Xmas Bonus Update!

You are in the right. AngrieWoman and your manager are in the wrong.

Don't want to

I wouldn't know, because I never had to accept it. The first accounting job I had, I hired on as a clerk the day after the fiscal year ended, but they gave me a $100 Christmas bonus anyway because I managed to impress them.

The last job I had, I was the controller for a small construction company and I got the first non-production based bonus in the company's history. And I got that after I turned in my resignation. (Husband's job required us to move.)

Bite me.

I'm tired of hearing her sad saga already. I can't imagine how her office mates must feel. Is she so thick that she can't take a hint?

They're not going to give her a bonus, and I suspect they are hoping she leaves as a result. Sheesh.

I might be wrong, but I always got bonuses.

Other people's compensation is none of her business. She's out of line for inquiring about it.

"Peter Saxton" wrote

Even if so, that's not going to get him an explanation, or, any bonus, and I doubt that it will change his attitude toward his work, his supervisors, or his coworkers.

It's time to pack it in and find another job, ASAP.

You're comparing your limited experience with someone else's limited experience. When you have worked for big international firms of accountants, small and big businesses and your own small accountancy practice you have a lot more experience and understanding of the level of incompetence, lies and bullshit that goes on.

Does working my way up from a cash clerk to a corner office in the accounting department of an international brokerage firm count for anything? Lies, politics and BS go hand in hand with Wall Street. We deal with it.

Sorry, but I've done all those things, except work for CPA's. And I haven't owned an accounting firm, but I have freelanced. Personally, I've made quite a nice living, but I prefer cutting through bullshit to wallowing around in it.

The difference between she and I - she asked her supervisor if they could upload the data, and heard "no" even though she still suspects that answer is wrong. I showed my incompetent supervisor how to upload our data and save oodles of input hours. I was happy to let her share the corporate glory, if for no other reason than she was smart enough to hire well. (I suspect our poster would be crying that her boss stole her thunder.)

Like I said, I got my Christmas bonus. And when my incompetent boss was eventually fired, I was already in a different desk working under a person who actually was absolutely competent.

She can't sit around waiting for people to give her an opportunity to prove herself. And endlessly criticizing the work of others only proves that she's merely a complainer, not a do-er.

It doesn't count for a lot in the point I'm making. I'm trying to say I'm better than you. I'm saying that I've had experience of more businesses than you have.

I prefer to confront bullshit. Being self-employed makes it easier. The OPs situation is much more difficult.

Playing the corporate game is different to getting the job done.

Complaining and doing are not mutually exclusive.

Angrie Woman is a typical scumbag, but that's another story.

I fixed another mistake today. The cash account was off by $2000 and I found the error even though what specifically made up the entry in question was never even explained to me. I told my "manager" what the variance was and she just couldn't grasp it. A few hours later, she called me in to explain it to her. I explained it to her three times. A few hours later, it dawned on her... she came in to tell me the good news and (surprisingly) thanked me very much. The variance for the year is 11 cents. Before I started, the variance on the operating account was $4000+, with transfers in and out of two separate bank accounts. Complete confusion. The business office listing deposits for one account which were in another. Deposits entered as one amount on the cash sheet but spread over multiple amounts on multiple bank accounts.

And to think. I balanced it all, take a huge workload off from her, contribute greatly to the accounting department (3 people), and I get no bonus and WORSE YET no explanation. And the error in question was the payroll entry she compiled, not me. She compiled it because that pay had "so many new things" in it... meaning... bonuses she didn't want me to see (because I got none). But I saw it anyway because she was too stupid and lazy to enter it, so I did. What, I'm not going to be upset when I'm entering the bonus amounts, seeing thousands given out and then $0 for my account? How dumb can you be?

That's not true - you're just British and only think that you're better than I am.

I'm saying that I've had experience of more

Can't hold a job?

BEcause she's a born whiner.

To win, you have to do both.

She does what she's told, apparently.

Yawn. Such is the life of a bookkeeper.

You said yourself you got paid a better-than-average salary. Quit thinking of it as a favor for god's sakes!

Hey - I'm not the one still working there, am I now? Stupid is as stupid does.

There you go again - everybody else is stupid or a liar.

I will admit that I went to college on the way up. Company paid for it. Corporate policy was 1 class per semester, but my boss approved 4 per semester for me. And did I mention that I always got my bonuses?

Got that automatic upload procedure defined and ready for presentation yet?

Thought not. Everybody else would be too stupid to understand it anyway, I'll bet.

You're going to make a fine temp.

"Me" wrote

Hey man, you're the one working there. You obviously saw some benefit to taking the job in the first place, and you must see some benefit to staying there.

You need to get past (over, under, between or to the side of) your issues with the bonus and move on with the business of doing what it is they hired you to do.

If you can't, then quit.

It's not like it's your business who gets bonuses. It's highly likely that they all cut their bonuses/pay to hire you in the first place. Depending on the ownership structure of the business you work for, it may be likely that they didn't have your position budgeted. If they eked out enough to hire you, by slashing their bonuses and/or pay increases, etc, but didn't wring out enough for a $50 bonus, why are you mad? You should be glad - thankful even - that you have a job.

I own a small firm. If I need to hire someone else, that generally means that my salary gets diminished till that person starts to generate income above and beyond their pay. In other words, I have less to take home. If I hire someone at $12K per year, that's $1000 less every month for Paul. If I hire someone at $24K per year, that's $2000 less every month for Paul. How much less do you think I will go and still be willing to give a cash Christmas bonus?

If I were to hire you close to the end of the year, which is my typical hiring time frame, I'm planning on a ramping-up / training period and tax season incomes to off-set my investment in you . In the mean time though, I'm taking home less pay, in an amount about equal to what you are being paid. I doubt new hires have ever seen a bonus in the first few months, because it's costing me to have hired them in the first place.

Have you pondered that scenario any?

I don't know what type of business you work for, but many times bonuses are contractual in nature. If the individual generates $X+, they get a % of + as a bonus, and it's all on paper. That can cook all the way down to the Controller and below.

Stop being snippety about what ~you~ didn't get. You don't know the facts behind the whys of any of it. And I wouldn't bring it up to the boss again.

She's probably a lot older (and wiser) that you are.

Maybe one day you'll have an equal wealth of understanding.

To simplify:

Attitude problem + misdirected anger towards your co-workers = no bonus

Your manager is giving you a not so subtle hint. It is not your business what other people make; if you don't like it, then leave.

I disagree. From my experience, complainers and brown noser's are usually incompetent employees.

If you are at the top of your profession, then you would not have to deal with office politics because you could quickly find another job or even rise above the incompetence, lies, and bullshit.

"Rocinante" wrote

It's unclear that the OP is incompetent, but they aren't feeling the love where they curently work.

Look, that mariage is over. They've been there a *very* short time and are already unhappy with the working conditions.

There's no option *but* for them to leave. The only question is when.

Obviously, you were never good enough to use any leadership abilities to get rid of the incompetence.