled back around about the commission since it was important to me. I explained that the industry standard for event coordination was higher than he offered and CC asked me to provide samples of that. I told him a quick Google search would show the commission for event coordination is higher than event sales. CC then asked me to show him a site that stated this. I told him that there was no such one site that stated, " Across the board this is what every company did but suggested looking at payscale.com". CC then told me since I cannot find one site that states what every company does that my concern was invalid without that proof and "he does not give a fcuk" what other companies do because this is (company name). I explained that I understand we are like no other company but asked him to allow me to pull up some references He then said " it does not fcuking matter what you pull up unless it’s one site that says its the same for every company across the board". I then explained I would not be able to do that and provide such a site because it does not exist, just like there is no one site that tells you what every customer service rep / HR manager/ IT guy/Marketing is paid by every company.
CC then asked me to take emotion out of it and I explained my suggestions were not emotional and provided support and reasoning for why I thought a higher commission should be granted considering all that I do with the event from start to end, not just sales but actual coordination. I then provided another example about manning the event with personnel myself and again this also felt like coordination not just a sales role to me. CC then rolled his eyes and told me that he disagreed and despite my points to him it was just sales role. If you have worked together you know just because I sell something to you does not mean I go MIA but I am there for you anytime of the day, any day you need something.
I then asked CC to try to take emotion out of it as well as he was getting louder and louder and the office grew uncomfortable and that perhaps it would be better to curb the conversation. At that point CC said, "Do not try any Chris Voss shit on me because I will mentally destroy you". To me this felt like a direct attack to undermine me with his influence as a senior manager and make me look bad to other senior management. On top of that going to DC for a negotiation seminar was suppose to be a career development opportunity not a reason for senior staff to hold something against me and beat me down. What once felt like a trip for a job well done, now felt like a scapegoat.
I then asked him how he can say something like in front of the whole team when CEO just sent out an email last week to the whole company about team cohesion and how we all need to work together to get the job done. CC then responded immediately, again very loudly and threatening, " he has never and does not give a fcuk about the team and what they think." To say that I was shocked is a lack of better words…. I did not understand how as a premier team building event company; a senior manager can say he does not care about the team at all. It seems the exact opposite of the lessons we teach and try to instill but then again some people are only in it for the money, not building better people. I then repeated the same question asking him how he can say that given the CEO’s previous emails last week to the whole company. CC than exclaimed in a loud and threatening tone that I should " go away and quit because you do not care about (company name) what so ever". We all know how far from the truth this is based on my past 3 years working here and my willingness to always take on more work and execute in a timely manner. To me his response felt to be the antithesis of what the CEO was talking about last week as well as a direct threat of my employment. How can somebody in senior management tell somebody that they should "go away and quit" as opposed to offering a resolution is still beside me and always will be. I do not pray but if you are still working along side this man, I pray for you.
I preceded to asked him how he came to that conclusion that I do not care about the company and he said that "you only care about money for yourself", keep in mind this conversation did have to do with a new job function, scope or work and part of that is money. I explained that this was not the case but rather I was looking for clarity on how to achieve such a rapid growth rate and what tools I would be given to achieve this such goals as well as my income because all 3 were important to me. I explained to him about how I found it difficult and scary to carve out a new role and in doing so I thought the commission should be higher, given my level of coordination not just sales. He replied again, the same as before, that I do not actually coordinate any events and it is the 100% the people on the ground and that if I am getting higher commission, he should also get a piece of the pie. To me it seems like he was the one looking for more money from it not myself, I was trying to navigate and unknown job role and to help my company grow but also ensure that I am finically stable and this is feasible for me to make an honest living. Keep in mind CC was able to negotiate a 3 figure salary for himself while I was barely getting by with 55k but then again I am the one that is only after the money right?
This does not have anything to do with the actions but after this conversation it was clear to me that CC claims to advocate for people but it cannot feel further from the truth. For somebody in an his position, who is a senior team member, whose job is to bring not only professionalism but team cohesion, this conversation was not any of that, the only thing it was…threatening, counter productive and the end to a working relationship and the beginning of the end of my employment because I already knew how my HR team would approach this and that is exactly what happened.
