$10K on a WDW vacation?!?!?--VENT

[carebee21]

One of the points being made is that the OP's boss said there was no company earnings to buy red bubble gum, so he couldn't pay overtime. Same company that could not afford bubble gum managed to pay the boss enough to spend $10K on a trip to Disney.

No one said that the company managed to pay the boss enough to spend on a 10K vacation though. My Dh owns his own business and I do independent contract work. Everyone assumes since my DH owns his own business and has employees etc that the bulk of our money comes from him, but I'm the bread winner. We also have a vacation savings fund so if tomorrow his company had to cut hours or lay off people, we already have a savings fund for our next big vacation and we would still take the vacation. Yes, it would suck and I would feel bad for the people, but we've still worked hard and saved so there's no way our personal money (whether it be vacation fund or money for a roof over our head or food on the table) should or would be used to help those people keep their jobs or income. Maybe that makes me a mean person and hopefully it never has to come to that, but our personal money is still our personal money regardless of the financial decision of his company.

 

[Allison]

No one said that the company managed to pay the boss enough to spend on a 10K vacation though.

Exactly. This thread looks like a game of telephone morphing into a story way beyond the information that was provided. I don't see where it was ever said the business didn't make money at all, or where the OP said the former boss was gloating, no information was provided on possible other income, assumptions are being made about overtime, etc.

After 6 pages I guess I could have missed some posts providing that information.

 

[tinkarooni]

Exactly. This thread looks like a game of telephone morphing into a story way beyond the information that was provided. I don't see where it was ever said the business didn't make money at all, or where the OP said the former boss was gloating, no information was provided on possible other income, assumptions are being made about overtime, etc.

After 6 pages I guess I could have missed some posts providing that information.

I guess the gloating was my opinion of how the OP felt he acted based on her post. My mistake if I misunderstood OP.

 

[crisi]

Or if the OP misunderstood her boss.

I'm not sure what the line is between "sharing his excitement knowing she is a Disneyphile" and "bragging." Its impossible to know what his intent was - as its impossible for us to know where this money for this trip is coming from or if he can afford it or anything else.

However, life is alot more pleasant when you assume people aren't trying to screw you over, and their 'bragging' is sharing. And if they do screw you over by denying you entitled pay, go after them - because life is more pleasant when you aren't a doormat either.

 

[luvsJack]

But the point is, it's his business. He has the perfect right to make stupid, illogical decisions. I'm with Marionette on this. Yes, it absolutely sucks when the little people get the brunt of economic down turns but as long as an owner legally pays employess what was contracted out as a salary and the follow all state labor laws, an owner has the right to go out and blow the company earnings on red bubble gum.
This is the slippary slope we're on now, government telling people what they can and cannot earn.

If op was shafted money she should definitely persue her legal options but if the owner wants to blow HIS company profits on disney world, he has that right. If he fells cuts have to be made he has every right to cut salaries and furlough people. It's not nice but he has that right.

Oh, certainly he has every right to do with his money as he pleases. I just meant that it is a very dumb move business wise.

Way back when I worked at a fast food chicken place. The place sold to a new owner. This new owner was formerly an insurance salesman and had never been in business before. He and his family just did not understand how to deal with the money aspect of business. His wife and kids would come by and take money out of the register to put gas in their cars or go shopping. At first he couldn't understand why he wasn't making as much money as the former owner. He thought business was bad and started cutting hours and taking away perks, like employees only paying 25% for food. People started quitting and the ones that stayed didn't care about him or his business so didn't do a very good job. In less than a year he went bankrupt.

Yep, he did just as he pleased with his business and his money--but it didn't get him very far. If he had been willing to treat his employees better and had listened to his managers, he would been much more successful.

 

[MAH4546]

OP-I get that it stings, but I'd watch to see what happens to him in the following 6 months. Before his vacation, I would also remind him that he shorted your pay check--that will remind him you won't be watching the farm while he is away.

Seriously?

A business-owner has zero obligation to cut back on his personal spending because his employees are sad they aren't making enough money. His employees are free to quit, as the OP apparently did.

It's extremely obnoxious that some employees feel a sense of entitlement and think that management needs to sacrifice for them.

 

[Rip]

UGH I feel your pain. Lets all ban together and pray he has terrible weather while he is there!

Well that's a helluva thing to pray for.

Methinks I'll ban together and pass on that.

 

[Disneyadore]

Why should a former boss who you obviously don’t like call you to tell you about his vacation? I think it is very strange that he called you as an ex employee if you had no contact with him after you left.

