Back From the Holiday

Today we received some of the typhoon we were bracing for in September. We woke up to heavy wind and rain. Every window and corner of my apartment whistles - a sign of the quality of workmanship. I don't mind the weather; in fact, I enjoy a good storm. This didn't rate as much of a storm.

Altogether, a crap day though. I'm working on 2008 budgets beginning with salary increases. This year we are putting everyone on a calendar year for salary review purposes which is infinitely easier to plan since I only negotiate with everyone once. But nothing puts me in a worse mood.

It doesn't matter how many times I tell everyone in the office I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOUR TAKE HOME IS. I asked my secretary three times to get the gross salary figures for everyone in the office. Apparently, there is no Chinese equivalent for US gross. Gross salary to them means what they net and what taxes they pay. You have to double that number in some cases, in others add another 1/3, to equal what the company has to pay. I even explained why I need the gross: I'm preparing a budget and I need to plan the amount of money the company needs to send each month. What do I get: Chinese gross.

So I explained to her: if this number doesn't include everything, social insurance and the company taxes come out of each of your salaries. The company will not send more money.

As a general rule, they know better than to come near me when I'm dealing with salary issues. I'm nasty and I just can't help myself.

As long as it was going to be a crappy day, I decided to talk to the one secretary about her attire. Skirts must be within one inch of the knee; no bare arms; no armpit hair. Here are some clothes that I bought for you over break. I hope you like them.

Needless to say, I'm not very popular today.