THE STRANGER IN MY HOME
  • Home
  • Vignettes
    • Encounters
    • Events
    • Experiences
    • Epiphanies
  • Stories
  • Fables
  • Translations
  • Miscellany
  • Now/Then

now  /  then

blogs and blends

Winning Order

3/18/2017

0 Comments

 
​Leaving university, I joined a European company as an intern and started work as an assistant to the Purchase Officer. I sent out tenders, compared bids and prepared the papers for my boss to sign the orders. Often I would meet with the suppliers’ representatives to clarify a specification, emphasize a technical requirement or negotiate the order quantity.
Picture
​These representatives came not just with their company literature, but with small gifts, tickets to sporting events and invitations to dinners. I refused them all, for my boss, Earl, had told me that that was the company policy. Earl was a pleasant person, always courteous and genial, but he had emphasized that I had to be like Caesar’s wife, above all suspicion of partiality or wrongdoing. Of course, there were rumors of shenanigans by some, and other assistants would often smirk at my refusal to socialize with vendors, but I felt good.
 
Joe, the sales chief of a big chemical company, came to see me one morning to discuss the large contract for the next six months. He said he knew the situation was competitive and he had come to find out where his company stood. I told him that the deadline was still two days off, and I couldn’t discuss the bids, especially as one last bid from a competitor hadn’t yet come in. Joe then explained that he was in a very vulnerable situation, for he had to close immediately on a large deal for an expensive ingredient that went into the production of the chemical he sold us. He would have a terrible loss if he made the commitment and then found he did not get the order.
 
Reluctantly, I told him then that his company simply didn’t have a chance to win the order because its bid was distinctly higher than the other two bids we had received. Joe then left. I could not, however, help noticing that he didn’t seem particularly crestfallen.
 
Two days later, after I had received the last bid, I made a comparative report to my boss, Earl, recommending another supplier, and considered the matter closed.

Picture
​Three weeks later, I sat with friends in a hotel bar when a waiter opened the door of a private room behind the bar and went in with a food tray. I had a moment’s glimpse of Earl and Joe toasting each other with raised wine glasses. I thought there was something wrong with that picture. Early the next day I requested our secretary for the files. My comparative report was missing; instead I saw a new and lower bid by Joe, and a large order in favor of his company.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Manish Nandy

    Writer, Speaker, Consultant
    Earlier: Diplomat, Executive


    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed


    Categories

    All

Proudly powered by Weebly
© Manish Nandy 2015  The Stranger in My Home