Anyone else having a rough week of work?

[Kirby Jackson]

So, I am in commercial insurance and write some heavy transportation accounts. I write a waste hauler that I split with a former co-worker who recently went to another agency. This account pays our agency $142,000 in revenue (about $1.4M in premium). The agent gets 33% of that annually. 

 

When my co-worker left the principals at the agency re-assigned his accounts and appointed one owner to each of them as well. They wanted me to relinquish 25% of the revenue to one of the partners for him working on it with me. It amounts to about $12k a year in actual money to me. So about a month goes by and I’m pretty pissed off because I absolutely do not need any assistance to keep this account. The owner would adopt me. I didn’t think that I should pay the owner $12k as I’m already paying the agency almost $100k a year for that account. I went to the partners and said my piece. I’m not sure that they totally agreed but they deferred to me. I was pretty adamant on it. It is my relationship that has brought the account in and kept it here. It would have been me just making a donation to him.

 

Now, he is making my life a living hell. The guy makes like $2m+ a year and he’s throwing a passive aggressive hissy fit. He’s ripping apart my work and CCing the other partners on it. I’m getting emails in bold, underlines with exclamation points of things that i should have done differently. Half of what he is saying isn’t even accurate. He’s basically spent the last 24 hours auditing the account and I know that his endgame is to get his partners to give him back 25% of the revenue. He’s really good at what he does but he is making my life miserable. If I would have kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t have to be playing this defense but at the same time it would have been $1k a month out of my pocket. I’m usually a pretty level-headed guy but I’m on the verge of snapping. He’s made my life miserable, my assitant’s life miserable, the marketing rep is taking as much heat as me!! I’ve had my office door shut for 2 days. Anyone have any advice???

 

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by Kirby Jackson

[plenzmd1]

No advice..but I would have done the same thing. 

[snafu]

Keep your head down and wait till it blows over.  Maybe go out and visit some clients so you're not in the office.  Pay for the principle in headaches -- not $$ (but keep the headaches to a minimum).  If you don't have any type of non-compete agreement, then spend your time looking for ways out in case it doesn't blow over.

 

[Rob's House]

Confront him professionally and calmly, but assertively, and address the elephant. Most likely he'll either tell you what his beef is and yall can squash it, or he'll deny having a problem and back off. Either way you'll have earned his respect.

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, snafu said:

Keep your head down and wait till it blows over.  Maybe go out and visit some clients so you're not in the office.  Pay for the principle in headaches -- not $$ (but keep the headaches to a minimum).  If you don't have any type of non-compete agreement, then spend your time looking for ways out in case it doesn't blow over.

 

 

This would be my approach. 

 

.

3 minutes ago, Rob's House said:

Confront him professionally and calmly, but assertively, and address the elephant. Most likely he'll either tell you what his beef is and yall can squash it, or he'll deny having a problem and back off. Either way you'll have earned his respect.

 

 

This would not be my approach. It sounds like he’s got an ego, and just maybe you piss him off even more. 

[teef]

19 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

So, I am in commercial insurance and write some heavy transportation accounts. I write a waste hauler that I split with a former co-worker who recently went to another agency. This account pays our agency $142,000 in revenue (about $1.4M in premium). The agent gets 33% of that annually. 

 

When my co-worker left the principles at the agency re-assigned his accounts and appointed one owner to each of them as well. They wanted me to relinquish 25% of the revenue to one of the partners for him working on it with me. It amounts to about $12k a year in actual money to me. So about a month goes by and I’m pretty pissed off because I absolutely do not need any assistance to keep this account. The owner would adopt me. I didn’t think that I should pay the owner $12k as I’m already paying the agency almost $100k a year for that account. I went to the partners and said my piece. I’m not sure that they totally agreed but they deferred to me. I was pretty adamant on it. It is my relationship that has brought the account in and kept it here. It would have been me just making a donation to him.

 

Now, he is making my life a living hell. The guy makes like $2m+ a year and he’s throwing a passive aggressive hissy fit. He’s ripping apart my work and CCing the other partners on it. I’m getting emails in bold, underlines with exclamation points of things that i should have done differently. Half of what he is saying isn’t even accurate. He’s basically spent the last 24 hours auditing the account and I know that his endgame is to get his partners to give him back 25% of the revenue. He’s really good at what he does but he is making my life miserable. If I would have kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t have to be playing this defense but at the same time it would have been $1k a month out of my pocket. I’m usually a pretty level-headed guy but I’m on the verge of snapping. He’s made my life miserable, my assitant’s life miserable, the marketing rep is taking as much heat as me!! I’ve had my office door shut for 2 days. Anyone have any advice???

