The boss hadn’t given me a salary raise for seven consecutive years.
This year, all employees got a raise, except for me.
I angrily pushed open the boss’s door and questioned him about why he hadn’t given me a raise for so many years.
The boss didn’t even look up.
“The position of purchasing manager is so sought – after that people would fight for it even without pay.”
“Whoever wants to do it, let them!”
After saying that, I left the boss’s office.
1
Before I reached my office, I saw Zhang Qiang from the administrative department enter the boss’s office.
About an hour later, the HR sent an email:
In order to eliminate potential risks, the tenure of the high – risk position of purchasing manager should not exceed five years. According to the notice from the company office, the positions of Manager Bai XX from the purchasing department and Manager Zhang Qiang from the administrative department will be swapped, effective immediately.
After a while, Zhang Qiang came over and said to me,
“Manager Bai, the boss asked us to hand over. When do you think it would be appropriate?”
In fact, I had long known that Zhang Qiang had approached the boss several times, and he had patted his chest and told the boss that he didn’t need a salary and that he could definitely do a better job than me.
Wasn’t this clearly telling the boss that he was willing to take kickbacks?
The boss probably didn’t care. Anyway, in his concept, whoever was in this position would take kickbacks. Zhang Qiang was willing to work without pay, at least it could save some money.
When I heard this news, I was really speechless.
Before, Zhang Qiang was polite to me. I thought he always recommended some unreliable suppliers to me, but I rejected them all.
Now that this small – minded person had achieved success, he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Manager Zhang, there are a lot of things in the purchasing department. I still need to sort them out. Let’s spend some time next week to hand over, so as to avoid any mistakes.”
Before I could finish, Zhang Qiang interrupted me.
“Manager Bai, you’re not reluctant to move to the administrative department, are you? In this society, what else can a department that spends money on things have to do? What mistakes could there be?”
Then he looked at me with a sneer.
“Since Manager Zhang said so, I’m ready anytime.”
“Then let’s go through the procedures now.”
I never expected this guy to be in such a hurry.
So I took him to my office and briefly explained the current purchasing process and several important suppliers to him.
He listened absent – mindedly for a long time.
Afraid that he might shift the blame if something went wrong, I wrote a handover list, printed it out, and told Zhang Qiang,
“Manager Zhang, if you think the handover is okay, you can sign it, and I’ll move to the administrative department right away.”
Zhang Qiang didn’t even look at it, signed directly, gave the list to me, and turned around to go to his office to pack his things.
I simply packed my things, held a short meeting with the following buyers, and then took my things to the administrative department office.
2
A few days after I arrived at the administrative department, the product manager came to me to complain.
“Zhang Qiang has changed the BOM material suppliers of several of our main products.”
In fact, I already knew this.
A few days ago, the supplier had called me. Zhang Qiang demanded that they reduce the price by 20% and give him 10% kickbacks, otherwise he wouldn’t place an order.
The supplier was almost crying.
“Manager Bai, you should know our costs. Our products are exported to Europe, and the quality requirements are so high. Our profit is at most only 10%. We can’t do it.”
I was also helpless and could only watch as Zhang Qiang canceled their orders.
Then he went to Dongguan to find some handicraft workshops.
Of course, the price was indeed cheaper.
I said to the product manager,
“With the price down, the market competitiveness will surely be stronger. It’s also a good thing.”
“But the product quality is unreliable. I talked to the boss, and the boss said it could be used as long as it works. After all, it saves 10% of the money.”
The product manager gave a bitter smile, sighed, and left my office.
Seeing the product manager sighing, I secretly rejoiced that Zhang Qiang hadn’t affected me.
Before I could rejoice for a few minutes, the receptionist Feifei came in and said to me,
“Manager Bai, the people from the purchasing department said that Manager Zhang wants to change the property management company back to the original one.”
I was so angry that I almost vomited blood.
At first, Zhang Qiang snatched the right to choose the property management company into his own hands.
He found a strange property management company from nowhere. In less than half a year, there were such bad behaviors as security guards pushing customers and cleaners stealing company property.
The boss was also angry and asked the purchasing department to be in charge of the property management company again. So I chose a well – known property management company in the industry at that time.
The current problem is that although the choice of the property management company belongs to the purchasing department, the administrative department is responsible for the specific management.
If Zhang Qiang brings back this strange property management company, we will surely not be able to manage it well.
