Guess who failed to meet with me yesterday as promised in order to give me a financial proposal?
That's right...our old friend the consulting company.
I wouldn't really mind so much that they keep flaking out if only they'd let me know ahead of time that they can't make the meeting they scheduled. I mean, is it that hard to send an e-mail or a text to say it's off and we'll do it another day?
Instead, I sat all afternoon anticipating their call, which never came. As you know, this is far from the first time this sort of thing has happened.
I vented my frustrations with a few people yesterday, and a couple of them suggested that perhpas the partners from this consulting firm perceive time in a radically different, more fluid way than I do.
I'm familiar with the whole idea, that certain cultures operate on very fixed, rigid schedules when it comes to time, while others - stereotypically Africans, Latin Americans, etc. - don't operate on the "time is money" principle and have no problem showing up for appointments or parties 1 or 2 hours late. I've been living abroad long enough that this is one of the first possibilities I consider when I become irritated because someone (in my opinion) has disrespected me and wasted my time.
This would be a plausible explanation for the way the consulting firm has treated me...if only I'd never seen how they work with their clients. When it comes to the people paying their hourly fees, they are always on time if not early to meetings, respect deadlines, show up to the office on Sundays to finish a project if necessary, and generally bend over backwards to promote a professional image and keep the client happy.
With me, however, it's been a totally different story. The way the've given me the brush-off leads me to think that I'm not a priority for the firm. That would be a fine and logical explanation, except for the fact that they keep running back to me, saying how they are so desperate for qualified people, how they are understaffed and overworked, and want to get me on board immediately. Figure it out, people!
Regardless of any cultural or time-perception differences, one thing is clear: I see a red flag. Perhaps it's a very good thing that I've seen this side of the firm before signing on the dotted line.
5 comments:
This is absolutely a red flag. maybe when you stop showing any interest at all...they will realize how screwed up they are. i believe their excuse would be...since we are so udnerstaffed and overworked, we could not take a minute off our schedules to meet with you!
How rude of them! I think next time they begin to show interest, or complain about their work schedule, sympathise but do not let them talk you into another meeting.
Bumped into your blog by accident...sorry, its great though.
C.
~C. - I'm curious to see if they even provide an excuse. Up to this point, they haven't even addressed the fact that they set meetings and make promises, then don't follow through.
Of course, they've just called me this afternoon, but I wasn't able to answer the call. We'll see.
Glad you came across my blog. :)
~C. - Guess what? The consultant just texted me with EXACTLY THE EXCUSE YOU ANTICIPATED. Ha! They were so overworked, in fact, they couldn't even text me to say that the meeting was off.
i think i have been guilty of using the overworked excuse as well...hahahaha.but not to not show up for a meeting - just to excuse not turning up additional work at the same time...:).it must suck to be at the receiving end of such a lame excuse. well, i hope in the end you get to decide whether you want to work with them or not, because i do think they will offer you the job in the end. best of luck, and since i was totally overworked this afternoon...let me go home to a well deserved break! hahahaha. i came across your blog because of DAMA DO BLING by the way.in a moment of not being OVERWORKED i googled dama do bling...and VOILA!
C.
~C. - I think we've all used this excuse at one point or another, but usually to avoid something we don't want to do, not make excuses for something we do want, but have poorly managed.
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