Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 10:46:43 +1300 From: Arthur Subject: Jomel part 5 JOMEL Part Five By Arthur By the time the both of us had seen all three houses we were in agreement that the second one was the one for our needs and so we returned to see the owner and begin to negociate with him for a long term lease and immediate occupation. The house was close to the business area which suited both myself and Jomel for his university studies, the utilities would need a little baksheesh (bribery) to grease the wheels but that was a way of life here, if you wanted something done, and I had decided to let jomel do the organising on that score as he knew how to deal with these sorts of things. It was decided that we would move into the house on Monday and settle everthing else after my meeting with the company I was here to see, that, left Jomel to get the utilities online and settle the matter of domestic staff and prepare the house for occupation. The house was of an older design, a hint of spanish influence with the main living area opening out onto a large courtyard garden, with outdoor areas for relaxing and eating in the heat of the nights. Three large and airy bedrooms were toward the back of the house away from the heat of the midday and afternoon sun so as to be cooler in the evening and adjoined a very large bathroom at the end of the passageway. The main living area took up fully one third of the house, the red stone floors giving it a feeling of solidarity and permanence, the furnature was relatively new, large and comfortable setee's and whicker chairs abounded in the room with big solid casual tables placed at convenient points. After discussions with Jomel we decided to make the third bedroom into an office come study room so that everything could be done from here and we would not need to expand into the city for a regular office. The whole house had a good feel to it, from the stone floors to the high thick solid open beams of teak that held up the roof and main walls, with the smell of the gardens wafting in from outside and being pushed gentley through the house by the slow moving overhead fans. On returning to the hotel I infromed the desk manager that I would be booking out the next morning and to prepare my account, then checked my mail taking the substantial bundle of fax and email copies to my room before coming down again to meet Jomel for an evening drink and discussion about what we had to do. Later as I entered the bar I was joined by Jomel as he had just arrived at the same time and we made our way to a table and within a few seconds two very cold San Miguels appeared at our table followed by the large smile of the 'Minx'. "Thank you Johnathon, how did you know we would want these?" "You're looking after my cousin, so I have to look after you." "Ok Minx, thanks." "Right Jomel, now we're going to need some staff for the house, you're going to be too busy to do it yourself so you better start to get them hired tomorrow after you finish with the other stuff, ok?" "Yes Ben, I'll take care of it, how many do you want?" I pushed over a piece of paper with the amount of money for house keeping on it so that he could see what he had to play with as far as wages and supplies went. "That's the figure worked out by my accountant to maintain the house and staff so you work from it, but I think due to the nature of the work and sometimes the guests we may have, I think that one person for the garden and general maintainence, one for cooking and laundry and one for general duties in the house, how does that sound?" "Yes Ben that sounds like the right number of people for the house, but this figure for expenses is way to high we wont need that much to operate." "That's ok, that's the maximum you have to work with, if you can save some then the accountant will be very pleased and if you can then I will see that you recieve a bonus at the end of your first year for your honesty to the company, how does that sound?" "But that seems a little unfair for you, with this figure it is to easy to save money." "Well just do what you think is best but I don't want you to go hungry just to save money, believe me, you're going to earn every peso in the next year." As we finished our glasses another beer appeared beside us again and the empties were whisked away. "Jomel, I don't want to interfere with your decisions for the domestics but do you think the 'Minx' might like the job of house boy?" "Ha ha, I think he would die if I offered it to someone else, Ben." "Well it's ok with me if you're happy with it." "Fine, I'll ask him when he returns." "Right, now then this is a fax copy of your contract if you aren't happy with any of it then we will discuss it, read through it now and if you're happy with it then you can sign that copy and we'll get the orginals sent here in the mail to finalise and make it fully legal." Jomel began to read through the document, his eyebrows rising at each condition as he scanned them, his mouth dropping as he looked at the conditions and as he read Johnathon appeared with an ashtray for us. "Ahh, Johnathon can you just hang on a minute until Jomel finishes reading, he has something to ask you?" "Yes Mr. Ben." Jomel glanced up from his reading as Johnathon stepped back a few paces and then spoke to him in tagalog, the return look said it all and we had ourselves a house boy. "I start tomorrow, yes?" "Well yes, but what about your notice here?" "No need for notice, if I want to leave, I leave, if they want to fire me, they fire me, there's no rules here for workers." "Ok Minx, tomorrow early so you can help Jomel setup the house, he'll give you the address after he's finished here." "Ok Mr. Ben, I'll go get two more drinks for you both." "Thank's Johnathon." I looked over to Jomel as he finished reading the contract waiting for questions, the stunned look on his face said he had a few to ask. "Ben, all this is far to much for here, nobody gets these sort of conditions." "The way I see it Jomel, is that you're working for my company, therfore you are entitled to the same pay rate and conditions as my other junior trainees, at the same rate as they're paid but converted into peso's." "But this is four times what is paid here?" "That's what I mean, you are employed by an overseas company, not a local one so you get the same conditions, believe me it's a lot less than having to bring one of my staff over here to live and work, this contract I have tomorrow is only the beginning of what I have planned and you're going to be responsible for it, so you'll earn every bit of it." "But what about the university fees being paid by the company?" "That's us being selfish, We pay for your training you give us seven years of your life, that will include the four years of school, so you have to stay with us for a further three years after graduation, ok by you?" "But what if I dont want to leave the company after the extra three years?" "That's fine you'll have a job with us for as long as you want and as long as you can perform your duties properly, the three years is so that if you want to move on then you have the option to do so." "Ben, I can't say anything but yes, it's beyond my best dreams and I'll do everything I can to succeed for you." "I'm sure you will Jomel, that's why I made the offer." That and the fact I was quite smitten by him, but this had to be put aside until he decided if he would want to carry anything further, I didn't want him to do anything out of gratitude just because I put preasure on him, he had the brains and the drive to succeed and this was more important to me for the sake of the company and to open up more opotunities for expansion into a country that had a lot of promise for the future. "Now Jomel, do you have a passport?" "Yes." "Ok, we're going to do the internet cafe setup this week and into next week but then I'm going to take you back home with me for three weeks for some training with the company so you can be familiar with our needs for reports and how to file them, when we get back we'll setup the office room, most of the eqipment is being sorted out now at head office, during the next week you can get the staff organised to look after the house while we're away." "But what about Visa's for travel?" "That's being taken care of now from home." "You make things sound so easy." "Oh they aren't but I have only good people working for me, they know what to do, I just leave them to it and don't interfere unless I need to, you'll find that out sooner or later." "Well Jomel, what about some dinner?" "Yes, ahm, yes, I dont know if I can eat anything this has all been quite a bit to take in." "Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it, I know you wont let me down, if you do you'll see why you get the big bucks." We arose and headed into the dining room closely shadowed by the 'Minx' over to the table we'd had the previous night, also to find our menu had been selected again by our new house boy. To Be Continued: