Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast my name is Alex this is this is Alex [ __ ] joined by my co-host Alex your co-host Alex today is proof of life it’s what Saturday May 20th yes sir 2023 and if you’re not familiar with the format
Of this podcast then let me be the first to tell you before you uh jump to season one episode one ha let me be the first to tell you that this podcast is oriented towards professional development and we take real life cases real life hypothetical cases right Alex
I mean oh yeah these ain’t real life clients because we pull these questions offline but if you have a real life case for us if you find yourself in a situation where you need help strategizing you need a professional opinion you need some added perspective on how to navigate control that [ __ ]
On how to how to navigate through corporate move up through corporate promote yourself that sort of thing by all means reach out to us a little disclaimer then up front is that none of what you hear right now constitutes legal advice you should not think we’re promoting or
Advocating for any wrongdoing any any wrongful illicit activity yeah but you can find us on Instagram yeah you can at corporates Cowboys with a z on patreon it’s the corporate Cowboys podcast and uh there are a couple of donation links if you want to help keep
This podcast free which it will be While I’m Alive and Kicking and Alex wants to contribute every now and then if I can stop coughing bro take a [ __ ] breath [ __ ] all right today’s question is coming from r slash career guidance and these folks are asking uh they’ve
They’ve flared it and I guess they’ve uh they’ve indicated that they’re in the United States oh so typically these folks will flare like they’ll indicate if they want advice or if they want on opinion or something like that this time they’re just saying they’re in the
United States so at least it’s uh gonna let us hone in on like a geographical region maybe this touches on some type of employment yeah employment law issue yeah right so they start with the header here it says my boss guilted me when I asked for a
Pay raise compared my pay to others who are in entry level positions and acted pissed now it is weird between us what a [ __ ] scrub any suggestions or ideas on how to repair this question mark don’t work for a [ __ ] scrub work for a [ __ ] scrub who’s gonna take your
Who’s gonna take your work and say it ain’t worth [ __ ] yeah what a [ __ ] bro so it doesn’t so let me start let me start before before you rant before you ran let me start here the body on this one is pretty long but if you feel the
Need to interject Alex feel sure go ahead so they’re right a couple of months ago I asked for a small raise based on what I thought was fair and was most definitely not out of touch with my position or what I’m doing my boss started guilt-tripping me about how
Several people at the agency aren’t able to pay their bills with their low wages she literally compared my job as a manager level position to non-manager entry-level positions she seems kind of out of touch right I mean I wonder what her pay was she she said
That if I were to get a raise then my increase is taken from others who need it more God damn is it just like a pool like a policy switch with you like she’s exactly pay cuts so you can get a pay increase that’s I mean [ __ ] rolls
Downhill right that’s all I’m saying one way or another or you could cut it from a shareholders [ __ ] of course less dividends that [ __ ] year you piece of [ __ ] I mean those those would be questions that we would ask like those are the preliminary questions we would ask this hypothetical
Client like what what the layout of the organization even is like what if there aren’t shareholders it’s just like a like a private a private company um I was a small LLC I’ll look up their taxes yeah see what their profit why so aggressive dog all right let me continue they’re right [ __ ]
Taking out the profits she said she said that if I were to get a pay raise if I were to get a raise then my increase is taken from others who need it more of course I felt horrible and shamed for even asking I had no idea the agency
Screwed over their workers like that all right all right so the hypothetical client’s not dumb they’re not [ __ ] stupid like they’re they’re they’re on game right they’re up on game and they get that the agency is [ __ ] over the other employees whether they’re employees or college they just pay them
Knowing they can’t pay their bills exactly so they continue I had no idea the agency screwed over their workers like that on the flip side though why are those workers even staying at this agency if it is such low pay they all have degrees and could apply for other higher paying jobs
Maybe maybe your manager is sucking them all off yeah and they’re not leaving they’re not leaving because low self-esteem I’m gonna go with low confidence low self-esteem because if you got a degree well she’s gonna get your dick suck right bro I mean if your supervisor is
Doing it true and and we were already able to infer that the supervisor is a female yeah she’s a female so it’s like I could have a a doctorate’s degree I could be a [ __ ] doctor oh [ __ ] but then I get it like an entry-level job because it comes with a little top
Because the benefits a little tap on the little Fringe your little friend’s top yeah bro that might make me take a look I’m just bullshitting it depends on the frequency bro depends on the frequency exactly it’s like once a month once a week damn and that’s probably why that
