-
Do I have a beef?
-
“I will gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today” -Wimpy.
-
Ok, my brain has digested this – let me know if I have it straight:
You are the sole employee of this agency. Currently, they don’t have a lot of work that they are billing, so they are keeping you busy with their personal projects. This vexes you, because you feel that you should be paid extra (in addition to your salary) for these projects that generate no revenue for the agency.
Isn’t this a win-win? Since there’s no paying work, isn’t the alternative cutting you loose? I understand that you’d expect to make more as a freelancer working on wedding videos and whatnot – but working for your boss isn’t freelancing.
This reminds me of that scene in Kill Bill 2 where Michael Madsen shows up late for work, and complains that he shouldn’t have to be there on time because there’s no customers. That argument doesn’t work out for him.
-
This is like “Rashomon” I guess Bill: I see it like this: I don’t have business coming in, I have not paid you the raise I promised, and now I want you to do something you may not agree with politically, on your day off, for no pay. What’s next, making bricks with no straw?
He’s in a horrible spot here and needs to find an exit strategy.
-
(love the movie references. should be required in every cow-biz post)
Two things:
[Mark Suszko] “for no pay.”
Not sure where the “no pay” came from. I believe he was “forced to work on Saturday” while on salary. The horror. (Apocalypse Now)
[Mark Suszko] “He’s in a horrible spot here and needs to find an exit strategy.”
Agreed. This has turned into something he hasn’t signed on for, and I don’t think a sit down with the bosses is going to lead to anything productive unless he’s prepared to apply feet to pavement.
Cheers.
-
I guess I should have mentioned earlier that we are absolutely swamped with paying gigs right now, one of them being a 100k account. So, they’re having me work on this personal crap while there are paying clients waiting for their finished products.
-
Big Operations is my freelance company. It’s not a full-time ad agency, so naturally it doesn’t bring in as much money.
-
We are chin-deep in paying gigs right now in addition to the personal project(s) that they’ve been having me do.
-
Sounds to me that there is an extreme and fundamental difference of opinion as to what you expect out of an employer, and what an employer expects out of you the employee. I’m beginning to think that this divide might be too wide to be bridged, considering your present opinion of your boss.
As to: “Them asking me to do personal projects on company time is like a nurse’s boss telling her “today you’re assignment is to go take care of my mother at my house instead of your patients on the floor”.
Well, hate to say it, but if you were a nurse and the boss told you to do that and the boss owned the hospital… then he or she has every right to require you to go take care of ol’ mom rather than the floor patient if that’s what they want. Their house, their rules. You might not like the rules, but they’re not making you play there, either.
The fact that the company is up to its eyeballs in work and with big accounts means that you have more ammo for asking for a more fair salary. It doesn’t however give you any more ammo for your “I don’t want to do this kind of work I want to do that kind of work” arguments. Bottom line is that you are not the boss, you are an employee. Employees do as their bosses require. Well, at least the good ones do.
Then again, there are good bosses and bad bosses. Take a good look at your situation, as objectively as possible. Is your employer actually a good one?…just doing some things that you don’t like? If so, then suck it up and do your job. It’s called work, and doesn’t necessarily have to be fun. If it was always fun it would be called “play” and you wouldn’t get paid for it. Then again, maybe your boss/employer is actually a bad one. If so, get your reel and resume together, and be prepared to give him the two-weeks’ notice when the talk with him goes badly.
Or… if you can’t find any employers that you can work with to your satisfaction, pour more energy into your freelance career. Then the boss will be you.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
-
It’s interesting to see the difference of opinions I get on this site. Most of you are seasoned professionals, which leads me to believe that most of you are the boss. I think the bosses are giving me boss answers and employees are giving me employee answers (which is only natural). I can say I’m in a bad situation until I’m blue in the face, and the majority of the people on this forum (the bosses) will think I’m a snot-nosed spoiled-brat punk, and that’s fine. I tend to think that most of the people telling me to ‘suck it up’ have probably dumped personal crap on their employees at one time or another. And, unfortunately, in these economic times, it’s not as easy as packing up and moving on. But believe me, I’m always looking. Hopefully someday my own company will be solid enough for me to jump ship.
As a professional, I always try to do what’s ethical (especially when dealing with my own freelance clients and sub-contractors). Maybe I’m too nice, but I would NEVER ask an employee of mine (should I someday have employees) to work on a personal project of mine without additional compensation (no matter if it’s office hours or extra hours, no matter if we’re buried in work, or dead in the water).
In the end, I guess I’m just shocked that so many people find it acceptable that someone should have to work on personal projects for their bosses at work.
-
[Todd Terry] “Their house, their rules. You might not like the rules, but they’re not making you play there, either.”
I agree completely with Todd on this.
It’s a tough fact of life, but there’s a reason they call someone the boss. Every successful venture has someone leading and others following, and until you’re paying the bills Aaron, the boss gets to decide on the priorities of “his” business, even if it makes little or no sense to you.
Realize, he may not think that it’s good business sense putting you to work on his personal stuff ahead of the paying clients, but it’s what he wants, and it’s his prerogative and he pays for the priviledge.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up