I replied to him that I still disagreed and that I actually have a lot to do with event coordinating and this should be considered in my scope of work and commission structure. I then explained to him that with this sort of start that perhaps selling events full time was not for me since it was not possible to have these harder conversations with me without yelling and perhaps I should involve the CEO to mediate. CC then told me to call the CEO need be and fill him in on it. I replied to him that I already sent the CEO a message. CC then said " you are not anything compared to me at this company and that he will easily replace me, so do not once think that you are important to this company at all". CC ended the conversation saying it was over, walked away and began packing up his bike, guns and ruck. While CC never made any direct threat of using any sort of violence, him threatening "to mentally destroy me" coupled with him picking up his guns set a tone and felt even more of a threat than just verbal words.
Again for somebody that is in a team building role and somebody who is suppose to bring professionalism to the company, this felt the furthest from it. Actually, not once have I ever felt so unappreciated and worried that my job can be on the line due to his senior role. No employee should have to fear termination or being sabotaged due to a bad conversation with somebody in a more senior role. On top of that flaunting that I am nobody compared to him speaks volumes to how he views me.
Not once throughout the interaction did I raise my voice or make a threat like he did. This is also not his first time raising his voice with employees and then having to apologize for it at a later moment, something many of us can attest to. Before walking out, after a few minutes of not speaking... he stated out of nowhere that "he never gets emotional and he was sorry to see I did" and I explained that this was not true because if he never got emotional then he would not feel the need to apologize to other employees about it and he proceeded to keep packing and there was no further communication. In my experience, people only apologize when they feel they are wrong.
On top of this there have been several other incidents where CC has had to apologize for being vile with employees at work, so this was not a one off but becoming a trend. This person has made it public knowledge that he was having issues coping with civilian life at recent event. This is not an example of growing pains but an example of a senior staff member escalating a conversation to a point of no return and a lack of professionalism and common decency for humans that he works with
I reported this incident to the CEO and the HR department, which not to my surprise did very little other than say that " it was wrong of him but you have to understand that this is how Special Forces guys speak." Are you fcuking kidding me I said in my own mind, that was the resolution to my problem? A Senior manager was allowed to say those things to me in front of other employees and I was expected to understand that this is how he communicates due to his previous military profession. I call bullshit on that. Well I have a rude awaking for my ex-coworkers and the CEO. While your roots may be in special forces you are operating in a civilian world where good employees know their worth and will not tolerate being spoke to like that. You are playing a new game by old rules and to good employees like myself, it does not add up. Additionally, those good employees that you lost will typically take all your trade secrets with them and move onto another company, typically a competitor. You pride yourself in team building but internally your own team operates as individuals and is constantly only looking out for themselves. Some of them as mentioned above " do not care what the team thinks" yet you still keep them around. Correct me if I am wrong but in Special Forces, if you were not a team player...you were off the team because there was no room for somebody who did not have the teams best interest in mind. If you cannot make a team out of your own internal employees how can you be the most premier team building event company in the world? The answer is simple, you cannot.
On one my last days before deciding to give them notice that I was leaving, I sat there alone but in a room with 12 people, most of them members of the community that you would think you can rely on. I played with their children at parties, I walked their dogs, they were part of my family but after that day… it was apparent this was not the case. Not once did we ever feel further from a team, not once have I ever been around 12 other people I have known for years but felt so alone and singled out.
As for building better ********* ( it’s a trademarked quote, so you will need to fill in the rest), if this is the guy who is in charge of building better ********* and managing all of the events, then count me out because that is not the type of American I want to be. In a day an age of today where violence is paramount and disrespect is so common it has become a norm, I strive to partake in none of that. I want to be the type of American that treats people with dignity, with respect and shows love and appreciation where it is due. If you want to be a better *********, then do not be a sheep and follow the wolf into his own den, make your own path and align your self with people you believe in.
If you are still reading this and I have had the pleasure of working with you, I want to take a moment to thank you for that. You have helped me grow into the person I am today.