I stood up and was about to go to Zhang Qiang to discuss this matter, but the bitter smile of the product manager was still in front of my eyes.
I said to Feifei,
“We should do a good job in evaluating them. You should take more care. Report to me immediately if there is anything wrong.”
Not only me, but Lao Li from the logistics department also quietly told me that the freight forwarder had been changed.
Zhang Jing from the HR said that our previous headhunting company and labor dispatch company had also been changed.
I couldn’t help but admire Zhang Qiang’s work efficiency. In just a few weeks, almost everything that could be changed in the company had been changed.
Next, he could consider changing the boss.
3
At the monthly company management meeting, Zhang Qiang stole the show.
The boss praised him and then told all the management,
“We need to learn from Zhang Qiang. After being transferred to the purchasing department for more than a month, he re – screened the suppliers. This year, we expect to reduce costs by about 5 million yuan.”
Everyone applauded.
Zhang Qiang made an important speech with arrogance.
The general idea was that many leaders in the company were complacent and only cared about their personal interests, sacrificing a lot of the company’s interests.
When speaking, he glanced at me intentionally or unintentionally.
I heard Zhang Jing whispering to Lao Li,
“5 million yuan a year. This is a huge profit. Old Bai must have embezzled a lot in recent years.”
Lao Li signaled that I was nearby, and the two of them stopped talking.
I could only pretend not to hear. I knew very well that even if I explained, it would be useless.
Zhang Qiang is now the boss’s favorite. He basically has the final say in changing suppliers. The product manager and other department managers can’t get a word in.
Before, I would communicate with the product manager and the technical department about the BOM requirements, basically taking their opinions as the main ones. I actually knew very well that those suppliers they chose had given them benefits, but the sources of goods they recognized were basically reliable.
Now, Zhang Qiang directly ignores them.
The boss was in a good mood and invited everyone to dinner at night.
During the dinner, there was much drinking and conversation, and it was very lively.
Of course, Zhang Qiang was still the focus.
When everyone had drunk almost enough, the boss, under the influence of alcohol, said to me,
“Old Bai, you’ve been doing well these years.”
I understood what he meant and was a bit disgusted, so I replied to the boss,
“Boss, if you have something to say, just say it directly. There’s no need to beat around the bush.”
“Leaving aside other things, it’s been seven years, and I haven’t given you a salary raise, and you haven’t left. This little salary doesn’t mean much to you, does it?”
After hearing this, I was directly angry.
“Boss, in these seven years, I’ve been dedicated and haven’t taken anything I shouldn’t have.”
“Do you think I’ll believe it? Zhang Qiang has been here for more than a month, and the company has spent 5 million yuan less this year. So where did the 5 million yuan go last year?”
Then he patted my shoulder, laughed wickedly a few times, and left.
I originally wanted to retort a few words, but then I thought it was unnecessary. What I said now would be useless.
The boss could only see that the company spent 5 million yuan less this year. No matter how much I said about other things, it would just seem like I was making excuses for taking kickbacks.
So, I didn’t wait for the party to end and went home alone.
This way, after I left, they could discuss the legend of “Bai Half – Billion” more happily.
Oh, by the way, the nickname “Bai Half – Billion” was given to me by Zhang Qiang when he told others about the amount of kickbacks he thought I took.
The general idea was that I got 5 – 6 million yuan in kickbacks every year, and I had taken half a billion yuan from the company over the years.
As the “intelligence center” of the company, the administrative department. By the afternoon, the receptionist Feifei told me this.
4
About three months later, after the product manager visited the suppliers in Dongguan, he ran to my office to complain to me.
“This Zhang Qiang is really ruthless. He directly asked the supplier for a house.”
This sentence directly aroused my curiosity, and I quickly urged him to continue.
“I visited our largest supplier yesterday. As a result, I found that their boss was indifferent to me. Coincidentally, their technical manager was an old colleague of mine. After asking around, I found out that Zhang Qiang told them that no one should be entertained when they come, and this business is only for them.”
My previous way was that the product manager and the technical manager were responsible for the quality and technical control of the suppliers. So when they went to the suppliers, they were entertained in various ways. As for whether they took kickbacks and how much, I didn’t really care. After all, the stability and quality of the supply chain were more important than costs.