Was he only calling you to hurt you or did he call you as a friend to share his excitement about his up coming trip and did the little green monster hit you?
Maybe this was his first vacation he ever took with his kids, who knows. I just think there is much more to this story than the OP is telling us

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Let's be fair to the OP. She posted this earlier:

I thought about that, but didn't want to ruin it for anyone else. I did pray, prayed that he would have safe travel and a wonderful trip.

I suppose he called because he thought I would be really excited that he is taking the kids to Disney--and I am! I am a little shocked at how much he is spending. I know we could go for probably 25-33% of that.

I was also feeling very jealous because I could probably take my own family if he had paid me for all of the hours I worked. (He shorted my last check by $1.50 an hour for 80 hours.)

I also know that I was his number one salesperson and that business as dropped significantly since I left. I alone accounted for 45% of sales. It took 6 others to make the other 55%. I also ran the business side of things--he takes a lot of time off.

Having paid the bills for the business, I know that his personal and business finances are very mixed--neither are good.

She concedes that her former boss did not have malicious motives for telling her about the trip. She admits to feeling some jealousy. Hey, who wouldn't feel that way when they've been shorted on their last paycheck and the ex-boss is taking a dream trip? And finally, she is privy to more information about the guy's finances than the average employee usually is. So she already knews that the company was not doing well before she quit.

The guy sounds like a brain-numb rat to me and a very poor business man. While I will still defend his right to run his business into the ground if he wants to, I think that he has exercised some questionable employment practices. A good business owner will find a balance between keeping expenses reasonable and treating the employees well. Tilting too far in either direction will cause the business to fail.

OP, go ahead and give in to those feelings of jealousy. It's human. Just don't let it consume you.

 

[Disneyadore]

I always remember the wise words my grandmother told me:" An employee hangs the worries of work on his peg when he comes home and the boss has to live 24 hours the whole year around with them.

 

[Suz D]

I agree that it was in poor taste to call you and brag about his expensive vacation. But you do realize that there is a separation between the man's business finances and his personal finances, don't you? I don't know a single business owner who combines both in the same place or who uses funds from one to support the other.

While I agree with this statement, it is unethical (and I would imagine illegal, to require 50-60 hours/week and not pay overtime). As the SIL of a business owner (I was also the bookeeper for years) I would say this:

My BIL took a pay cut for himself and the portion that he cut went back into the business to help keep it afloat. When times are tough everyone has to cut back and if it means cutting your own salary for awhile to abide by the labor laws and pay overtime then so be it.

If the OP was a salaried employee I think the rules are different however. Regardless, I think it is in poor taste especially because she had previously discussed $ with him and he said times were tough and he couldn't afford to pay more.

 

[Suz D]

While I agree with this statement, it is unethical (and I would imagine illegal, to require 50-60 hours/week and not pay overtime). As the SIL of a business owner (I was also the bookeeper for years) I would say this:

My BIL took a pay cut for himself and the portion that he cut went back into the business to help keep it afloat. When times are tough everyone has to cut back and if it means cutting your own salary for awhile to abide by the labor laws and pay overtime then so be it.

If the OP was a salaried employee I think the rules are different however. Regardless, I think it is in poor taste especially because she had previously discussed $ with him and he said times were tough and he couldn't afford to pay more.

Well, I obviously hadn't read all the posts before replying. Now I have so I'm putting in my two cents again (like anyone cares right?)

While I agree that the boss is under no obligation to cut his salary to keep the employees to the standard that they had been enjoying when times were good, I stand by the statement that if the OP was indeed entitled to the overtime pay he has done something illegal by not compensating her for this and should have made the appropriate adjustments in his own income to pay his OBLIGATIONS. Being a business owner is tough, but part of it is paying your employees what you are legally obligated to pay them. If he has to cut his own pay to do so, then that's the price of being a business owner. The other price is that he's lost his best employee from the sounds of things and that may not have happened had he been a more responsible employer. However, all of that being said, it sounds like the OP is better off at least personally now.

OP, I'm completely onboard with you about feeling bad that it stings to have him let you know about the $$ for his trip when you have the understandable response of "Wow, if I would have been paid for all my overtime, we could go on a vacation too".

Finally, for those who are saying it's not her business what he spends on his vacation, he made it her business when he called her and told her. It's not like she called him and said, "Hear you're going to WDW. What are you paying for the trip"

Sorry if this is a grumpy post. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today.

 

[dreamin_disney]

he probably can afford the $10K vacation because he was cheating he's employess out of pay!

OP i feel ya! but think about it $10K is KARMA because you and I know if he had paid you your overtime and didnt make you feel like he was taking advantage, you'd still be working for him. If you were happy with him you would have given him info about wdw trip and he would be paying 1/2 of his total or more.