A LIFE WELL-LIVED...

MY AMERICAN DREAM Another time I became greedy and ungrateful!

One thing I learned working in America, early on, is that you are not paid based on your skills, but by how you negotiate. My annual salary was $38K and the company paid for everything for me and my family bringing us to the United States. When I arrived US, my family followed in two weeks, an RCG guy met me at the airport in Newark NJ, and drove me to the main office in Ridgewood, NJ, for the necessary paperworks. They then checked me in at Wellesly Inn in Paramus, NJ. A gray Plymouth Horizon car was made available, free of rent, for my daily drive from the hotel to Metpath Medical Laboratories in Teterboro, NJ. my first assignment, "gig", I learned later. Like I mentioned earlier, they moved me from client to client, whichever they can bill best. While this was going on, I didn't stop digging for better opportunities. That's when I realized, I was under-paid - as per industry standard. I made my move - looking back - it was suicidal. I asked to meet with Tom O'Brien, a soft-spoken, sensible Irish man, my account manager. I asked (though I think I sounded like I demanded) $20K raise to my annual salary. After a lengthy "negotiation", he agreed on $15K, so did I. Again, I became greedy and ungrateful. RCG spent a lot of money, time and effort bringing us - my family - to the US, a place that I would do everything to get to. That trigerred a tremor in the company. I felt bad for Tom, I knew he was wounded. The company president, furious, attempted to assign me to Pittsburgh, PA, do ADABAS II/Natural, away from SAP/ABAP IV - the hot cake! I refused! Mike Altman, another sensible and reasonable executive at RCG, the guy who recruited me from Auckland, NZ, who processed everything such that I can work for the company in the US, met with me. Alex, we can no longer employ you!