Help me understand what this is saying!

beilariva

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 1:36 am

My DH just got a job offer from a company. He's trying to get a basic salary AND commissions for each sale that he makes. He just got an answer from the employer and we are not sure if the answer means basic salary + commissions or only commissions which are pretty much garantueed and this is what he calls a basic salary. What do you think? Many thanks!

I dont have an issue to pay you a salary as part of the compensation. The salary would be applied to the 1% commission.
I am sure you will have better offers. With our company you will not be at all hampered by profitability. You will be able to "do deals" and the entire worldwide company will help you close sales

ra_mom

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 1:45 am

It sounds like they are willing to give him a set paycheck, which they will then deduct from the commission that he earns.
In other words, nothing more than just plain commission, except that they are willing to give him an advance on the commission.
I could be wrong though. They did not write clearly at all!

beilariva

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 1:55 am

Thanks. This is what I get from it as well. At least I am not the only one who finds the answer a bit hard to understand. Confused

ruth

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 2:35 am

did they write this in a language other than English and translate it on Babel Fish or something?

How does you husband feel about working for a company that obfuscates.

sarahd

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 4:54 am

Is English this person's first language? Because what he wrote is really, really unclear. If your husband is interested in the job, he should ask for clarification.

(What does "you will not be at all hampered by profitability" mean?!)

Tamiri

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 7:27 am

beilariva wrote:

I dont have an issue to pay you a salary as part of the compensation. The salary would be applied to the 1% commission.
I am sure you will have better offers. With our company you will not be at all hampered by profitability. You will be able to "do deals" and the entire worldwide company will help you close sales

"I will be happy to pay your salary, and then deduct that amount from the 1% commission you earn. This isn't the best the market has to offer, but it is what it is. You won't have to work so hard with us as there is plently of assistance world wide to help you close deals" (meaning, I guess, that income is "a sure thing" - get it in writing Very Happy

)

beilariva

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 8:38 am

DH says the guy is a native English speaker, American. I am not a native English speaker so I thought I might not understand it properly because of it. Anyways, you certainly helped me understand that this wasn't all that clear. THANKS!

louche

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 3:00 pm

"with our company you will not be hampered by profitability"?????
This sounds like a major satirical joke, as in "his reports were never burdened with an excess of truth." You won't be "hampered" by profitability because we never make a profit?

Something stinks here and it's not gefilte fish.

Tamiri

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 3:27 pm

He likely doesn't have a decent education and wanted to sound smart. It happens all the time. People don't know how to write and/or get their ideas across coherently. I think he wanted to say "don't worry about it buddy, the business will be falling into your lap - you don't have to worry about profitability as the business literally generates itself. Furthermore, our world-wide staff (yeah, one person in Brooklyn and one in Sydney) will be there to ensure the business doesn't happen to jump out of your lap and land splat on the floor".
OTOH, he IS willing to consider salary as a compensation before commissions, so he may be very sure of the earning potential of this job.
I dunno, but I find that much of the business world (salesmen) are just a load of hype. It keeps them going.

beilariva

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 4:47 pm

Enjoying your translations immensly! Very Happy

I was also considering that he might want to test DH. He knows that he is not a native English speaker and maybe he was looking to see if DH would tell him he wasn't making himself clear enough.
Anyways they already discussed the issue and he did mean that the basic salary would be set and then taken out of the commission each month. He then wrote something I couldn't understand but I asked DH to leave me out of it for tonight and consider well if he wants to work with this company...

beilariva

Tue, Apr 20 2010, 4:57 pm

Enjoying your translations immensly! Very Happy