Editing 2597: Salary Negotiation
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | [[Ponytail]]'s company would like to hire [[Cueball]] for a job | + | {{incomplete|Created by a COMPLEX FRACTIONAL SALARY INCREASE - Please change this comment when editing this page, for fun and profit. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Sincerely, management.}} |
+ | [[Ponytail]]'s company would like to hire [[Cueball]] for a job. And now she is telling him that their offer for his starting salary is $55,000. | ||
− | When offered a new job, it is common to negotiate on aspects of the offer such as salary, and employers may offer below the market rate initially in the expectation that the final negotiated amount will be higher. Given that | + | When offered a new job, it is common to negotiate on aspects of the offer such as salary, and employers may offer below the market rate initially in the expectation that the final negotiated amount will be higher. Given that one's future income depends on the outcome of a one-time process requiring skills unrelated to the job one is hired for, it is advisable to take one's time and do as much research as possible. |
− | Cueball has | + | Cueball realizes that he has ended up in this situation, but, in typically [[Randall]] fashion, he states the fact, saying out loud ''Wow. I guess I'm inside a negotiation!'' Ponytail comments that it's a weird way to phrase it, and would then probably have continued to say, ''but that is correct.'' Cueball, however, interrupts her by stating that ''I can do this.'' |
− | + | Cueball has clearly done some research, but perhaps too much as he is flummoxed by this high-stakes situation and starts to ramble with decreasing coherence. First he gets completely confused about the numbers. He might have said I wont accept a penny below $60,000, starting out by putting a bit more on, letting now, that this might not even be the lowest he would accept. Instead he says he wont have a penny over $50,000, thus cutting $5000 of the initial offer. He realizes this was completely wrong, but continues to mess up the numbers. Clearly he meant to go for $60,000, but first says $600, 100 times below what he wishes to say. Then adds the word ''Thousand'' after a short break, and continues to say it as one word $600,000. That is of course 10 times more than he wished to try for. | |
− | + | Realizing that he is completely off he asks for 15%. He probably means more than what they offered, i.e. $8250, which would give him $63,250. But he says ''a 15% cut of the salary'', again going the wrong way, so he would end up with $46,750. | |
− | + | After this he, he begins to think of this as some kind of bluff, and starts rambling off poker terms, like raise, fold and pass, with double down thrown in between. This can also be a card game term, as in blackjack double down means to double a bet after seeing one's initial cards, with the requirement that one additional card be drawn. | |
− | + | But in everyday speak, to double down is to take a further risk in a situation or passionately re-commit one’s efforts to a cause or course of action. This could make sense in a negotiation situation. But of course not in Cueball's ramble, that finishes with him saying ''Fill it up with regular'', something you would say at a gas-station, where they still had a person standing ready for filling up the car. Likely something Cueball have only experienced when watching old movies... | |
− | + | At this point Ponytail tries to ask him something. Maybe, ''Are you OK?''. But again Cueball interrupts her, saying he is sorry and that he would like to start over. At this time he takes out several sheets of paper and looks at some charts. But the charts are not clear enough, or only have a suggestion for what percentage he should ask for. He asks if he can borrow a calculator (something he would likely have on his smart phone) and then asks what's 20% of $55,000. This last bit seems like he is finally following a common advice to take the initial offer and add 10% to 20%. That would be $11,000, so it would have been $66,000. | |
− | This could also be taken in series with Cueball (possibly as a stand in for Randall) misunderstanding classically "adult" ideas, see for instance [[616: Lease]], [[905: Homeownership]] | + | Once more Ponytail tries to give him some time to think, but once more he interrupts, as he eventually have settled on a number, $61,333.333.... He even states that the decimals of 3 should be repeating, as in forever. Thus exactly $61,333 + $1/3. He clearly states he will not take the job for less than that. |
+ | |||
