Bad Business Behaviour

by Eko Prasetyo @ 5:34 PM I work for a local oil company, owned by local people, have totally local employees. I have been working there since December 16th, 2004. That means, I have been working for about 4 and a half months now. I was a very happy man when my interviewer said I got accepted. Well, for someone who graduated and then for 9 months had nothing productive to (for 9 months, I played video games, watched TVs, ate, drunk, defecate, and trying to figure it out what could I do to make my blog looks unique), having his first job is truly a blessing. I can tell people then that I am not a parasite anymore, that I can walk on my own feet now, and soon I may be able to do things that I have been trying to do but have no guts to do it because my parents have not allowed me to spent my allowance on those things. When I first step on my office as an employee, my world seems glorious and full of joy. Now, four months later, am I still a happy person ? I still am, but there are a lot more emotions that have been building up inside me. And many of them, the bad emotions, have been encroaching, seeking ways to dominate my soul. sounds like when Anakin is turning into Darth V, right? Many of the reasons why those bad emotions are mounting up can be seen on older articles on this blog. Now, I am going to tell you things that have been bugging me ever since I know the truth about them. You see, when there is an oil company operating somewhere, there bound to be service companies attaching themselves to it. Well, its not such a bad thing, oil companies need the service companies to drill wells, to test wells, to fix wells, to suggest what to do with wells, to guard the area, to provide civil structures. Well, service companies do almost everything, even food catering for personnels working in the petroleum company area of operations. Ah, the food catering. Let's start about the problem that is the theme of this article from there, shall we? The catering is owned by the wife of the one of the owners of the petroleum company. Smells fishy already ? I was startled when I heard this revelation. It feels like the owner doesn't want his company's money goes anywhere else, right? Well, this is just a starter. Every now and then, an oil company needs to buy things in order to do things to its area of operations. Whether it is a tool to complete a well or renting services, the company needs to release an order paper (whether it's a service order or a purchase order). The order needs to be signed accordingly by authorized persons. And finally, the paper will be handled by the procurement officers to be examined, released, and given to the right vendors mentioned in the paper. Normally, that's what will be done in an oil company. Now, my company does it differently. When the paper reaches the procurement, they'll examine it carefully to see if there's any loophole in it. If they found one, they'll return it to the division that made the paper, requesting revisions. Once the revisions are done and the paper is deemed ready, they signed it up, and give it to another company's representative. Not, it will not be the vendor, but a broker company. Why? Cause it is what the owner of the oil company wants : give it to the broker company? Why the broker company? Cause the broker company is owned by the owner of the oil company. WTF? Yep, he is a greedy man, from my point of view. My division manager once said that for any project, the General Manager said we can't have an administration failure anymore. This mean we can't officially blame the broker if something turned up bad and hinders the progress of a project. I say it's basically the owner version of saying : Don't Mess Up With My Broker !! Well, that's one thing you have to learn how to love, isn't it ? And the greed doesn't end there. There's more. Every oil company needs to contract a service company who can provide it with rigs to do things like drilling or fixing wells. Rigs are truly an essential part of an oil company's life of operation. Whichever company gets the contract, they'll be a VERY HAPPY company. Sure, the crews will be breaking bones and squeezing out sweat once in a while , but they'll be happy breaking bones crew, cause whenever they are still under a contract, they'll get money even when they're not working. And this kind of "paid whenever you're under term of contract" kind of thing that rouse the greediness of the owner of my company. He forced his way into breaking the contract of the old rigs provider (eventhough they have performed nicely) and made sure that it was his own rigs provider that got the new contract. oil pulls out the greed out of people ? Now, I have never experienced bad things with the new rigs, but that's because I haven't been sent to the field lately. I have my experiences with the old rigs provider, and the seemed unfit to be out of contract. From what I've heard from people who have experiences with the new rigs provider, they seems to be fit enough to be kicked out of contract. Their rigs don't have stairs, my company built them stairs. The crews don't have enough tools, my company lend them. How's that for services provider ? Sucks big time, isn't it? Yes it is. I'll be praying a lot nothing bad happens involving the rigs whenever I get sent to the field next time. They seems to be dangerous rigs. Oh yeah, that broker goes by many names. I have done a preliminary study on an oil processing plant expansion, and my division manager gives them as a guideline for study projects that will be done by an engineering company that will be awarded a contract through a tender. And the bidders for the contract? The broker. Well, there many many names bidding for the contract, but they are all the same company disguised under different names. Suck big time, isn't it? That's what we, the young, greenhorn, naive engineers think whenever we get into these topics during any chat. They make us grumpy, angry and feel like we're being cheated. All of that efforts to increase and optimize productions seem to be syphoned by the greed of the owner of the company itself. It feels truly unfair. Well, is it unfair? God Knows... It's been a long article, thank you for reading it completely :) | My Alter Ego | Blogroll Me! | |