The product manager continued,
“It is said that Zhang Qiang asked the supplier boss to show something. This boss is also a tough guy. He directly bought a house in the city in Zhang Qiang’s name. Of course, being a boss, he’s not stupid. The house only paid a 200,000 – yuan down payment, and Zhang Qiang was used to take an 800,000 – yuan mortgage. The monthly repayment is 20,000 yuan. The boss has Zhang Qiang in his hands. If you keep giving business, he will keep paying the mortgage. If you take the business away, you have to pay the mortgage yourself.”
They’re all tough people. Of course, this mortgage has greatly guaranteed the relationship between Zhang Qiang and the supplier.
Sure enough, only money is the foundation for a strong alliance.
But it has put our product manager at great risk.
After visiting the factory, he thought the new supplier was too bad. There was no mature quality system.
The quality of the employees was also poor. He even saw employees smoking in front of the equipment.
However, now no matter what anyone says, it’s useless. The boss only believes in Zhang Qiang.
But if there is a problem with the product quality, the first one to take the blame will definitely be the product manager.
I could clearly feel that the product manager became worried when talking about the quality of the new supplier.
This time, I didn’t dare to gloat. Who knows if it will affect our department someday.
This supplier provides a house, the next one provides a car, and another one provides girls.
Zhang Qiang is living a carefree and comfortable life.
Compared with me, the so – called “Bai Half – Billion”, Zhang Qiang knows how to have fun much more.
5
Contrary to my expectation, it was the HR manager who was the first to suffer bad luck, not the worried product manager.
Early in the morning, with a livid face, the marketing director summoned Zhang Qiang, Zhang Jing, and several other managers, including me, to the boss’s office.
It turned out that European customers came to the factory for on – site audits.
The labor dispatch company Zhang Qiang found colluded with the principal of a vocational and technical school and tricked the school’s students into the factory, calling it “internship”.
Each student also paid a 200 – yuan internship fee.
We usually pay 4000 – 5000 yuan to third – party dispatched workers. Who knew these people were so greedy? Not only did they pocket the wages, but they also made the students pay the internship fee.
When the customer was conducting the on – site audit, they happened to meet these students. The auditor suspected that the factory was employing child labor.
Then they found several employees for an interview.
As a result, there were children under 16 years old in the vocational high school, and the fact of employing child labor was confirmed.
More importantly, they didn’t even pay the wages.
The auditor was furious at that time and directly stopped the audit. That night, the supply chain director in Europe sent an official email to suspend all cooperation and asked our sales director to give an explanation.
Child labor and labor exploitation are red lines. Saying it’s a suspension, in fact, there’s no hope.
Moreover, the auditor also said that the audit report would be sent to the local government and even European counterparts.
The sales director was so angry that he couldn’t speak.
This customer is one of our largest customers, accounting for 30% of our international business.
The sales director, with a black face, said to Zhang Qiang and Zhang Jing,
“I’ll fly to Europe tomorrow morning to explain to them why this happened. You two explain it.”
Zhang Qiang rushed to say,
“Mr. Wu, the employees’ wages and qualification reviews are all in the HR department. I don’t know about this either.”
Zhang Jing was stunned when she heard this.
“Zhang Qiang, what you said is not right. We pay the labor dispatch company monthly, and I also asked for the identity information of these interns. Didn’t I ask you to urge them?”
“Zhang Jing, the review of employees is your responsibility. It’s a fact that you didn’t do a good job, right?”
Zhang Jing was about to argue when the boss, with a black face, said,
“Enough. Think about how to explain to the customer.”
The sales director, Mr. Wu, also chimed in,
“Yes, first think about how to solve it.”
Finally, the boss called all the managers together to discuss countermeasures.
After several hours of discussion, the following conclusions were reached:
First, the third – party labor dispatch company withheld the wages the company paid to the interns.
Second, during the audit, it was the period when the HR was verifying the identities of the interns, which was a transitional period, an accidental event.
The sales director went home cursing to pack his things and explain to the customer.
The boss stared at Zhang Jing,
“Can you still be the HR manager? If we lose this customer, you can leave!”
After saying that, he drove everyone out.
I saw Zhang Jing with a droopy face, not like the way she asked Lao Li how much kickbacks I took at the company meeting.
When she saw everyone leaving, she pulled me and said,
“This labor dispatch company is too unreliable. The one you found before was more reliable. Now, I’m afraid I have to look for a job. It’s all this unreliable Zhang Qiang. I told him at that time that this company was a bit like a makeshift team, but he insisted on using it.”
I didn’t say much, just comforted her a few words and then went back to my office.
After all, I knew they had privately called me “Bai Half – Billion” a lot.
