Be Careful What You Wish For Read Online Free PDF Page B

Staples management team and they had liked and wanted me, he was pretty much on the back foot. I said that if I didn’t get what I asked for, I wouldn’t go. After an hour of abuse from Ross I got what I wanted and departed with a cocky smile and thanking him for his support and belief. Smart arse? Maybe.
    Landing in Swansea, I was horrified to find I was expected to wear a Staples uniform and my concession was a four-foot stand at the back of this aircraft hangar of a superstore in the middle of nowhere. They even wanted me to go on a Staples in-house course, so I kicked off, resulting in a very uncomfortable and unpleasant few weeks. Eventually accord broke out. I got some of the things I wanted but my biggest saving grace was my performance.
    Whilst I was down in Wales I spoke to Andrew every day. I could sense that he was feeling more and more marginalised, yet he continued to ping off his emails to Charles Dunstone on anything and everything that pissed him off.
    I was selling more phones on my own without support than a lot of the standalone Carphone Warehouse stores, and Staples was seeing a significant return. They began to take it very seriously. The next Staples store was coming on-stream with others to follow quickly and I was asked to hire someone for that, as well as for one in Wales. The job was finally the supervisory role I had signed up for.
    I established the protocols, set up the procedures and got the sales off and running. The Staples stores were now a phenomenon and both businesses were making a significant amount of money out of these small concessions.
    Meanwhile Andrew had joined CPW’s main competitor Intercell. They had poached a number of CPW’s staff. Andrew called them and within twenty-four hours he was running their store in Swiss Cottage. He also wasted little time trying to persuade me to leave CPW and join him.
    You would think that it would have been easy to have said no to Andrew and to stick with Carphone Warehouse. Under my leadership, the Staples concessions were doing brilliantly. We were selling hand over fist and the commission levels being paid to my staff went through the roof. Some earned over £10,000 a month. Other sales teams in the group envied my staff. From being considered a bit of a canker sore, the Staples stores concessions and their staff now had an air of elitism about them.
    But David Ross became agitated and unhelpful. He didn’t like paying the commissions we had earned. He had to sign them off each month and he did everything in his power to hold up the process. In the end, my reward for making the Staples concessions one of the most profitable parts of CPW was a pay reduction by Ross, who slashed the commissions because we were earning too much.
    My departure was inevitable. When Ross refused to pay commission on a phenomenal deal that secured them £130,000, I took the decision to leave.
    I knew Intercell wanted me. They were expanding rapidly, had big ambitions and clearly needed my expertise. I met their joint MDs, Harry Ramis and Andy Demetriou, and negotiated myself a nice little deal , including a £15,000 golden hello. They wanted me to replicate for Intercell what I had achieved with Staples. No problem.
    When I submitted my resignation, Ross demanded I went immediately. But they still owed me £2,000 in commission as well as expenses so I went up to his office and demanded my money. He became bolshie straight away. ‘You will get your expenses in due course.’ So I explained he would get their company car in due course as well. He started to shout at me and was getting up out of his seat when all the months of his uncalled-for behaviour just got to me.
    ‘Don’t get out of your chair and threaten me,’ I bellowed at him. ‘I have put up with your nonsense for nine months and if you get out of that chair I will throw you out of that bloody window. Give me my money now!’
    Everyone in the building was aware what was going on and Martin Cox, the