Part Deux : Gotta Be My Own Boss

The end result of Gotta Be My Own Boss.

Hi Coreen,

I am so sorry that our Friday meeting has caused you so much unhappiness. I had thought that we had cleared the air and were starting anew, with a better understanding of each other. Thank you for sharing your impressions, I didn't realize that the only messages that came through very strongly were my frustration and stress. Unfortunately in a situation like that, the negatives far outway the positives. I hope that as your hurt subsides that you will also remember the positives.

First, please remember my apologizing to you for being placed in a situation during the busiest time of a very busy year, when I didn't have time to establish a relationship with you or help you through the beginning stages of your training. And how unfair that was to you.

Second, please remember that I told you how pleased I was with the way you spoke with the customers on the phone, and how good you were in your relations with the other employees.

Third, please remember me talking about the confidence I had in your intelligence, ability and potential and how much I was looking forward to what your future with the company would be.

Anyway, I would like to clear up a few misunderstandings that have become apparant from your letter. As far as your duties here, I thought that had been clearly explained in the course of the two interviews. I had the feeling earlier in the week that there might be some fuzziness in your understanding of your role in the company, so I had spoken with Don and Dianna and had asked them if they felt we had covered that well in the second interview. They thought we had all been very clear on that point, so I didn't pursue it with you at that time. So as you can see, I have been thinking all along that you had a much clearer picture than you obviously did, which is why I misinterpreted your hesitation to become more involved in your dealings with me. Again, I apologize for not acting on my first instinct, and speaking with you earlier. My desire was for you to get comfortable with the company and find your legs before I started adding to your plate.

As far as the money goes, I was trying to give you a compliment in that I felt you were worth paying the employment agency upcharge. There were some other candidates that we were considering that were not attached to an agency, but I had such strong positive feelings about you that it was worth the extra charges. I was not meaning to tie that to your performance. I have had only two issues that were not positive, your messages, which we have resolved, and my misinterpretation of you interest in working directly with me, which I also thought we had resolved.

Lastly, as always seems to be the case, your lack of " Good Mornings" to me, hurt me as well. It fed the feeling I had that you wanted to keep a distance.

It looks overall that we should have both spoken with each other sooner about our situation, but the lion's share of that falls with me. I'm truly sorry I didn't communicate in a much better way with you. It has been an extremely difficult 4 or 5 weeks, and I've been trying very hard to hold on and get what needs to be done, done, without turning into a crazy person. I'm sorry you were a part of that period.

If it means anything, I would very much like for you to continue to try for a while longer and see if it's not a good place for you. I truly believe you and the company are a good match, and I also believe that you and I have a much better understanding of each other and can build a good working relationship. I can't promise the stress will not get to me from time to time, as I can't promise it won't get to you, but I can promise I will definitely start including you in what's going on. I hope you will change your mind, but if you don't, I hope you will forgive me for the unhappiness I've given you in such a short period of time

All the Best,
Owner