6
Through this incident, I realized a problem.
Zhang Qiang easily shifted the blame to Zhang Jing, and Zhang Jing was indeed derelict in her duty. After all, the identity information of anyone entering the factory still needed to be verified.
Before, it was the labor dispatch company that did the screening and sent the relevant materials to the HR department. They basically didn’t need to do anything.
So this time, they also thought there was no big problem and just waited for the labor dispatch company to provide the relevant materials.
As a result, such a big thing happened at this critical moment.
The product manager saw Zhang Jing leave and followed me to my office.
After chatting for a while, he said he was very worried about the product quality problem and that he might look for opportunities outside.
I joked with him,
“Don’t worry. The next one to suffer bad luck may not be you.”
Before I could finish speaking, a burst of scolding came from the boss’s office.
“What were you doing earlier? 500,000 yuan! Will you pay for it?”
The whole office was silent. The product manager immediately ran to the door of the boss’s office to watch the excitement.
After a while, Lao Li from the logistics department came out with a droopy face.
Lao Li usually has a good relationship with me. Although he is a bit slippery, he is reliable in doing things.
I was going to ask Feifei, the “agent” of our “company intelligence center”, what was going on, but Lao Li came to my office by himself.
He came in, closed the door, and started curs ing Zhang Qiang, calling him a bastard.
I made a wild guess that the logistics cost must have increased and Lao Li went to the boss for signature and got scolded.
Sure enough, as soon as Lao Li opened his mouth, he started complaining.
“I had told Zhang Qiang to book the shipping containers in advance and gave him the quotation. But he insisted on finding cheaper ones himself. Didn’t he see that the Houthi rebels in Yemen were fighting in the Red Sea? The shipping cost was bound to skyrocket.”
I poured a glass of water for Lao Li.
“Don’t worry. As long as we can book the containers, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit more expensive.”
“That’s the problem. He looked around on his own, and the cost was twice as much as what I found. I thought it would be okay if we could place the order. But then he asked me to go back to the original freight forwarder who gave the quotation and ask them to keep the original price. They didn’t agree. After arguing for four or five days, the Houthi rebels used drones and missiles to attack merchant ships. Many merchant ships detoured around the Cape of Good Hope and couldn’t reach the port in the short term. As a result, several freight forwarders didn’t have any shipping containers available.”
I was speechless. In this situation, we should have booked the containers as soon as we found them, but he was still trying to bargain.
The sales director, Mr. Wu, was still in Europe and called to urge the shipment. It was already a week late. If we didn’t ship the goods, we would be fined 10% of the payment for goods, and it would also affect future cooperation.
In the end, there was no other way, so we chose air freight.
The payment for goods was about 1 million yuan, and the freight was 500,000 yuan.
Zhang Qiang said to Mr. Wu, “Why don’t we wait? After all, the fine is only 100,000 yuan, 400,000 yuan less than the freight.”
Mr. Wu directly said, “If you were in front of me, I’d definitely slap you. Do you want them to stop giving us orders completely in the future?”
“This can’t be blamed on me. It can only be blamed on the Houthi rebels. Besides, why didn’t you sign FCA in the contract back then, but DDU?”
I only heard Mr. Wu cursing “idiot” on the other end.
Indeed, the intern incident was blamed on Zhang Jing, and the freight incident was blamed on the Houthi rebels. Next time, he might blame the strengthening of the Earth’s magnetic field. Anyway, Zhang Qiang was never wrong.
Facts proved that Zhang Qiang’s words, by coincidence, turned out to be right. Because of shipping this batch of goods, the company suffered a huge loss, far exceeding the value of this batch of goods.
Of course, this was something that happened later.
7
The handling result of the labor dispatch side came out.
The local education bureau and labor bureau directly revoked the company’s qualification. The boss was arrested, and the principal of the vocational and technical school was investigated.
This news was on the local hot search.
Zhang Jing was dismissed from her post, and Zhang Qiang went back to use the labor dispatch company I had used before.
The European customer canceled the order. Fortunately, the matter didn’t escalate further, and it just passed like this.
The product manager came to my office again, but I refused to let him in.
The first time he came to me, it brought bad luck to Zhang Jing.
The second time, it was Lao Li’s turn.
If he came today, who knew which unlucky guy would be affected?
He said to me,
“You should look at the bright side of things. Look, at least we’re okay. Besides, I have some gossip. Do you want to hear it?”