Why the manager doesn’t want to give up their uh their pay raises because hey that’s why she’s taking the pay raises hey yo that’s why she had that stank face you know bro she was like you don’t want you don’t want this head instead you you you like it
You want a pay raise it to get where I’m at yo hey real talk like out of out of [ __ ] there’s females like that they’re like there’s I mean just managers like that who’ve gotten to a position because they’ve kissed so much ass and and they categorize kissing ass and sucking dick
As doing work yeah like there’s [ __ ] who who who got their morals and their value twisted like that like they they really think that the fact that they could uh uh people please that’s what I’m saying like that’s a professional skill no it’s not so I got
Your coffee and your sloppy toppy this morning right and and they think that that entitles them to the to the next up yeah to the up next nah nah nah not at all so they say guys would do that but because God doesn’t augment it doesn’t
Work I mean like we’re dogs we’re like well only stick around for like three months and be like damn I can’t pay my bills all right so they’re right how oh they’re right so so uh they all have degrees and they could apply I’m just saying I really do wish I could lick
[ __ ] for some more pay dog I would I mean I would do it okay let me let me contextualize that for you I would do that when I was like 18 I do it now dog I’m gonna do it today but twice bump and raise come here girl
Oh oh okay I see I see so you’re like you’re flipping the the Sexes like you’re flipping the script like I don’t think it’s about sex I think it’s just about opportunity there’s some people that would take that opportunity and some people they wouldn’t but um but you
Got to recognize that you’re it’s not a real skill bro but you also got to recognize that your manager might not be a bad [ __ ] yeah that’s true that’s true she might not be a bad [ __ ] dog looking as [ __ ] bro maybe that is work bro maybe that is work maybe we
Should revisit this so maybe we should revisit this sex workers real work bro all right all right go ahead they continue no you’re good they can they’re right uh they all have degrees they could apply for other higher paying jobs uh really what came to mind when they
Wrote that was that it’s just the lack of um it’s a lack of confidence a lack of self-esteem a lack of of social marketability right yeah where if they got the skills that the technical skills but they don’t have the social skills to even advocate for themselves
To get the raise like I’m not gonna I’m not gonna hope I’m not gonna wait I’m not gonna hang on to my manager’s Graces that they give me a raise if I’m if I know I’m getting [ __ ] over right if I’m not getting paid my fair share if I’m not
Getting paid enough to to make ends meet I’m not gonna just wait for the money to fall from the sky yeah I mean but here’s the thing is like what you also got to remember Alex bro what’s up is there like you’re a much more motivated person than most people
Right right and I could say that for a lot of people in my circle that’s why that’s why I [ __ ] with them right normal people sometimes like they just get into a position and they’re just comfortable that’s right it takes work to to apply and make a resume
Like it’s not a huge amount of work but it’s it’s worked for an average person that it might be comfortable paying their bills that’s right you know what I’m saying not living great but not you know living terrible so like it it’s work it’s uh it’s substantial work for
The average person yeah like the average person who might not be hungry who might not be fueled by by that sort of hunger or ambition exactly so sometimes I think it’s also a project people just need to just like you know up their ethic up up their effort y’all like yeah yeah like
Don’t complain about your situation if you never tried to change it right but we’re not even talking about them not yet right but like you know just as a as a thought you know we’re talking about it so right so the hypothetical client is saying that the agency is [ __ ]
Over everybody else even though they all have degrees and could apply for jobs and they continue they write but how is this my issue boss this is 100 a reflection of poor management decisions where you and other higher management did not advocate for those individuals to receive fair and reasonable
Compensation over the course of several years and and that’s smart bro because like at the end of the day like if you can’t if you can’t pay your employees anymore uh then if you can’t play your pay your employees what they’re worth then you don’t have a successful business model
Every every success very good business model and that’s not the problem that’s not the employees problem it’s not you know what I’m saying it’s a lack of leadership is what you’re touching on and just a lack of planning like like when I’m if I’m running a business right
Right I’m looking at all the costs yeah and part of the cost is taking care of your people it’s taking care of your people that’s just part of the cause I mean do you want Happy employees do you want people that feel uh motivated to be
There and stay there because you know a lot of these unsuccessful companies they’re trying to cut costs which is cool and all right and I realize you’re [ __ ] up your work culture exactly they’re pulling the rug out from under the very people that hold up the company
