Unrealistic expectations
More salary negotiations (another company); employee to employer: “I need a salary raise”. Employer, thinking “more sales?, higher productivity?, better work effort?”, asks “ok, why do you expect that?”. Employee to employer; “because I just bought a very nice new sofa on leasing and the monthly payment for that is X so my net salary must go up with X kroon per month”. This story is by no means unique, it is rather standard in Estonia today to start with your needs regarding car, apartment, flat-screen-TV, mistress and vacation in Egypt, and then the end sum is the salary you expect. It is difficult not to think of Karl Marx classical “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”. Also the “ability” part is something that unites communism and bubble economy – you don’t need to take it to seriously.
And then we have of course the standard employee comment; “please write me a document confirming my employment that I can show to the bank so I can buy a leasing car". This happens so often we soon know the text in this document by heart, otherwise our Estonian language skills are extremely limited. |
