"Authentic conversation of a factory operator
with a supervisor."
September 8, 1998
--------------------------------------
I mailed out a message to everybody notifying
them of how to calculate the
bonuses that we will be getting due to factory
closing and employee
relocation. This is the message:
--------------------------------------
Date: 9/8/98 10:03 PM
From: Voitek Wojcik
From: WOJCIK_V on VIADEP Filed: Mon 7-SEP-1998 23:47:19
To: FABOP
Subject: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
To those of you who are wondering how much you will get on your retention
bonus paycheck. Here is how to calculate it:
your
number of
hourly X 49 X weeks of X
1.15 X 0.58 = YOUR BIG
BONUS PAYCHECK
rate
bonus
(1.1 for (taxes)
Q/S shifts)
So what kind of car are you gonna drive now, HUH?
-----------------------------
Shortly after that I received several mails
with thanks and the following
message:
-----------------------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Mon 7-SEP-1998 23:57:15
To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
WRONG
-----------------------------
I replied to it: What is wrong with my formula?
To it, I received the following reply:
-----------------------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Mon 7-SEP-1998 23:59:06
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
I HAVE A SPREASHEET TO FIGURE IT OUT.
IT IS ALSO ON THE BACK OF THE FIRST LETTER EVERYONE GOT.
YOUR WAY MIGHT WORK OUT TO THE SAME DOLLAR AMOUNT, BUT EVERYONE
SHOULD USE THE SAME FORMULA.
-------------------
I replied to the mail saying that "my formula
was by far easier to use, and
that the formula on the back of the letter
was very complicated and drove a
lot a people nuts."
- Some did figure it out, but
most operators had a hard time.
I received the following reply:
----------------------
From: FELL_J on GOESINK Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 00:29:46
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
I DON'T KNOW WHO STARTED THIS 49 HOUR THING, BUT WE SHOULD ONLY USE
THE
FORMULA THAT HR IS USING. OTHERWISE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET ALL CONFUSED.
MY SPREADSHEET IS SET UP SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ENTER 2 NUMBERS
AND IT GIVES YOU THE TOTAL.
JON
----------
So at this I got all mad. I wrote back beginning
with words: "If you knew
math..." and laid out all the inner workings
of my calculations, how I got the
number 49 and so on. My formula was all multiplications,
so it didn't matter
which multiplication you did first. I did
however write that I would multiply
the tax number first and then the number of
the shift premium, which was 15%.
- We are working on a compressed
work schedule, and we get paid four hours
of overtime a day.
I received the following reply:
--------------------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 01:41:32
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
YOUR FORMULA IS WRONG !
YOU ADDED THE SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL AFTER YOU TOOK OUT THE TAX.
THE SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL IS PART OF THE PRE TAX TOTAL.
MY SPREADSHEET FACTORS THE LONG AND SHORT REG AND OT
THEN TOTALS IT, MULTIPLIES BY 1.15, THEN MUTIPLIES BY THE NUMBER
OF YEARS OF SERVICE, THEN HAS AN OPTION FOR SEVERANCE AND FLEX/VAC
CASH OUT, HAS 3 SUBTOTALS, THEN AN AFTER TAX CONVERSION.
ALL YOU HAVE TO TELL ME IS 1.) YOUR WAGE 2.) YEARS OF SERVICE
FOR THOSE LEAVING THE COMPANY, I ALSO NEED 3.) REMAINING FLEX/VAC
3 NUMBERS AND 2 SECONDS STOP BY AND I'LL SHOW YOU
JON
-----------
I wrote Jon back a message divided in two
columns. On the left was his
computations which took half of the message
body, and on the right side where
two multiplication calculations derived from
my formula.
He wrote back:
--------------
From: FELL_J on ALIGN Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 02:19:19
To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: POINT
THE POINT IS EXACTLY THAT, INSTEAD OF HAVING EVERYONE SECOND GUESSING
THEMSELVES AND SPENDING A BUNCH OF TIME HAVING PEOPLE DOUBLE CHECK
THEIR FIGURES,
ALL I'M TELLING PEOPLE IS TO STOP BY AND I CAN HAVE IT FOR THEM
IN 2 SECONDS.