 

 

i had a friend who was a pharma rep that went through something generically similar.  he began documenting everything while keeping quite about it.  over the course of months he gathered quite a bit of info, went to human resources, and essentially let them know that they were creating a hostile work environment, and wanted something done.  within a few weeks the other co-worker was let go. 

 

for full disclosure, my friend was also let go, but it was a part of large cuts being made.  still...i'm sure his making a stink didn't help his cause.  i'd still gather info/evidence on this guy.

[Augie]

1 minute ago, teef said:

i had a friend who was a pharma rep that went through something generically similar.  he began documenting everything while keeping quite about it.  over the course of months he gathered quite a bit of info, went to human resources, and essentially let them know that they were creating a hostile work environment, and wanted something done.  within a few weeks the other co-worker was let go. 

 

for full disclosure, my friend was also let go, but it was a part of large cuts being made.  still...i'm sure his making a stink didn't help his cause.  i'd still gather info/evidence on this guy.

 

I’m always big on documenting, but this seems to be a partner rather than a co-worker. Very different conditions. 

 

How long has this been playing out? Will he move on to the next battle, or carry the grudge forever? How much clout does he have? Do you have any supporters who can balance him out? So many questions, so few answers, but good luck! 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

If you're THAT good at sales, strike out on your own.

 

That's all I've got.

 

 

[Kirby Jackson]

4 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

I’m always big on documenting, but this seems to be a partner rather than a co-worker. Very different conditions. 

 

How long has this been playing out? Will he move on to the next battle, or carry the grudge forever? How much clout does he have? Do you have any supporters who can balance him out? So many questions, so few answers, but good luck! 

He’s the most powerful man here by a lot. He’s great at what he does too. We actually get along quite well but this must have really pissed him off. I’ve put a target on my back.  

[DC Tom]

30 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

So, I am in commercial insurance and write some heavy transportation accounts. I write a waste hauler that I split with a former co-worker who recently went to another agency. This account pays our agency $142,000 in revenue (about $1.4M in premium). The agent gets 33% of that annually. 

 

When my co-worker left the principals at the agency re-assigned his accounts and appointed one owner to each of them as well. They wanted me to relinquish 25% of the revenue to one of the partners for him working on it with me. It amounts to about $12k a year in actual money to me. So about a month goes by and I’m pretty pissed off because I absolutely do not need any assistance to keep this account. The owner would adopt me. I didn’t think that I should pay the owner $12k as I’m already paying the agency almost $100k a year for that account. I went to the partners and said my piece. I’m not sure that they totally agreed but they deferred to me. I was pretty adamant on it. It is my relationship that has brought the account in and kept it here. It would have been me just making a donation to him.

 

Now, he is making my life a living hell. The guy makes like $2m+ a year and he’s throwing a passive aggressive hissy fit. He’s ripping apart my work and CCing the other partners on it. I’m getting emails in bold, underlines with exclamation points of things that i should have done differently. Half of what he is saying isn’t even accurate. He’s basically spent the last 24 hours auditing the account and I know that his endgame is to get his partners to give him back 25% of the revenue. He’s really good at what he does but he is making my life miserable. If I would have kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t have to be playing this defense but at the same time it would have been $1k a month out of my pocket. I’m usually a pretty level-headed guy but I’m on the verge of snapping. He’s made my life miserable, my assitant’s life miserable, the marketing rep is taking as much heat as me!! I’ve had my office door shut for 2 days. Anyone have any advice???

 

 

 

Get your resume ready.

 

Seriously.  Only time I've seen anyone successfully go up against a partner is when a partner once threatened to beat the **** out of me in front of the whole company...he was kicked out the door that day, and only because it couldn't be covered up.  I know people who were physically abused by partners at their companies who were let go for complaining about the abuse.  

Just now, Kirby Jackson said:

He’s the most powerful man here by a lot. He’s great at what he does too. We actually get along quite well but this must have really pissed him off. I’ve put a target on my back.  

