Agony of the 3-week guarantee
Terrence Brannon
encountered before. It's called a 3-week guarantee. Under this
program, you are an hourly contractor, but for 3 weeks the company has
no obligation to pay the agent anything.
On reflection, I never should've gotten involved in this. Contract
work is already cutthroat - you can be eliminated at any moment for
any reason. So, it really is just icing on the cake when they can cut
you at any time _and_ not pay for any of the work you did while you
were there.
However, I liked the people I interviewed with and had a strong sense
of faith that I would overcome the companies bureaucratic defense
mechanisms and enjoy myself with the group of people I would be
working with. I agreed to be paid 20/hr for the first 3 weeks of the
trial.
Well, here it is 3 weeks later, and I am terminated and no one was
given any reasons why. And they got a ton of work out of me. Both the
consulting agency and I got ripped off in this from my standpoint. I
think I should have demanded professional pay per hour since they had
the option to pull the plug on me at any moment.
The company that did this to me was http://www.GSICommerce.com - they
are a major ecommerce outsourcer with a java front-end and perl
back-end.
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Randal L. Schwartz
"Terrence> I have just been introduced to the darkside of something I never ever
"Terrence> encountered before. It's called a 3-week guarantee. Under this
"Terrence> program, you are an hourly contractor, but for 3 weeks the company has
"Terrence> no obligation to pay the agent anything.
I'm no lawyer, but I'm not sure that can even be legal. At a minimum, the
body shop needs to pay you minimum wage, I would presume.
On the other hand, although you can't sign away fundamental rights, you *can*
give up some basic reasonable things when you're desperate. Sounds like you
were a bit desperate.
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Terrence Brannon
> >>>>> ""Terrence" == "Terrence Brannon" <meta...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> "Terrence> I have just been introduced to the darkside of something I never ever
> "Terrence> encountered before. It's called a 3-week guarantee. Under this
> "Terrence> program, you are an hourly contractor, but for 3 weeks the company has
> "Terrence> no obligation to pay the agent anything.
>
> I'm no lawyer, but I'm not sure that can even be legal. At a minimum, the
> body shop needs to pay you minimum wage, I would presume.
the consulting agency paid me 20/hr for those 3 weeks. But when it was
all over GSI paid the consulting agency zero dollars for my services.
>
> On the other hand, although you can't sign away fundamental rights, you *can*
> give up some basic reasonable things when you're desperate. Sounds like you
> were a bit desperate.
No, I operate on passion and I was wired about the work I would be
doing. Also, I had never been cut any earlier than 6 months in 6 years
of consulting, so I figured there was no reason for that to happen now
to me.
Remember, you yourself once said to me: "princepawn, you live in an
ideal world" :)
Randal L. Schwartz
"Terrence> No, I operate on passion and I was wired about the work I would be
"Terrence> doing. Also, I had never been cut any earlier than 6 months in 6 years
"Terrence> of consulting, so I figured there was no reason for that to happen now
"Terrence> to me.
I've never been asked to work 3 weeks on a trial basis. I'd consider
that a huge red flag. :)
"Terrence> Remember, you yourself once said to me: "princepawn, you live in an
"Terrence> ideal world" :)
Yes. At least you're consistent!
Terrence Brannon
> >>>>> ""Terrence" == "Terrence Brannon" <meta...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> "Terrence> No, I operate on passion and I was wired about the work I would be
> "Terrence> doing. Also, I had never been cut any earlier than 6 months in 6 years
> "Terrence> of consulting, so I figured there was no reason for that to happen now
> "Terrence> to me.
>
> I've never been asked to work 3 weeks on a trial basis. I'd consider
> that a huge red flag. :)
>
well *YOU* are a world-reknowned author and lecturer. I dont think
anyone is asking Kobe Bryant to join their basketball team on a 3-week
trial basis either.
The reason I accepted it was because I know that a lot of contractors
are fakes and they might need a little time to detect lack of ability.
Not only that, but I was the first contractor to ever get his throat
slit during the trial period. I didn't expect it and neither did the
consulting agency.
Plus, I was confident I would meet/exceed whatever expectations they
had. But then things got weird at the end. They said: "Terrence is not
proactive about getting work assigned to him" ... but then after
copious written documentation proving this assertion false, the next
day they said: "We are not going to go forward for budget reasons" ---
but from what I can tell, they have already hired a replacement for
me.
But I suppose I must've taken advantage of someone in a similar
fashion in this life or a previous life - everything happens for a
reason.
> "Terrence> Remember, you yourself once said to me: "princepawn, you live in an
> "Terrence> ideal world" :)
>
> Yes. At least you're consistent!
LOL
David Alban
> Plus, I was confident I would meet/exceed whatever expectations they
> had. But then things got weird at the end. They said: "Terrence is not
> proactive about getting work assigned to him" ... but then after
> copious written documentation proving this assertion false, the next
> day they said: "We are not going to go forward for budget reasons" ---
> but from what I can tell, they have already hired a replacement for
> me.
Perhaps you're much better off than the person they hired to replace
you. No telling what kind of hell is in store for them.
--
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