It is very interesting to note that while times are not going so well as what we wish for now, there are still people in the business looking for all sorts of ways to be exploitative, cunning and unreasonable for some unknown reasons that are probably ingrained in their natures or upbringings.

Let’s take the case of this very successful communications agency that I had a brush with on Monday. Technically, we are probably hoping to leverage on one another’s expertise to bring abt the best deal to sustain us till the end of this year. And then, she revealed the brief. Next, she wanted my input. While I have been practising a common 10-point plan for most of my PR campaigns to date, I am utterly shocked that she refused to lay all cards out and be professional abt the win-wins for both parties from this possible collaboration. What was even more pathetic that she was hardly appreciative upon seeing my general proposal, and demanded that I presented her concrete angles on the deal. For your info - the pitch has a crazy deadline by 15 April. Her conniving and bossy nature really got into me, that I refused to give in to her demands and slam! She hung up on me. As I recalled her tone; the high turnover of staff she had in 2008 alone and the bad press she couldn’t manage from some recent mall launch in Singapore, I am kinda relieved that our collaboration didn’t pull through. Only God knows what other tricks she has up her sleeve in time to come.

And then come Tues, it was equally amusing to be at the brute of a local SME boss who has been delaying some payment for an editorial assignment completed on 27 Feb. As I’ve only worked with individuals and mostly MNCs or corporations in the past, I thought it is good to venture into the SMEs at such downtimes. This willy old fox totally ignored my email reminders of the pending deadline of the payment due. When I finally resorted to getting down to mass emailling him, his personal aide, the media representative who has bought over the rights of his magazine… oh boy, he did replied. But his reply was horrendous. It was cocky; he refused to admit that he did not see my invoice (even though I attached the document in the mass email copy); he flipped the responsibility to his so-called manager, whom I later found out, to be his wife. When I found got my cheque on Tuesday, it was appalling to see that it wasn’t the full figure measurable to the work I’ve submitted. Utterly, utterly horrendous to discover professional proprietors like this SME towkay can resort to slash my fees when (1) I did not even ask for a 50% deposit before starting on the work (out of goodwill); (2) the work was submitted within a mere 3 days, where I forsake sleep just to work on it.

The relating of these two recent incidents do make me wonder if it is worth more of the deal, or the true value of relationships in today’s marketplace. Are the days of sincerity, honesty and trust really gone from current professional practices?

While it is good to be sustainable in businesses by optimising lucrative returns through cost-saving strategies, I am utterly disgusted when my collaborators resort to unethical stunts to get deals, as mentioned above.

The world may offer more cut-throating business tactics to become prosperous and successful overnight. While I remain upbeat, aggressive and proactive to flourish Joabimages, my personal mantra is to remain true to the bigger calling and persevere to our beliefs for the longer haul.

Some good reads:
Responsible Business Practices
Do the Right Thing
Christians in the Workplace