 

This just reinforces what I wrote.  

 

It's probably not even the money to him, so much as he perceives you as having successfully challenged his authority.

[Kirby Jackson]

Just now, joesixpack said:

If you're THAT good at sales, strike out on your own.

 

That's all I've got.

 

 

I wish that I could sometimes. My non-compete is pretty iron clad too. They hold up in Louisiana. I’d be back at square one. If I could leave and take my 5 largest accounts I’d have done it yesterday and never looked back. 

 

I’m also in position to be a part of the next generation of agency owners. There are about 6 or 7 of us that will take over in the next 10 years. Those guys are all about it and I couldn’t be more indifferent. I don’t want to bail on them but I’m not sure that this is my endgame either. Without sounding like an arrogant jerk either, this group needs me and one other guy. We are the people that the others respond positively too.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I wish that I could sometimes. My non-compete is pretty iron clad too. They hold up in Louisiana. I’d be back at square one. If I could leave and take my 5 largest accounts I’d have done it yesterday and never looked back. 

 

I’m also in position to be a part of the next generation of agency owners. There are about 6 or 7 of us that will take over in the next 10 years. Those guys are all about it and I couldn’t be more indifferent. I don’t want to bail on them but I’m not sure that this is my endgame either. Without sounding like an arrogant jerk either, this group needs me and one other guy. We are the people that the others respond positively too.

 

I sold insurance (of the health, life and annuity variety) for 5 years. Was really good at it. Hated the work environment though. So I feel your pain. But man, in my experience if you can sell, you can sell anything. And if you can sell anything, you're invaluable anywhere.

 

[Kirby Jackson]

9 minutes ago, joesixpack said:

 

I sold insurance (of the health, life and annuity variety) for 5 years. Was really good at it. Hated the work environment though. So I feel your pain. But man, in my experience if you can sell, you can sell anything. And if you can sell anything, you're invaluable anywhere.

 

Thanks Joe!! It really is just a draining experience. He was shooting me these emails at 10:42 last night. I wanted to be like, “go hang out with your wife.” This is his life and a lot of others here. We are a big agency and have a ton of great people. At the same time the most successful people there have the worst personal lives. I never want that to be me. I work to live not live to work. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

2 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Thanks Joe!! It really is just a draining experience. He was shooting me these emails at 10:42 last night. I wanted to be like, “go hang out with your wife.” This is his life and a lot of others here. We are a big agency and have a ton of great people. At the same time the most successful people there have the worst personal lives. I never want that to be me. I work to live not live to work. 

 

Thats why I quit selling. 6 days a week 10 hours a day of nonstop bull ****.i earned residuals for seven years after I quit tho lol

Edited May 2, 2018 by joesixpack

[Augie]

16 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

He’s the most powerful man here by a lot. He’s great at what he does too. We actually get along quite well but this must have really pissed him off. I’ve put a target on my back.  

 

If that’s the case, maybe you just need to appeal to him and say look, I really didn’t mean to anger you. Play to his ego, you’re the best here and everyone knows it. I’m newer and the money means a lot to me as I’m trying to get started, but I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with you. 

 

I don’t know the guy, and you do, but I’ve found sometimes in life you can turn a negative into a positive. I know there were times at the bank where we screwed up, and how we handled it caused us to be viewed in higher regard with the client. Maybe getting this guy on your side is worth a lot more than $1,000/month in the long run. If he’s an older guy and wants to feel like and/or be a mentor, it may be a wise investment. 

 

But nobody can give you perfect advice, especially without knowing the players. 

[Augie]

 

 

 

But to answer your original question, yes you are not alone in having a rough week. My wife is a sales manager for the southeast with about 8 sales people, plus all the support staff. Monday she has the first guy she hired (about 5 years ago) come in to resign because he’s going into his own consulting. Great guy and good producer, he will be missed. Yesterday she had to call another guy in to discuss the fact that he just moved so friggin’ far away, he can’t possibly be planning to continue to work there...what’s up? This morning, the leading sales person in the US for this very major institution, who does maybe 40% of the revenue for the office despite being 1/8 of the group, calls her from the hospital and says he’s out at least a week...some family condition and not sure if he can keep doing this. 