The very people that service the company just like they’re servicing the customer to make this money and then you [ __ ] up your product man you [ __ ] up your product that’s right especially when your product is your people exactly if you’re providing a service it’s not just what’s in front of them that’s the
Product it’s the people putting it in front of them and then you gotta you gotta you know I mean if you want to be like the farmer who just you know we just exploits and extracts it exploits and extracts and just gives [ __ ] up
Food and you know and you try to get it as cheap as possible so you’re selling the cheap [ __ ] literally just slaving [ __ ] yeah yeah essentially yeah that’s what you want to do cool it’s it probably won’t last a long time when your reputation as a company gets undercut right right exactly especially
On the market where reputation sells yeah and it depends on the product too if it’s a product that everybody needs yeah you could probably get away with it for a little yeah but if you’re doing if you’re in a product where somebody doesn’t need it or it’s like a luxury or
It’s like you know like or even something that that’s got like enough competition on the on the market that’s got enough Alternatives competing with yours yeah your your product your company is going to suffer because because of your your your oversight if your customers are broke people then
Yeah that’s true because you’re trying to get as cheap as possible product as possible yeah but if you’re if you’re dealing with professionals or like you’re providing Professional Services to like Banks or institutions whatever the job is if you’re providing it to professional people then your reputation is like super
Important man you gotta pay your people and what’s unique is that this Market exists both outside the firm and inside of the firm which is what we’re talking this this the service that we’re talking about this this concept of service that we’re talking about goes towards servicing
Your people as well as servicing the market so and and that’s what this hypothetical client is is touching on it’s the fact that these these poor management decisions where they fail to advocate for their own team means that they were not servicing their team they’re essentially selling their own
Team short undercutting their own team and like you’re saying that’s that’s a lack of planning that’s a lack of leadership and also you got to plan as as an employee like you got to pick your that means if you can understand that as an employee you can understand where
You’re going to be happy as an employee right don’t just look at any job that’s available especially if you have like education and stuff look at the company that you’re working for and see what kind of services they’re providing right the quality of the services they’re providing right and who they’re
Marketing to that’s how you move like a corporate Cowboy yeah man you got to do this [ __ ] internally so they continue you I’m expecting no chance at a future raise because I asked if we could revisit this next year damn you’re gonna wait a whole [ __ ] year to touch to
Broach the subject regular [ __ ] you know what I mean like I’d give the [ __ ] six months and if not start looking for another job my guy all right and she looked at me she looked at me with an [ __ ] stare of disbelief as though she were thinking how dare you go there yeah
Damn it’s like you [ __ ] her in the ass bro yeah it’s like never mind I was gonna go back to the sex jokes again but other things she said alluded to her taking my request for a pay raise as a threat of leaving the agency she had that money shot face
Huh she had that fight like the wrong hole she had that wrong whole face yo how dare you you know that’s the wrong hole how [ __ ] dare you yo oh [ __ ] and some other things so other things she said alluded to her taking my request for repairs as a threat of leaving the
Agency that I think is the most reasonable way she could have taken it and why wouldn’t it be a threat if you ain’t getting paid what you want shop yeah go somewhere else it’s a market not a family exactly don’t get don’t get sucked in don’t get sucked up
With this whole uh when you’re here we’re a big family whatever the [ __ ] right if they you dude if they’re not paying their other family members right you think they’re gonna do right by you nah bro in a year’s time you’re a business decisions so are they exactly
They continue here I’ve got a couple paragraphs two two paragraphs left I feel resentful that she dumped all of that on me I love my job I was planning on staying in this position for at least three years I am shocked at her inability to have an open respectful and
Non-reactive conversation about a damn pay raise well to me that’s just an incompetent [ __ ] of a manager and that’s your fault too what do you resentful for why are you resenting anything like I mean it’s your fault too not being able to manage your manager you gotta yeah exactly you gotta work
You got to learn to manage up too hey you got to manage up we’ll talk about that and finish it’ll be almost done right they’re right for hell’s for hell’s sake she has been a manager for years I mean that’s got nothing to do with her being napped you could be a
Manager for 10 years and still be an ass that’s why she’s still still serious man now she is colder she acts like I crossed the boundary and it is not good I used to be a people pleaser and I’m seeing those Tendencies surface but I
