Jenny - Part 2

When Jenny was frustrated that Hokkien Peng and me were beyond her control, she started making life extremely hard for us. It was especially me because Hokkien Peng would only rant about her behind her back but would not speak freely when in front of her.

There was one time when she tried trapping me but her sinister plan did not bring her the desired result she wanted. In Vietnam, there are a multitude of ports, each being operated by different owners. Our vessels were calling at one particular port, port A. We also had a partner`s vessel that called at port B. We were accepting bookings to both ports but for port B, we could not accept bookings on our own vessels. So one day, I had a client who wanted to book a shipment on our vessel but to port B, which wasn`t allowed. For my part, I have already informed my client that if they wanted to book to Port B, they have to book on our partner`s vessel which was a later vessel. While I was out for sales, Jenny called me and clarified with me if I have clarified with my client regarding this and I dutifully told her that I have explained things crystal clear to my client. But lo & behold, she actually allowed my client to book to port B on our own vessel. In actual fact, the transfer from Port A to port B does not cost the company a single cent. So I thought that Jenny made an exception for my client. A few days later, Jenny shot and e-mail to me and said that because I have not done my job dutifully, an additional cost has been incurred to transfer the shipment from port A to port B. But she will write to the head office to appeal for a waiver for me.

I replied her e-mail with cc to Johnny Boy. I refuted her accusations with facts and I told her that there is no need to appeal for a waiver for me, I will just bear the cost on my own and asked her to take it from my salary. No reply from her.

Next day, Johnny Boy called me for a private chat. He felt that I was personalizing the whole matter and that it wasn`t good for the working environment. So I just explained to him that I could not understand why he arrived at that conclusion as in my e-mail reply, I clearly indicated that I want to close the case and move on. Johnny Boy said that he knows me well enough and he isn`t making a big deal out of it. He said that mistakes are made so that we learn from them and help them refine the work process. Then he began dissecting the whole situation. I felt so compelled to scream the answer to him. But thank goodness on this occasion, he was smart enough to conclude that the customer service should have been the first line of defense in preventing such things from happening. Case closed.

Well, what Jenny did or planned on this occasion, what would you call it? Sinister? Her intentions were rather obvious don`t you think so?