What Happened

It’s been nearly 3 years since my last blog post and about 5 years since I posted regularly. In that time there have been thousands of emails, letters and packages all on the same theme. What happened to the blog?

OK, well not thousands, but a few. Maybe a couple. (For more discussion on what constitutes a couple, see here.)

So what happened was this, I became employed doing something interesting. Late in 2010, I was asked to “take a look at potential in Asia”. I did that and discovered that the potential for all manner of depravity is enormous. I also discovered that there is some potential for doing business.

With my employer exhorting me to do so, I began working extraordinarily long hours, travelling inordinate distances and meeting increasingly strange people. After a time, I actually moved to Japan and continued to work at a pace that, if not unsustainable, was, at the very least, remarkably hectic.

I took a list of leasing companies and turned it into a business generating millions of dollars and employing about 30 people. It was fun.

Sadly, in the process I spent very little time doing anything other than working. My Japanese remains rudimentary, my guitar has gathered dust, my blog has been ignored and I was astonished to find that I have another daughter.

Around this time, my employer struck on a brilliant cost saving idea. They determined that by reducing my salary by about a third, they would save that money and be able to spend it on something else. Posters I think. You know the sort of posters, ones with a black border, featuring a picture of a mountain, an eagle or something similarly inspirational. Usually there is a quote of some sort in white print on the lower border.

I protested that it seemed unreasonable that my employer should unilaterally (and arbitrarily) reduce my salary like that. I may have even volunteered to produce the posters at my own cost.

My employer however presented a compelling case for reducing my salary. They argued that if they reduced my salary, then they wouldn’t have to pay me as much. A stunning logical syllogism that I found it hard to argue with.

I explained to my employer that I would not be willing to remain employed under such terms. Among other things I would be concerned that at some future point they would, once again, feel moved to reduce my salary further. I offered to seek employment elsewhere.

My employer carefully explained to me that this was not the plan. The plan was that I should remain employed and accept less pay. They felt that I did not completely understand the nature of the plan. They seemed to attribute this, at least in part, to my failure to speak Dutch. They suggested that they would explain the plan further and that we should schedule a discussion. I agreed to the discussion and it went something like this;

Employer: “We are going to pay you less.”

Me: “Then I don’t want to work here anymore.”

Employer: “No, you have to stay working here, just we want to pay you less.”

Me: “But I don’t want to be paid less.”

Employer: “Some other people get paid less than you.”

Me: “I see.”

Employer: "So it’s agreed. We will pay you less and you will continue to work the same as before.”

Me: “No. That’s not what I said.”

Employer: “You are just being unreasonable.”

I may have paraphrased here and there, but essentially this was the conversation.

After a time, my employer struck upon a new plan. They, in turn, called for a new discussion during which they would explain the new plan. The new discussion went something like this;

Employer: “We will pay you the same as before, but for a limited time.”

Me: “OK, sounds fair. How long?”

Employer: [muffled Dutch conversation] “Ummmm…. Two years.”

Me: “Great. After two years we will discuss further.”

Employer: [muffled giggling sounds] “Sure.”

And so it came to pass that I remained employed on the same terms with an agreement to continue on for another two years.

One year later, my employer suggested we should have yet another discussion. This discussion went like this;

Employer: “You are fired.”

Me: “Why?”

Employer: “Not because we wanted to reduce your pay.”

Me: “OK, but why?”

Employer: “For another reason.”

Me: “What other reason?”

Employer: “A good one.”

Me: “It’s just because you want to reduce my pay, isn’t it?”

Employer: [sticks fingers in ears] “La, la, la, la! I’m not listening.”

Me: “I thought we were going to continue for two years?”

Employer: “You are just being unreasonable.”

Me: “ … ”

Employer: [muffled Dutch conversation] “That’s why we are firing you! Because you are unreasonable!” [muffled Dutch congratulatory tones]

And so it came to pass that I was no longer required to spend every waking hour employed and discovered that I had an annoyed wife, a two year old princess, three guitars and a blog.

This all happened last November, over four months ago. You may well be wondering how I have spent my time since then. It’s a fair question, and one I will answer in my next post.