Need to come up with a new strategy and mindset any ideas on how to mend this coping strategies Etc or should I just prepare to leave yeah Alex what do you think I think that like she’s way too invested emotionally in her job oh yeah yeah maybe I am he I mean maybe
He maybe it’s because maybe it’s because the question like this whole prompt came off as [ __ ] made yeah it did a little bit bro I’m gonna be honest with you like hella deepen your feelings like like you won’t accept you won’t accept the the sexual favors as a [ __ ] bonus
Right you want money instead of no because like okay baby go ahead go ahead I mean like if you if you think about it right like she’s acting cold whatever like to me that that doesn’t really matter that doesn’t affect my mood that doesn’t
Affect my my swag my my uh my motion how you’re moving yeah you know my motion in the ocean usually like it just affects your neck it affects her yeah you know what I’m saying but what I will always do is I was I will always stay professional of course and also you
Continued you just [ __ ] amazing work you continue to do [ __ ] excellent service yeah and you get even better at your job exactly the better you get at your job it don’t matter who likes you and who don’t the better you are at your job and you want people to like you
Right you don’t want to just go around like [ __ ] this fool you know what I mean I mean definitely definitely not like in this um there they wrote people pleaser definitely not a people don’t be a people please no no for sure not no like to taking on like extra work and picking
Up other people’s slack like you want to do your job down down to the T and you want to do that [ __ ] perfectly as perfectly as you can you are striving to be a constant professional after all right exactly if they’re not going to give you your pay raise you do what you
Need to do essentially to to get your Affairs in order so if you do want to stick around until next year’s performance evaluation and they don’t give you a pay raise start looking for work I mean me personally I want to wait another year I think the hypothetical client here has enough
Signs has enough facts the circumstances tell us that everybody else is getting [ __ ] over they already were told essentially slap down and put in their place like yeah don’t ask for a pay raise how [ __ ] dare you all that [ __ ] right so what what’s what’s what tells us what hopes what reasonable inference
Could we make that they can expect a different answer next year I mean probably not but here’s the thing though is she’s asking for coping mechanisms right um or he’s asking for Kobe mechanism they will [ __ ] care you know they ask them for coping mechanisms they’re asking for
Solutions on not not necessarily how to quit their job right or like yeah we can give them the advice yeah you should find a new job yeah right but what if you you know what do you what advice do you give them to cope with the situation
Because they still got to look for a job right they still got they’re not just gonna quit right right no then in that case for sure they shouldn’t be rocking the boat like you’re saying like you still want to show up to work you still
Want to put the work in yeah I mean don’t don’t start slacking just because all this this [ __ ] ain’t feeling me you come in with the most positive like attitude every day even if she’s cold so you’d be like hey you know uh good to see you boss yeah uh yeah getting to
Work whatever you need if anything and I’ve seen this happen before like when when a [ __ ] tries to spite you or tries to assault you up your your demeanor like a positive demeanor like defuses it will kill [ __ ] them up dude it will kill him trips them
Like when you kill people with kindness bro it does something inside of a brother that it just they can’t stand but they it’s just it’s it’s an incredible feeling yeah it’s an incredible feeling when you can kill somebody with kindness knowing that that that you crack them yeah
Yeah exactly I like that exactly I like that so you just keep that you keep that positive [ __ ] you you come to work [ __ ] happy as [ __ ] every day and you do excellent work as far as mending this you don’t you don’t have to you don’t
Have to please her you just have to please the company now definitely not if okay so let me uh let me get more higher level on you okay one one level up I mean this is probably five levels up to a client but for us it’s like one level
Up okay because we’re thinking like a corporate Cowboy right okay if they do want to stick around a whole nother [ __ ] year okay what’s to say that this person couldn’t take this salted sour [ __ ] of a boss and become a therapist yeah move like a therapist yeah I mean
And and you know what the first step to that is being positive exactly right and when I say it it does something inside of you when you kill somebody with kindness right it opens up opportunities for dialogue at that point because there’s no hard feelings against like I don’t
She doesn’t have to get over hard feelings towards her she only has to get over hard feelings that she felt towards somebody else it’s disarming yeah and so it’s like yo I’m an open book you know and then and then when she does start warming up some more right you got a
Couple of options for you then then you then you have then you start you could either redeem your your tickets on that sloppy toppy or or or you could find what it is you need to get promoted or you could find those those those other options those