Hearing about gossip, of course I was happy and quickly invited him in.
“Do you remember I told you that the technical manager of one of our company’s suppliers was my former colleague?”
“Yeah, the one who bought an apartment for Zhang Qiang on mortgage.”
“Right, that’s them. The housing price dropped from 1 million yuan to 700,000 yuan in a few months. So Zhang Qiang got an apartment, but now it’s a negative asset, and he owes the bank 100,000 yuan.”
“What goes around comes around. This is a good retribution.”
“This guy is quite shrewd. He went to the boss and wanted to sell the house back to him at the original price, that is, 1 million yuan. In this way, after paying off the 800,000 – yuan bank loan, he could get a 200,000 – yuan kickback.”
“What did the supplier boss say?”
“Of course not. The boss isn’t stupid. It’s almost 500,000 yuan difference. How much can he earn in a year?”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
This solid alliance was based on money. Now that the foundation was shaky, there was infighting within the alliance.
The product manager continued,
“The boss said it simply. If the unit price increases by 10%, he can consider buying the house back.”
“What did Zhang Qiang say?”
“What else could he say? He could only stall for time. After all, he still depends on the boss to pay the mortgage every month. If he pushes too hard, the boss will stop paying the mortgage, and he will have to pay 20,000 yuan a month himself.”
I really hoped to see the boss’s expression when Zhang Qiang told him that the price needed to be increased by 10%.
Of course, this kind of thing had little to do with me. I was just an administrative manager, a company steward.
After hearing the gossip, the product manager said to me with a sly smile,
“I wonder who the next unlucky guy will be.”
“Can’t you hope for the company to get better?”
“Look at the current situation. Can it get better? Anyway, I’m ready to quit at any time.”
“It’s not that bad. Zhang Jing was just dismissed, and Lao Li is still working. If the boss wants to fire someone, his favorite Zhang Qiang should also be fired.”
“I’m just curious. If the housing price drops to 600,000 yuan, will Zhang Qiang owe the bank 200,000 yuan?”
“You really don’t wish him well.”
After chatting for a while, I saw that it was time to get off work, so I packed up and went home with the product manager.
Today, the company’s luck was not bad. At least, there were no unexpected troubles for the time being.
Of course, I thought to myself.
As an administrative staff, I’m unlikely to be implicated by Zhang Qiang. The next one to be unlucky is probably the product manager.
After all, with Zhang Qiang’s actions, it’s only a matter of time before the product quality explodes.
When I parted ways with the product manager, I looked at his back with great sympathy.
I was a bit reluctant because the product manager was my gossip partner, and I didn’t want to see him get implicated.
8
Unexpectedly, the slap in the face came so quickly.
Early in the morning, as soon as I entered the office, I was called to the boss’s office.
He pointed to the punishment notice on the table and asked me,
“Manager Bai, if you have emotions, I know you don’t want to leave the purchasing department, but you can’t affect the normal work, right?”
I looked at the document on the table. It was about the expiration of fire – fighting facilities, with a fine of 50,000 yuan, and the factory would be shut down for rectification starting from today.
I was stunned that such a big problem of the factory shutdown was pinned on me.
Most importantly, I didn’t even understand what was going on.
At this time, Zhang Qiang walked in and said to the boss,
“The new fire – fighting equipment will be delivered by the supplier this afternoon. I have an acquaintance in the Public Security Bureau. He will come to inspect tomorrow. Once it passes, we can resume normal production.”
The boss nodded with satisfaction and said to me,
“If it weren’t for Manager Zhang’s timely solution, could you afford the responsibility of affecting normal production? You’d better thank Manager Zhang. Regarding the fine, it will be deducted from the administrative department’s salary.”
Zhang Qiang smiled at me and said in a very calculating way,
“I can understand that Manager Bai has emotions, after all, his income is affected. I hope that in the future, we can communicate openly when there are problems, instead of competing with each other and affecting the company’s interests.”
After saying that, he left directly without waiting for me to refute.
The boss continued to look at me with a dark face and asked me to go back and reflect.
I walked back to the office, still in a daze, and immediately called Feifei to ask about the fire – fighting situation.
She also felt quite aggrieved:
“The contract purchase application for the fire – fighting facility supplier was submitted to the purchasing department long ago, but Manager Zhang has been refusing to approve it, saying that you need to clarify its use.”
