Robert Boots is a liar and a hypocrite. His response to Jeff is a joke.
Boots says, "It is a shame when grown adults, who claim to be professionals, don't want to be held to the same standard as everyone else, or be held accountable for their conduct." That's funny, coming from a sales manager who ordered his salespeople to carry blue, green, and yellow bathroom passes when they went on break, and whose blatant favoritism was clear to the entire sales floor.
From the get-go, I was a succesful salesperson for Espresso Italia, but that didn't matter to Robert Boots. The previous sales manager had never had any complaints about my work habits or productivity. He had asked me to come to work every morning at 9:30 and I did, with enthusiasm and vigor. I became very productive immediately.
Boots didn't care about productivity, though. He only cared about enforcing his will on the salespeople. (He also cared alot about lecturing people over and over, but that's another matter.)
Eventually Boots fired me for eating breakfast at my desk. What a hypocrite! While criticizing me for "not being a team player, " and telling me that, "I can't make exceptions for anybody, " he continued to allow his favorite salesperson to arrive at the office at 10:30 every day. His memory was very selective when it was convenient. Any rational commissioned sales manager would never allow key sales people to leave for such petty reasons... So, it must have been personal, not business.
UNLESS there were ulterior motives... It appears that the company saw its business going downhill fast and decided it needed a hatchet man to fire people before they could claim their commmissions. That man was Robert Boots.
Case in Point: The day Robert Boots fired me, a deal that I had initiated came in. (Boots had not informed me of the deal; a company insider, offended at the company's obscene behavior, gave me the information.) I expected a commission of $1000 to $1200. I did not receive a check for this money. I called Shadd Vickery repeatedly over the next week. He never answered my calls. He never called me back to allow me to investigate this matter. So, I was fired and not allowed access to information concerning my commissions.
Previously, I had watched Robert Boots antagonize the most effective salesperson on the floor. (Being a team player, I had brought this key salesperson into the company.) Eventually Boots bothered and pestered him with so many petty bullshit "policies and procedures" that he left the company. Boot's explanation: "We can't allow people to eat seven course meals at their desks." The reality: What was actually on the desk was a simple bowl of oatmeal and a couple of health shakes.
I had told Boots that this salesperson knew he was owed at least $800 when he left the company, but that he didn't want the money if he had to have Boots as his manager. Boots lies about this, too: He says, "As far as monies/commissions owed, the one individual (who I will not name) was in fact paid the commissions earned, once any outstanding draw was deducted, and the check was in fact mailed." However, When I spoke with "the one individual, " he told me personally that he had NOT been paid.
Over and over again, many salespeople have said the same thing: HIRING PEOPLE AND FIRING THEM BEFORE PAYING COMMISSIONS SEEMS TO BE A TREND FOR ESPRESSO ITALIA.
There's no way to prove this yet, because;
Espresso Italia treats its salespeople like mushrooms:
It keeps them in the dark, and feeds them a lot of shit.
I worked for Espresso Italia in good faith. Like others, I was duped into thinking we were working for a legitimate, professional company. At first, I couldn't make sense of it, but now I understand. It's not personal, it's business: In hiring an incompetent, insecure, power hungry, arrogant and invicibly ignorant sales manager, the company knew exactly what it was doing. As Boots stated, he was merely an "instrument" to chase people out the door.
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