Steps that you need to take to secure yes a pay raise and you got to be real emotionally intelligent and and that’s something that a lot of a lot of people a lot of people can work on right yeah because I worked on it for a long time I
Wasn’t always good at it but I practice right I thought I did thought experiments about oh yeah about how I think certain people react to certain things oh yeah uh and so it takes it takes time she takes a lot of contemplation there’s a lot of
Deliberation I mean this is just like a cursory overview with Alex and I are going over very very crucial because like the way that you have a conversation with somebody about a pay raise can really affect how parties come out of the conversation especially when you’ve already been given the information up
Front that everybody else before you has been unsuccessful and that you should expect to be unsuccessful unsuccessful also so I mean going into this already having that knowledge in mind I think puts you and puts you in a very unique position of wanting to take on this
Challenge and like Alex is saying if you approach it with a positive mindset if you approach them with like a a manner a demeanor like you cannot be defeated it’s going to put your manager it might make your manager insane it might drive them insane yeah and cause them to quit
Like I can’t break this [ __ ] radlets yeah I gotta I don’t know something something’s wrong with this kid yeah and you know what after you’ve learned how to cope with it when you actually start the conversation with them and you engage in conversations and negotiations like that like instead of
Just taking the conversation as it comes you really have to and this is where the emotional intelligence comes in is you have to learn how to steer a conversation oh yeah right right uh in this instance the manager she allowed or he or she they allowed the manager to steer the
Conversation in a way of we’re comparing you know wages to you know smaller wages very good yeah we’re we’re okay but then you have to turn the conversation around and like how I would have done it it’s like it’s like you know you focus on your assets and What Makes You Deserve
That raise don’t make it about why the company is hard and why it’s hard for the company not to give you a raise for everybody else talk about because they’re trying to say the companies the way it’s managed is you’re gonna you’re gonna Shuffle out other
People yeah and you want me to feel guilty about that and you just redirect the conversation like look I understand that there’s business decisions that that need to be made but what I’m saying is that I do this this this and this for you I’ve not only done all these things
I’ve excelled at an extremely high level right and I’ve exceeded expectations in this way and this way I’ve learned this and this and I just feel as though it’s worth more than what I’m putting in absolutely and in order to re you know and and you tell them like I want to be
Here for much longer but I also want to be incentivized to want to be here exactly you know what I’m saying exactly and part of that is when I put in more work than everybody else I deserve more pay than everybody else Alex made a really good a really good point of
Taking what was a very unreasonable argument on the manager’s part which was I mean tell me if this is not what you were doing you took the manager’s argument of comparing our hypothetical clients managerial Rule and comparing it to a role that was nothing like a manager which is a non-managerial entry
Level which is essentially sounds demeaning yeah like they’re they’re they’re they’re smacking down this this manager and telling them you ain’t [ __ ] your entry level like everybody else now I mean that has been while that has been an overarching theme of the corporate Cowboys podcast that means that this
[ __ ] is also entry level she could get dropped the next day yeah so you play your cards right you put in the right amount of work you differentiate yourself you distinguish yourself and let them know that you’re not entry level and that’s the whole reason and
The whole the whole reason you asked for a pay raise is because you know your worth sooner or later management top management because it doesn’t sound like this [ __ ] is the end-all be-all there’s other managers yeah it sounds like this it sounds like you might be up next for
This manager’s position I mean you could end up leading right but that again comes back to what Alex had mentioned before is is being emotionally intelligent right like understanding people’s emotions and how they react I don’t know if I explain that enough sometimes but emotional intelligence is really just being able
To read how people are feeling and how people’s feelings will react to certain situations yeah and occurrences yeah yeah right I I think I think that if we had to categorize if we had to categorize the the manager in this scenario the manager is like is is possessive as possessive of a power
Possessive of this money that isn’t necessarily even hers it belongs to the company yeah but if the other managers if her colleagues are also acting the same way then that tells you that necessarily lets you know why the companies in the state that it’s in which is constantly [ __ ] over their employees
It doesn’t mean it can’t be changed again you just have to move like a corporate cowboy know what you’re doing be intelligent about it yes sir any parting thoughts oh that was beautiful folks take it easy we’ll catch you next time peace out from Alex number two I am number
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