I suddenly remembered that for the administrative department’s purchase applications in the past few months, Zhang Qiang always asked me to explain. For example, for two boxes of A4 printing paper, he asked me to explain why so much was consumed and whether one box was enough. For things like buying drinking water or even a power strip, he asked me to explain.
I was angry at this obvious act of making things difficult for me and told Feifei that in the future, just submit the administrative department’s purchase applications, and whether he approves them or not is up to him.
Feifei submitted the contract purchase application last month, but Zhang Qiang still didn’t approve it.
I got so angry that I scolded Feifei. In fact, she didn’t do anything wrong. She was also a victim of this struggle.
I found the HR department and said that they didn’t need to deduct the wages of my subordinates. They could deduct mine, 5000 yuan per month for 10 months.
The HR manager had become Zhang Qiang’s lackey and said cheerfully,
“Manager Bai is really rich.”
After saying that, he looked at me with a meaningful smile. Of course I knew that since he was close to Zhang Qiang, he must have heard the famous nickname “Bai Half – Billion”.
Compared with Zhang Jing, I felt I was relatively lucky. At least I still had my job and position, although I lost some salary.
Back in the office, I thought carefully.
Zhang Qiang used to be in charge of the administrative department, so he was very familiar with this information.
Especially about the fire – fighting facilities, the suppliers were all chosen by him.
Suddenly, I understood that this guy and the supplier were collaborating to set me up.
When there was a problem, he came out to be the savior in front of the boss?
Mr. Wu was also furious. After all, the on – time delivery rate had been very poor recently.
The factory was directly shut down for rectification, and there would probably be another batch of overdue fines.
The customer had sent several formal emails to claim compensation for the losses caused by the late delivery.
Fortunately, due to Mr. Wu’s long – term relationship with the customer, it ended with a warning every time.
But if this continued, Mr. Wu’s face might not work anymore.
The product manager said to me sneakily,
“Brother Bai, don’t worry. The boss just gave you a warning. Your matter is over. If things go on like this, Mr. Wu might be in big trouble.”
I looked at him speechlessly, suspecting that he was in cahoots with Zhang Qiang.
9
The next few months were unexpectedly calm.
This was completely beyond the expectations of the product manager and me.
With the suppliers Zhang Qiang found, I thought it was a miracle that they could even assemble the parts, but they had managed to hold on until now without any problems.
After all, their price was 10% lower than normal suppliers, and they also gave Zhang Qiang a 10% kickback. The profit of an ordinary small factory was only 5% – 10%. I really didn’t know how they could be 20% lower than the market price and still make a profit.
The only possibility was cutting corners.
After Zhang Qiang’s actions led to problems with labor dispatch and rising logistics costs, everyone had privately discussed that cheap things were no good.
Zhang Qiang himself was also low – key for two months. After all, these weren’t glorious things.
Although he didn’t bear the brunt of the blame, the previous HR and logistics people had privately scolded him a lot.
As time passed, the impact of these two things gradually decreased, and he became arrogant again.
Especially because he single – handedly solved the fire – fighting punishment issue, and the factory only stopped production for two days before resuming normal operation.
This image of being able to solve problems for the company quickly made the private discussions about him disappear.
He even said to the boss at the management meeting,
“Didn’t some people say that the quality of the cheap suppliers I changed would have problems? It’s been almost half a year, and I haven’t heard of any problems. Maybe I’ve touched someone’s interests?”
The boss also said that he firmly supported those who did things.
It seemed that the boss didn’t really blame him for these two things and still trusted him a lot.
However, since the sales director, Mr. Wu, came back from Europe, he had found the boss several times.
He insisted on replacing Zhang Qiang, but the boss, seeing the annual cost savings of 5 million yuan, firmly protected Zhang Qiang.
Mr. Wu could only shake his head and sigh. He privately found the incoming inspection and quality control of the production department and asked them to pay close attention to the quality of these suppliers to ensure no problems.
The product manager also seemed to think he had been overly nervous and secretly asked me if I had really taken half a billion yuan from the suppliers over the years.
I gave him a blank look.
“You’ve been to the previous suppliers yourself. I wouldn’t dare to randomly find a handicraft workshop to supply our parts.”
The product manager also began to doubt himself. “Are our requirements too high?”
“I’m afraid I can’t sleep well if I buy things from those handicraft workshops.”
“But the boss doesn’t seem to care.”
In fact, I could understand. After all, the company’s profit was just so much, and the money saved was increased profit.