 

It will work out, life goes on. I am sure YOU know I’m not downplaying your anguish over this nsituation, but God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle. I promise. 

[JohnC]

Kirby, Augie has a very mature approach to your issue. I agree with it but have a slightly different take on it. I would go to fellow and tell him when he has the time you would like to over coffee have a discussion with him. If he is willing I would start off and tell him how much you respect him and understand the hard work he has put in to be so successful in the company. Showing respect is a good softening agent. 

 

I would  explain to him your reasoning for why you took your stance. And if he didn't believe that your position was supportable offer to share the commission with him. I get the sense that this fellow believes he is more entitled than you because he has been with the company longer and has attained a higher position. In his mind the youngster not only outhustled the master but that he was disrespected in front of others when the issue was taken to the other office.

 

Clearly this situation has rattled and angered him to the extent that he isn't going to easily let it go. Losing out of the money isn't as big as in his mind being outhustled by the youngster.

 

Kirby, I've seen the type. He's not going to forget. When deciding what to do don't look at the situation as a win or losing situation. Very often in the complicated world of the workplace a tactical retreat can be a strategic win in the long run. If out of principle you try to headstrong the issue in the end you will lose to the more muscular individual who can make your life miserable. It's not worth it.  

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Kirby, Augie has a very mature approach to your issue. I agree with it but have a slightly different take on it. I would go to fellow and tell him when he has the time you would like to over coffee have a discussion with him. If he is willing I would start off and tell him how much you respect him and understand the hard work he has put in to be so successful in the company. Showing respect is a good softening agent. 

 

I would  explain to him your reasoning for why you took your stance. And if he didn't believe that your position was supportable offer to share the commission with him. I get the sense that this fellow believes he is more entitled than you because he has been with the company longer and has attained a higher position. In his mind the youngster not only outhustled the master but that he was disrespected in front of others when the issue was taken to the other office.

 

Clearly this situation has rattled and angered him to the extent that he isn't going to easily let it go. Losing out of the money isn't as big as in his mind being outhustled by the youngster.

 

Kirby, I've seen the type. He's not going to forget. When deciding what to do don't look at the situation as a win or losing situation. Very often in the complicated world of the workplace a tactical retreat can be a strategic win in the long run. If out of principle you try to headstrong the issue in the end you will lose to the more muscular individual who can make your life miserable. It's not worth it.  

 

Well stated, and not all that different. Play up to the guy who runs the show, at least until YOU’RE the guy who runs the show!

 

Then be decent to the little people.  That can be the best thing you do in your entire life!  My wife loves to bring along the young assistants and train them to step up to be the next generation of sales people. She sees our kids in them, picks the best ones and has developed a program that’s been adopted nationally. THAT will be HER favorite part of her legacy there. 

 

 

PS - I’d roll over almost immediately because he sounds like the kind of guy who needs that affirmation, sick as that is. He doesn’t need the money, he needs the stroking..... a-hole

 

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Well stated, and not all that different. Play up to the guy who runs the show, at least until YOU’RE the guy who runs the show!

 

Then be decent to the little people.  That can be the best thing you do in your entire life!  My wife loves to bring along the young assistants and train them to step up to be the next generation of sales people. She sees our kids in them, picks the best ones and has developed a program that’s been adopted nationally. THAT will be HER favorite part of her legacy there. 

You and I are in accord on our takes on this issue. 

 

I'll go beyond your take on how to treat people at the workplace. It's not about the work place setting-----it's about life. If you treat people with kindness and generosity, like you would want to be treated and how you would like one of your family members to be treated, you will get exponential returns from your behavior. 

 

The person Kirby is describing is about money and status. When you go out of your way to stab a coworker, either directly or indirectly, it will come back to you. The way Kirby is being treated is being observed by others. By those above and below his rank. 

 

My advice to Kirby is to make  whatever reasonable accommodation that needs to be made to settle the situation down. And then go out and be happy and love. That's how you beat the bastards. Miserable people are miserable. The less you engage with that toxic personality the better off you will be. Life is about handling and adjusting to unappealing people and situations. 

[JohnC]

Kirby may be having a tough period but Patrick Beverly's mom is having stupendous day. 

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773919-patrick-beverleys-mom-has-epic-price-is-right-win-clippers-sg-reacts?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial