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| man, would be nice to catch a break this year.
2009's not over yet I guess.
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I had an interview in China with a Chinese company last year in August 2008. The original job posting was for a cleantech startup. I sent in my resume and cover letter, and later heard back. This also shows how stupid I can be.
Here's the reply e-mail:
____________
We're a start-up company and just moved headquarter from Notheast China to Beijing. So our website is in the process of building. But i can give you a link about our subsidary company in Laos, Champa Tobacco. ____________
Yes, that link still works, and I have it posted because of the terrible experience I had with them in which I will go in further detail.
So okay, they post a job for cleantech and I go in and find out that actually, the owners originally ran a coal factory in China but shut down and sold their coal plants because of new regulation in China coming up that would bring in higher standards. They were also facing increasing liability problems in terms of worker health, but of course, didn't go into too much detail on that. I still to this day wonder if maybe someone died working in their coal mines. Anyway, so I get dressed in my suit and tie, black binder in hand and take the trip from Tianjin to Beijing to meet up with them. I get there at 2:30 pm.
Their office is definitely new. It's half finished, and there's lots of glass wall dividers amidst half finished office rooms. The place is very sparce.
I meet "Nana", the secretary, though she refers to herself as "Linda Clinton" in her e-mails, thinking a western name will make people respect her more. I walk in some more and meet the family. One older brother and younger sister, both in their mid to late 40s and another similarly aged guy who's a family friend. All are Chinese.
Nana explains to me that the family recently obtained a tobacco license in Laos through communist government connections. All rich Chinese have connections in one form or another. Problem is, the family has no idea what they're doing, or how to produce, distribute and market tobacco. They paid upwards of $5 million for the license obtained through said contacts ( going by memory on this number, but it was in the millions). Now, they're looking for a foreign partner to help them get their operations going. They had a Korean company come and take a look, but the Koreans rejected them, saying the Chinese company had practically nothing, no know-how, and to come to them when they got their ducks in order. Not being able to find any foreign company themselves, the Chinese family turned to their secretary to find people and hence, I came in for a job "interview" I thought would be for a cleantechnology job, but turned out to be for selling cigarettes to people in Laos. I had my moral doubts about pushing tobacco related products, but was also curious to see what they were doing. Hey, I made the 2 hour trip to their office, might as well hear them out.
*Note: The tobacco industry in Laos is essentially an oligopoly controlled by the government with 2 main players. Most cigarette sales go towards poor people*
By 3:00 they explained the bare bones of the situation and said there was another American named Doug coming. They wanted me to act as their CFO in representing their company to Doug. Being the idiot I am, I accepted the offer and thought it'd be interesting. Doug was coming in 30 minutes. I also mentioned the investment made no sense. Their core competency was coal and cleantech was booming in China. They should've invested in something along the lines of cleaner coal technology plants or other renewable energy. Fishy fishy.
Doug, in many respects, acted like a WASP douchebag. 50 years old, white, overweight, American, and had a steretypical right-wingish America, Fuck yeah! philosophy. He also had a J.D., and was teaching at a university in Wuhan. They showed me his resume. He listed his coat of arms, and included tidbits such as the fact that he's single and posted a link to his photo bucket. Apparently, he had a red racing motorcycle in Wuhan, created an English instruction course called Daoge English, and was working on a book on investing in China he was trying to get the Chinese univeresity to publish. Did I mention he was a douche?
Doug comes in late and is pissed off the Chinese company (Kuntai) had bought him economy class tickets instead of first class and booked a ghetto hotel for him. Of course, I said nothing of the fact that he came in wearing a tacky polo shirt, blue jeans and sandals. He brought his girlfriend also (but his resume said he's single. whatever), but she steps out and goes back to the hotel. No surprise she's some younger Chinese chick he picked up in Wuhan. No way any American girl would put up with this guy. Doug had a sneering condescending tone when he spoke, especially when he spoke to the Chinese. Doug doesn't speak Chinese despite being in China so long ( I think he was only here 2 years, but he likes to talk as if that's made him an expert), and used his broken Chinese to flirt with the 20ish year old secretary.
So he comes in, and we sit down (all of us) in a meeting room, we shake hands, and I explain the situation. Doug puts his feet on the table as I talk, and then cusses me out for cheaping out on him.
"First off, don't fucking cheap out on me. I had to sit in economy class coming here. You know what kind of message that sends? I dont' fucking ride economy. There were babies crying on the plane and it was a terrible ride. I also requested at least a 4 star hotel and you hole me up in a POS place. And I fucking hate Beijing. It's dirty as fuck here. You'd better pay me extra for putting up with this shit. This is embarrassing. If I told my friends about how you're treating me they'd laugh."
Yes, I was an idiot for taking up the Kuntai family offer. They had me "represent" the company to take the blame for things they had booked weeks ago. But now it was time to get down to business.
We then went back and forth on details and Doug realized, as I had earlier, that the Chinese family was either really stupid for making an investment they knew nothing about, or they were hiding something as the pieces didn't match up. He said Kuntai should adopt the "bar room" strategy of letting the 2 companies duke it out and come in to pick up the pieces. "It's a closed oligopoloy dumbass! They've got the market in a near monopoly!" I was thinking, but politely explained why that couldn't be done. He then mentioned they should get out of it and go back to energy, but the family was adamant about not doing so. He then wanted to take the family's money and invest it into private equity in HK (their assets were about 15 million). The family didn't understand why (neither did I), and he mentioned he had friends we could trust with the money, saying something along the lines of "I'm a wolf, and you are all sheep, but if you hire me, I'm your wolf." Doug's style had less interest in the numbers, and more in anecdotal stories with supposed jewels of business acumen. As compensation, Doug's asking for $100,000.00, a luxury apartment, a luxury car and a driver. Anyway, there were tons of details in the negotiation and it started to get late.
Doug retired to his hotel room and the Chinese family asked my opinion of him. I said I'd need more time with him. I had to go to catch the train back home, but the family wanted me to recontinue negotiations the following day. I had no place to stay though, so they suggested I stay at their secretary's house. Yes, the secretary's house. I said I really should go, but then the secretary mentioned she could stay at her boyfriend's place and I'd have her place to myself. Stupid decision two. I gave in and said okay, her place must be closer than where I was staying. Turns out she lives on the other side of Beijing so I take a 45 min cab ride there, take a ghetto shower and turn in for the night.
The next morning we take a 1+ hour long subway ride back to the office. Doug then shoots a new idea- manufacture fake Marlboro- or whatever other brand is popular, cigarettes to sell in the area. Kuntai not only had no distribution, but no brand either. Of course that was also a stupid idea, and morally wrong IMO. Why pay 5 million for a tobacco license when you're going to make fake cigarettes from it? If you're gonna be illegal, you could just not pay pay the license, go in, and do it.
During a break, I wonder aloud if there's any moral qualms about selling cigarettes/ tobacco. Doug retorts "Why not? Those poor fuckers have nothing better to live for. They make what? 2.00 a day? Let 'em have their smokes and get cancer. We're all about making money here."
Negotiations still go nowhere as Doug is more adamant about investing money with his friends. He says he has a flight to Singapore with some more investors and hopes they're not as much of a waste of time, and that they know how to treat a guest.
When he's gone, it seems like the Kuntai family doesn't like him. They then ask me about it, and then ask if I can list their company on the NYSE. I'm thinking "OMG they literally have no effing idea what they're doing." I tell them they probably can't get listed, and it's still really early at this point. I considered explaining the intricacies of regulation in the U.S., but decided a simpler explanation would be better. They then ask if I can take a position with them.
I tell them I'll think about it and head home.
Only in China.
PS, here's some pics of Doug.
He's "single" ladies and I think he's into Chinese girls ;)
Also, notice it's apparently an English learning CD for a middle school.
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| What's next?
Moving out of the apartment this week after commencement just ended. Moved about 1/3 of my stuff out already including most of my clothes. I live a pretty sparce lifestyle as it is. Don't have much to move, and
my living room didn't even really have furniture or a TV (unless you
count the cardboard box). Anyway, all of it's being moved back home to
put into storage.
Sleeping schedule has been whack as well.
Right now, I've got temporary work in China- Tianjin to be specific, will be flying out in early July, and coming back late September. Of course, if I find something after that in China, I might just stay there. Any job leads would be greatly appreciated :).
Unfortunately, this also means I will have to continue job-hunting- in an economy that's potentially in recession with rising fuel prices, commodity prices, financial crisis, cut backs, and an intense summer heat. *ouch*
Reflecting over the past 2 years, I've definitely come to see the world in a different light- a colder, more realistic one at that. I'm also feeling older, and understand more clearly life's pressures. All of a sudden life just shifted a gear between 24 and 26 years old. The first thought that comes to mind is making money. Not money for the sake of money to show off a luxury car, but to be financially independent enough to realistically contemplate future savings in terms of ... buying a house, paying off school loans (the sacrifices that come with having a Masters), and... raising a family?
I mean, some of these things are still far away, but the fact that I can now imagine it happening is startling. Engagements, weddings, pregnancies, baby showers? Totally not for me now.
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| Whoa.
Graduating in 1.5 weeks.
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| Interesting article on globalization in Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/135380/page/6
"More broadly, this is America's great—and potentially
insurmountable—strength. It remains the most open, flexible society in
the world, able to absorb other people, cultures, ideas, goods, and
services. The country thrives on the hunger and energy of poor
immigrants. Faced with the new technologies of foreign companies, or
growing markets overseas, it adapts and adjusts. When you compare this
dynamism with the closed and hierarchical nations that were once
superpowers, you sense that the United States is different and may not
fall into the trap of becoming rich, and fat, and lazy." | | |
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