THAT'S THE REASON I MADE IT, TO SAVE EVERYBODY TIME.
PLUS IT'S MORE IN LINE WITH WHAT H.R. IS USING TO CALCULATE. IF
YOU GO IN THERE TO H.R. AND USE ANYTHING ELSE, THEY WILL LOOK AT YOU
CROSS-EYED AND EVERYONE WILL GET CONFUSED.
SEE ?
-----------------
So I wrote back saying that if he made it
to save everybody's time, he should
let people know, so that the time could be
saved.
He replied:
------------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 03:24:39
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: POINT
YES SIR ! I'LL DROP ALL THE PRIORITIES OF THE FAB TO DO THIS RIGHT AWAY !
I'LL MAKE SOME TIME FOR THIS TOMORROW.
------------
He also wrote, four minutes later this message:
--------------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 03:28:02
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
I'LL GET BACK TO YOU. I'M DOING IT THE WAY H.R. WILL BE DOING IT.
THAT'S THE ONLY DIFFERENCE. TRYING TO STAY CONSISTENT.
THERE ARE PROBABLY 10 DIFFERENT WAYS TO DO IT IF WE REALLY BROKE IT
DOWN.
THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY.
ARE YTOU TAKING THIS PERSONALLY OR SOMETHING ?
----------
I replied that YES, I'm taking it personally.
Because of the first message he
sent to me which read "WRONG" in capital letters.
That was just plain wrong
saying that with nothing more to back it up.
He wrote back:
----------------
From: FELL_J Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 03:57:54
To: WOJCIK_V
Orig. From: FELL_J
Orig. To: WOJCIK_V
Subject: RE: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
THE FORMULA YOU SENT ME SAID..... X 58% FOR TAXES AND THEN TIMES
1.15
FOR THE DIFFERENTIAL, SO THAT LOOKS SORT OF ODD
BUT LOOK, I'M JUST DOING IT THE WAY THAT THEY HAVE ASKED US TO CALCUALTE.
YOUR WAY IS GREAT. IT SHOWS A GREAT WAY TO DO IT REALLY SIMPLY
AND
QUICKLY, AND THAT'S GREAT THAT YOU FIGURED OUT A WAY TO DO IT THAT
MOST FOLKS CAN USE.
SEE ? I LIKE YOUR WAY
----------
So then I said that I'm not looking for words
of appreciation, that I only
wanted to figure out what was wrong with my
formula.
He never said what was wrong because he finally
realized that nothing was
wrong. Later on the hallway we met, he said
he didn't mean it that way, when I
responded saying that the message "WRONG"
pissed me off quite a bit.
The next day I read my mail and I have this
genius write to everybody in the
factory:
---------------------
From: DAVIS_J on HIVAC Filed: Tue 8-SEP-1998 08:50:08
To: FABOP
Orig. From: WOJCIK_V
Orig. To: FABOP
Subject: How to figure out what your bonus will be?
AN EASIER WAY.TAKE YOUR "GROSS" PAY FROM A LONG WEEK AND X'S BY HALF
OF
THE WEEKS YOU WILL BE GETTING.THEN TAKE YOUR "GROSS" PAY FROM A SHORT
WEEK AND X'S BY THE OTHER HALF OF WEEKS YOU WILL BE GETTING.ADD THE
TWO AMOUNTS FOR YOUR TOTAL RETENTION BONUS AMOUNT.EXAMPLE- IF YOU GET
26 WEEKS BONUS,TAKE 13 WEEKS X'S SHORT GROSS/ 13 WEEKS X'S LONG GROSS
THEN ADD THE TWO AMOUNTS.
To those of you who are wondering how much you will get on your retention
bonus paycheck. Here is how to calculate it:
your
number of
hourly X 49 X weeks of X
1.15 X 0.58 = YOUR BIG
BONUS PAYCHECK
rate
bonus
(1.1 for (taxes)
Q/S shifts)
So what kind of car are you gonna drive now, HUH?
---------
I just kept on working...
VojWoj