Read the story below and then look below for my response. -- Douglas

From Creating Passionate Users...

"That's a true story. It happened to me, at Sun. While sitting in the hospital early on a Monday morning, waiting for my CAT scan (after a donkey kick to the head that sent me there unconscious the night before), I called in to explain why I wouldn't be showing up at the customer's site that day. I was told, "there's nobody in all of Sun's education division that can do this now, and we can't reschedule that customer's enterprise Java course for at least three months." Long Pause. "OK, I'll be there. But tell them I'll be late. Oh, and you better warn them I look like... well, I hope they aren't squeamish. (Continue reading here)"

Now, my response to the story...

The first thought that jumped to my mind when I finished this story was "either give me the better rating or I quit!"

It is your manager's job to justify all the silly bureaucracy and insulate you from it. I personally wouldn't care who got the "Exceeds" rating. Either give me what I am worth or say goodbye. Any manager who would do this is absolute idiot in my eyes. Instead of keeping employees that go the extra yard (hell, even mile in this case) for the customer, they chase out the best employees they have.

If you are ever faced with a similar situation, stand up, make your demands and walk out. No negotiation. No begging. No nothing. Go out immediately and find another job where they treat people like human beings and not numbers on the ledger. My first call would have been to the client, inquiring about an in-house position. Something tells me that they would probably value more than your current company.

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