Half a year had passed, and the products hadn’t had any problems. So my previous claim that choosing higher – priced suppliers was for better quality seemed untenable.
Coupled with the fact that I hadn’t had a salary raise in seven years and hadn’t made a fuss, their reason for suspicion was: “If there’s no profit, why do you still stay?”
I couldn’t refute it.
I was a bit on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Recently, I had been thinking about resigning. It wasn’t because of the salary deduction, but because rumors were fearsome.
No matter how clear – conscience I was and how thick – skinned I was, I couldn’t stay for long listening to these gossips every day.
Especially the little warning Zhang Qiang gave me regarding the fire – fighting incident clearly told me that life in the future wouldn’t be easy.
However, I was still hesitant. If I resigned, would the boss think that I had embezzled enough and was running away?
More importantly, I wanted to see when this guy Zhang Qiang would have his comeuppance.
I really couldn’t swallow this insult.
10
Recently, rumors spread in the company that Zhang Qiang was going to be promoted to vice – general manager.
When the product manager told me, I thought he heard it from his classmate at the supplier.
After all, those suppliers had already started calling Zhang Qiang “Vice – General Manager Zhang”.
But Feifei also mentioned this, and the news came from the HR department.
In the future, purchasing, logistics, product, and production would be under Zhang Qiang’s management, merged into a large supply chain department.
Marketing and after – sales would be under Mr. Wu’s management, and the boss would be in charge of technology.
The good news was that the administrative department would still report to the boss, and I wouldn’t need to report to Zhang Qiang in the future.
But it didn’t matter much. If Zhang Qiang was promoted to vice – general manager, it would be very easy for him to target me.
Of course, the product manager couldn’t laugh.
Previously, there were unqualified products from many suppliers. Zhang Qiang asked him to go to the site to see if they could be accepted, but he basically refused. After all, when Zhang Qiang went to the suppliers, he was in clubs with young models every day, while he not only had to work on – site but also take the blame.
He said with a bitter smile that this time, he might really have to quit.
I also teased him, asking if he wanted to be like me and have 5000 yuan deducted from his salary every month.
The appointment hadn’t been made yet. It was said that Mr. Wu didn’t agree for the time being, and the boss hadn’t made a final decision.
Mr. Wu was our second – largest shareholder, although his share was relatively small. He was also the current vice – general manager. Naturally, he didn’t want Zhang Qiang to be promoted.
But more importantly, Zhang Qiang had secretly set him up several times, resulting in more and more complaints from customers.
I bet with the product manager to see how long Mr. Wu could hold on.
The product manager said with a bitter smile that it probably wouldn’t be long. The news had already spread among the suppliers.
Even if Zhang Qiang was arrogant, he wouldn’t dare to talk nonsense without certainty.
The boss must have privately promised him something.
Moreover, Mr. Wu didn’t need to insist. Now, which manager dared to offend Zhang Qiang?
He was basically a de – facto vice – general manager, just waiting for the official announcement.
11
What should come will come eventually.
Early in the morning, just as I woke up, the boss called me and asked me to go to his office as soon as I got to work. I checked the time; it was only 6:30. And ever since I moved to the administrative department, I felt like I was in the cold palace. Besides being punished for mistakes, I rarely got the boss’s attention. Being called so early in the morning made me a bit nervous. Logically speaking, even if I was really going to be fired, there was no rush. Anyway, it’s not the end of the world.
As soon as I entered the office, I sensed that the atmosphere was off. The office was deathly quiet. All the managers were in the conference room, and the company’s external lawyer was there too. Judging by the situation, it must be something serious. I quickly went into the conference room.
The boss and General Manager Wu were sitting in the front. To everyone’s surprise, a claim letter from a client appeared on the screen.
Since our products were installed on the customer’s equipment, various malfunctions occurred about half a year after the customer delivered the equipment to the end – user. The end – user had no choice but to shut down all the equipment, remove the malfunctioning parts, and replace them with qualified ones. The end – user’s loss was calculated on a daily basis. Each piece of equipment lost 200 euros per day, and the customer’s loss was the cost of sending people to the end – user’s place for maintenance and replacing the malfunctioning parts, which was 200 euros per piece of equipment. Of course, according to the contract, all these losses were to be borne by us, as confirmed by the lawyer present.
I calculated that half a year was exactly the time when we switched suppliers, and I remembered that this batch of parts had cost tens of thousands of yuan more for air freight due to the increase in shipping costs. At this point, I already knew where the problem was.
