Careful of My Toes

One has to understand that there's no way you can force a supplier to deliver if you're not one of his biggest buyers. Especially if it is not a local supplier. One of my strengths is that, Alhamdulilah, because of my travels, I am able to understand the different and diverse cultures in business. You do not speak the way you speak to an Indian businessman the way you would a Chinese businessman. Nor do you do with formalities with a Caucasion as you would a Malay. These are some of the things that books won't teach you. And even if they did, you'd need lots of practise to know who you're dealing with.

Funny thing happened today. I composed a note, with attachments and all for suppliers to sign and acknowledge that if they fail to supply acceptable deliveries, we will penalise them monetary. Sent out to two persons, Lito - Regional R&D Manager & Bernard - Log. Manager, my direct boss. Lito was acceptable to it. I can tell Bernard's not too keen. The problem I see now is that we have people who would die to supply to us. Word has gotten around that we'll be increasing our volumes. R&D has been testing and evaluating materials from all over the world. Unfortunately, no one is there to manage them.

We have a situation with a Taiwan supplier. He is unable to deliver. He is supporting our sister company in Taiwan and any last minute orders would go to them, at our expense. Our production planner's having a tough time. All she ever does is say "please deliver by this date", or "please confirm you understand that your delivery is due by". Ok, so what if I understand. You gonna make me deliver? From the supplier's standpoint, our business is worth sacrificing and he's telling us that in our face by accepting another order and pushing us behind. That's reality.

How'd I deal with it? I use the soft approach, knowing that he'll not be taken in with the hard knock on the head. I use lots of "please", "help me out here will ya?" and things along that effect. Vendor management is tricky business, especially when there's so many different products that we use. We'll just have to manage the business. Insya Allah, I will be able to do it. The weird thing is, it's not even my problem. But I see what's going wrong and I want to set it straight. Insya Allah, I'll not step on too many toes.

jahwsl
2309
31 Jan 07'

Another One Bites The Dust

I will never go to his house again. It's a torture to see him the way he is now. Sure, his wife is expecting and his 16 month old daughter is such a wonderful creature. He has a great job with enough time off on weekends, lives in a nice HDB apartment in Punggol. Problem: his wife.

I never liked her the first time I saw her. I even discouraged him from marrying her. So did his family. They did anyway, and like a true friend, I flew back in from Jakarta for his wedding.

She's a rough person by nature. Never lady-like. Never mind she weighs in a little less than Hulk Hogan and she can't speak proper english even karaoke style where the words are flashed right in front of her. For an 'N' level holder, she really is arrogant. It seems that I am never welcomed in her house, even though it's my friend who's paying for it. Never greets me or say hi. And this was the person I invited to my own house years ago before they were married and she whacked so much of my chocolates that were meant for other guests as well. And she had no qualms throwing the wrappers on the floor too.

Ill-mannered, she never says "thank you" or "please". This evening, she expected her husband to go buy food for her, as with every other night. Not one mention of politeness. And my friend refuses to believe he is hen-pecked. We were wild those days, and honestly, I think marriage has taken away his identity. Poor guy.

Few days ago, I did a favour by ordering, through staff purchase, a carton of 3 bags x 66 diapers. She did not want to collect it from my waiting taxi (I still had another place to go to) and insisted I bring it up to her place cos she's 5 months pregnant and her maid's asleep. So my time is worth less than a maid's? Whoops... no more staff purchase for her anymore...

That said, I wonder how he can tolerate her. I remember in the early part of their marriage, he was very demeaning and condesending towards her. I think he just caved in now for the sake of his kid.

Sempre Fe my friend.

jahwsl
2252
31 Jan 07'