It’s Christmas and you have some good guys working for you. You go out, cash a check and slip a $100 bill to all your key guys. You overhear one of them say, “This is all the boss thinks I am worth after all the years I have worked here.”
You have a job bonus program that kicks back extra bucks on individual jobs that come in under budget. Your newest foreman, Armando, just got a big bonus check. You put him on an easy job, it went perfectly, plus you found you padded the bid for a couple of things that never happened. The two other foremen are on difficult, ugly jobs that are not going well and there will be no bonus. One of the foremen is actually saving your behind over a bad estimate and may get the job to come close to breaking even. Armando says to your best foremen, “Let me buy you old guys a beer since you can’t make budget and earn your own beer money.” Both foremen abruptly say “no thanks” and stomp off.