However, Zhang Qiang took the initiative and was still questioning the production manager and the quality control, “Why did you produce so many malfunctioning products?” The production manager didn’t even look up and said, “We’ve already conducted on – site inspections. There were no problems with our assembly process.” The technical department manager echoed, “Based on a simple analysis of the malfunction causes, it should be that the supplier used sub – standard materials when making the parts, reducing the part lifespan from the original five years to half a year.”
The boss’s complexion turned very grim, and he said: “Zhang Qiang, call the supplier here. They have to bear all the losses.” Zhang Qiang suddenly seemed deflated. After all, he knew more or less what kind of suppliers they were. So he rushed out in a panic to call the supplier.
Mr. Wu was clear – headed, “The top priority is to quickly find qualified replacement parts.” The production manager said, “As soon as the parts arrive, I’ll work overtime. We can start shipping in a week. But if we continue to use the current parts, even if I work overtime, the customer may claim more compensation.”
Mr. Wu turned around and glanced at me, “Manager Bai, you’re familiar with our products. Quickly contact our previous suppliers and see if they can resume production as soon as possible.” I had originally thought of taking this opportunity to teach Zhang Qiang a lesson, but looking at the current situation, if we couldn’t solve the problem quickly, the company’s survival might be at stake. So I also quickly contacted the previous suppliers.
They were straightforward. There was no problem, but given the tight schedule, they would increase the price by 10% on the original price as the cost for arranging overtime and urgent raw material procurement. I saw Zhang Qiang still on the phone outside, but he was clearly pacing back and forth. I was about to say hello, but then I thought it was unnecessary to kick him when he was down.
I quickly told Mr. Wu the information I had learned and added, “This matter still needs the boss and Mr. Wu to decide. After all, as an administrative manager, I shouldn’t interfere too much in purchasing department matters.” The product manager secretly gave me a thumbs – up for my diplomatic statement.
Mr. Wu didn’t wait for the boss to answer, “Manager Bai, you’ll be in charge of the procurement of this product for now. Make sure the supplier starts production today. We’ll handle the contract later.” After Mr. Wu finished speaking, I stared at the boss. After all, it was he who transferred me, and Mr. Wu was just a vice – general manager. The boss saw me staring at him, his face turned red then black, and after stuttering for a long time, he reluctantly said, “Just do it like this for now.” I agreed and left the office.
12
I was extremely busy. In the conference room, there was a heated argument. The product manager told me that after the supplier came, they were very tough. They claimed their parts were fine, saying, “You get what you pay for.” The lawyer explained things to them for a long time, but the supplier boss directly said, “If that’s the case, I’ll close the company tomorrow.” Everyone was shocked speechless. The boss was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He pointed at Zhang Qiang’s nose and cursed for a long time. Finally, the supplier added insult to injury, “Manager Zhang, you pay the mortgage yourself from now on. We’re done.” Then he turned around and left.
Later, we found out that Zhang Qiang had squeezed the supplier too hard, and the boss couldn’t take it anymore. Coincidentally, this incident happened. Mr. Wu said he wanted to call the police. He wouldn’t tolerate kickback – taking. The boss finally suppressed it. After all, he was the one who started it. If it weren’t for his trust and indulgence, this wouldn’t have happened.
Of course, Zhang Qiang returned all the kickbacks and was fired. About three months later, almost all the matters were resolved. After negotiating with the customer, the final compensation amount was approximately 20 million yuan. Coupled with our replacement parts and the 10% price increase from the supplier, the company suffered a net loss of 30 million yuan this year. Finally, we had to introduce external funds to get through the difficulties.
The product manager walked into my office, “Vice – General Manager Bai, congratulations! Mr. Wu recommended you for this position.” “Come on, the responsibilities are even heavier now.” “Don’t be modest. You got promoted. Take care of me in the future.” I pretended to ask casually about Zhang Qiang’s situation. The product manager said, “Don’t mention it. This incident caused a huge stir. In our industry, who would dare to use him? I heard he went to work in another city. It’s a bit pitiful for someone his age.” “It’s not that pitiful. After all, he just returned the kickbacks, and the house the supplier gave him is still there. That should be enough.” “You don’t know yet, do you? Guess who the developer of the house that the supplier paid the down payment for Zhang Qiang is?” “Could it be Evergrande?” “Vice – General Manager Bai, you’re so sharp!”
– End –
