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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/JoWhee on 2025-05-08 22:03:54+00:00.
We have this salesman I’ll call him “Sam”, he is also an engineer. For those who haven’t dealt with this kind of person, he “knows “everything because he’s an engineer.
We have this client who is dangling millions in front of one of our OEM suppliers, and probably a tiny portion of that for us. I’ll never see a dime of it as I’m not on commission. Sam is. The client is really working the OEM on this to get everything perfect before they spend another cent, I get it, I would do the same, they aren’t being unreasonable.
Sam has “taken over” this client even though they were being serviced by another salesman. It’s not even in his territory or province for that matter, but he’s the senior salesman so whatever. I don’t care who gets the commission as long as we get the business.
This was originally a really small project that nobody was really interested in as it’s not a big seller or a high profit margin, we maybe get $2000/year for the service. The client was so impressed with the product that they want to use it in all their international sites, hence the millions for the OEM. We are a small local company so we definitely won’t be installing this worldwide, but hey they offer me the option to install this all over the world; I’m going. Sorry honey (wife).
I’ve been involved with this project from day one. I know it sounds arrogant but no one knows more about the entirety of this project than I do, a few people know more about one specific part but that’s it.
With this in mind I have made damned sure if anything goes wrong I’m ahead of it. It was my first solo project, it’s my baby.
A few weeks ago there was an issue with the physical installation of our product. The client had originally hired their own contractor to do the work, which is fine. We just commissioned it and set it up months ago.
The installation literally fell off the wall because it wasn’t installed according to our specs. This improper installation issue was signalled during startup.
I’m going on site for a maintenance soon, and the client reached out to me and CCd pretty much everyone who has ever been involved in the project and Sam, who hasn’t been involved until now, to ask if I can fix the installation issues.
I replied very politely, that I can’t do this kind of work as it will require an electrician and one other trade. I’m leaving this vague, but I’m a member of neither of those trades. I also signalled there is a health and safety issue in the space that requires correction by the client before I can safely start work, again I’m being deliberately vague here.
Sam emailed me privately to tell me I shouldn’t interact directly with the client or our OEM. This is not a great idea as techs are usually the point of contact for the OEM and client if something goes wrong, sometimes it can be fixed with a phone call. Naturally I forwarded him the original email from the client with my explanation. I also wrote “moving forward all my communication about this job will be going through you”
He thanked me as this is what (he thought) he wanted.
My dispatch called me as there are parts being shipped for the job that are supposed to come in this afternoon after quitting time: “Call Sam”
The client wants to know what time I’ll be there: “call Sam” I’ll admit I did text the client to let them know. They know I usually arrive at the same time anyways.
OEM called me about this “I’ll get Sam to call you”.
This isn’t going to affect anything except Sam’s going to be my relay. I’ll make sure Sam is on every call and teams meeting about this going forward.