I'm hoping that this is not typical corporate behavior...I guess 3

[Boothby171]

I've been at my current company for about 4 years, and this particular problem has come up once or twice before.

But I've had enough, and I don't think I'm going to take it any more.

I was recently involved in a project that suffered from a cost overrun. After talking to the client, I agreed to perform a task that I felt would take a few hours. Now, this is fairly normal, since we have open ended contracts with a lot of our clients. The task took almost one full day, though, and I failed to call the client back to let him know of the overrun in hours. He got billed for this overrun. To make the matter worse, I had misunderstood the level of task he required. On a scale of 1-10, he wantged a "2"; I gave him (and charged him for) a "6".

I'd love to be more specific, but in a minute, you'll see why I can't.

The client was upset with the additional cost, although he did pay it. My boss didn't want to have a disgruntled client out in the world, but the company president didn't care (initially).

The president of the company evenually wrote the client a refund check. The client is not happy, and will probably not do business with us again (which is unfortunate), but hopefully sees us as trying to be fair-minded.

Here's the rub: They haven't explicitly stated it, but they've implied it very strongly: they want me to somehow pay them back.

I'm not an administrator at the company; I'm not a project manager or a department head. I'm just one of the many engineers in this engineering consulting firm.

So is this typical? That a company should back-charge its engineers for overruns? If I'm going to be asked to take these risks, then I'm going to have to ask to be in-line for the heightened rewards as well.

Maybe I should ask them to back-charge the other engineers who accidentally destroyed about $30K in capital equipment, but I've goten the sense it's just me.

Or maybe I just needed to rant.

Either way--thanks in advance

 

[Boothby171]

It's fast coming to that.

Now, I'm apparently bamnned from communicating with clients.

And it's not that I've done something stupid or bad re. clients (I asked my coworkers; I'm good)--the whole problem that started this recent spate of BS is that I failed to communicate with a client!

My boss is on vacation--yet still tries to micromanage the office from halfway across the country! He's left another engineer in charge of the department (who's better at management than I am; that's fine)

It's gotten so bad that when I dared (dared!) to shoot of a legit, technical, accurate, correct, etc. e-mail to a client, both I and the manager pro-tem got reamed for it. The temp manager had reviewed and OK'd it, but how do you state in an e-mail "the department is currently disintegrating, and this e-mail has been reviewed and approved for unknown content by all levels of management"?

At this point, I'm just ranting. I'll stop.

 

[TrevorP]

Your situation reminds me of a story an old boss told me once. I'm not sure if it was an 'urban myth', or actually happened. The story goes like this:

A new graduate started at a chemical processing company, and was asked to pilot the manufacture of a new chemical product. The graduate wrote out detailed instructions and handed them to the plant supervisor. The supervisor manufactured the product, but noticed an anomaly on the instructions, and since it was in the middle of the night, took the decision to change one of the parameters (as was within his authority to do). The yield on the batch was a bit lower than expected. On finding out what had happened, the graduate was furious and told the supervisor that he was to follow his instructions to the letter on the next batch ... or else.

The next day, the supervisor made another batch, and the following morning the graduate eagerly came in to get the results. The reactor that was supposed to contain his batch of material was empty. Upon enquiring as to where it had gone, as he had left no instructions to transfer it etc., was told it was in the plant sump. On further enquiry, the supervisor informed him that there was nothing in the instructions to close the outlet valve, and although he saw it dropping out the bottom, he didn't want to do something that wasn't in the instructions !

The moral of course was, if you treat people like idiots, expect them to act like idiots.

It sounds to me like your treatment is going from bad to worse - so you can either stay and be treated like an idiot, or it's time to go...

 

[Boothby171]

must...control...bitterness

Thanks, TrevorP--it's also a good lesson for me to remember, should I get all ticked off and bitter at the next person in line (you know: transferrence of agression and all that...)!

 

[BobPE]

boothby:

engage the persone that is taking away your ability to do you job. Do so in a constructive way and ask what value censored communications with clients has to you, the client, and the firm. Ask, with your tail between your legs, what you can do to improve the situation.

I say with your tail between your legs because it looks like this has progressed into a childs game here. You need to understand what the children that are managing you are thinking so that you can use intelligence to outsmart them at their own game, while not hurting you clients or your engineering ethics.

I have run into many a manager like this over the years, there are lots of them out there, I think it is engineering inbreeding....

The short of my rant is, make the best out of the situation, and practice your skills in fixing the problem. Don't take it personally like you are, it is only business.

You can win this argument since from your posts, it appears that you care, are concerned, and appear rather intellegent.

Good luck....

BobPE

 

[Boothby171]

I think it's slowly winding its way to a successful conclusion (famous last words!).

I've met with the head of personnel (at his request), and made my fair and balanced case. Similarly, the manager pro-tem has been called in to fill in HR as to what's happening, and it sounds as if our stories "match."

My boss comes back from his vacation on Monday, and we all get to meet again and work this out. So far (man, am I asking for a karmic kick in the pants with this next statement), it seems as if he's considered more "at fault" than I am.

I hate this stuff!

 

[dozer]

All this for a 6 hour overun? What a load of BS! You sure you want to keep working for these people?

 

[CarlPugh]

Reminds me of a story that IBM told when we were making some equipment for them.
This was in the days when IBM WAS THE COMPUTER COMPANY.
One Friday an engineer got mad said his group was the worst group in the whole of IBM and that he was going to quit.
When the engineer came in Monday, he was asked if he was going to quit. He said certainly not, there was no greater opportuntity in all of IBM.
So boothby, is this an opportuntity or a recipe for disaster?

 

[Boothby171]

Dozer: No, I'm not sure.

CarlPugh: If I wanted to kill the king and become the king, then great. But I don't.

I'm looking for something better. If I find it, great. If it isn't there, then I never really lost it to begin with...

 

[waskillywabbit]

IBM makes computers?

Never hurts to keep looking at all. I hope things work out to your advantage/satisfaction. Nothing worse than grief/stress from work. I left one occupation that was 24/7 stress for one that is only M-F 7-5 stress, which is much easier to handle.



Brian

http://www.mcabeeconstruction.com

Opinions expressed are my own and are not those of the company.

 

[automatic2]

Don't be overly concerned. You may have made a mistake. The labour laws fully protect you, unless you are charged with a criminal offence, and only when a judgement is made for specific punitive damages, could your employer withhold your pay. They may however claim you are incompetent, if the error was part of your qualifications.

 

[RGS1]

I have managed our companies design department for the past 10 years (worked here 21 years). We have a small engineering/design department which basically caters to our production plant. Anyway, part of the job requirement is estimating costs for customers new designs (we charge $70.00/hr for our service). As with most jobs, you cannot foresee all the intimate details involved with the initial quoting process. Customers are sometimes still hashing out all the requirements, even during the design process. Our design service is just what it states, a service. We offer our sevices (at $70.00/hr which is very inexpensive) with the hope of getting the production work from the customer. Many times I have under estimated the cost of a design in order to keep the customer happy and to help procure the actual production work. Sometimes I do make a profit on the design, and sometimes I don't. With many of our customers doing there own designs, most years the department salary exceeds the amount we receive from doing designs. The point I am really trying to make is that most engineers do alot more for a company than just talk to customers. Manangment sometimes only knows what is happening when there is a complaint. They never hear about all the good things we do.