+ | The value he settles on is 11.51515...% larger, or exactly <sup>184</sup>⁄<sub>165</sub> times the asking price, closer to 10% than the 20% he just asked for. In classic Cueball style, he has made the simple problem sufficiently complex that one must wonder how he got there. However, the value does still fall within the band suggested by the common advice. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since this is not that much more than the starting offer Ponytail is ready to accept this and says ''Sure, $61,333 is fine.'' She is once more starting to say something, like ''That's actually a reasonable request'', or ''That's actually withing our limits''. But for the fourth time Cueball interrupts her, this time almost yelling ''Point 3 repeating or I walk!'' Because what she just offered him was $1/3 less than he asked for, and thus more than a penny less. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This last outburst is just plain ridiculous as this would only lower his asking salary by 5 parts in a million. And for certain Ponytail would accept going to $61,334. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the title text it shows that this is not good enough. Cueball has now confused himself to the limit that he will not only not accept less than his asking salary, he will also not accept more. So when Ponytail tries to explain to him that the point 3 repeating cannot be paid in whole cents, and tries to let him now that their payroll software only can handle whole cents, and he thus can get either 0.33 or 0.34 (the latter actually being more than he asks for), he again shout out ''NO DEAL.'' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since Ponytail cannot pay him out in a number with infinite decimals (1/3, pi or any other kind), it seems Cueball will let this job slip out of his hands, because he has completely misunderstood the concept of negotiation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The situation could be resolved if he would be happy with an arrangement such as a leap cent every three years, but maybe Ponytail would at this point realize it was probably a mistake to hire such an easily confused person, and happily let him go. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This can be read as a cautionary tale about taking time to compose one's thoughts before responding to a situation. The confusion caused by the wad of papers also reminds us that more information does not necessarily mean more clarity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For more interview-related xkcd comics, see for instance [[125: Marketing Interview]], [[1088: Five Years]], [[1094: Interview]], [[1293: Job Interview]] and [[1545: Strengths and Weaknesses]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This could also be taken in series with Cueball (possibly as a stand in for Randall) misunderstanding classically "adult" ideas, see for instance [[616: Lease]], [[905: Homeownership]] and [[1674: Adult]]. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Ponytail sits | + | |
+ | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | :[Ponytail sits at an office desk, with Cueball sitting on the other side. It appears as though he is being interviewed] | ||
:Ponytail: We'd like to extend an offer! The starting salary is $55,000. | :Ponytail: We'd like to extend an offer! The starting salary is $55,000. | ||
:Cueball: Wow. I guess I'm inside a negotiation! | :Cueball: Wow. I guess I'm inside a negotiation! | ||
− | :Ponytail: I... | + | :Ponytail: I ... weird to phrase it like that, but-- |
− | :Cueball: | + | :Cueball: I can do this. |
− | :[Zoom in on Cueball's upper half | + | :[Zoom in on Cueball's upper half] |
:Cueball: I won't accept a penny over $50,000. Sorry, I mean under. Under $60. I mean, $600. Thousand. $600,000. I want a 15% cut of the salary. Raise. Double down. Fold. Pass. Fill it up with regular. | :Cueball: I won't accept a penny over $50,000. Sorry, I mean under. Under $60. I mean, $600. Thousand. $600,000. I want a 15% cut of the salary. Raise. Double down. Fold. Pass. Fill it up with regular. | ||
− | :[The same shot, except Cueball is now holding three pieces of paper | + | :[The same shot, except Cueball is now holding three pieces of paper] |
− | :Ponytail | + | :Ponytail: Are you-- |
:Cueball: Sorry, sorry. Let me start over. | :Cueball: Sorry, sorry. Let me start over. | ||
− | :Cueball: | + | :Cueball: Ok, my chart says... |
− | :Cueball: ... | + | :Cueball: ...can I borrow a calculator? What's 20% of $55,000? |
− | :[ | + | :[Zoom out again. Cueball has put the papers on his lap and has raised his hand in the air, pointing. In his other hand he holds a small rectangular device] |
− | :Ponytail: Listen, if you need to- | + | :Ponytail: Listen, if you need to-- |
:Cueball: I won't take this job for less than $61,333 point 3 repeating! | :Cueball: I won't take this job for less than $61,333 point 3 repeating! | ||
− | :Ponytail: Sure, $61,333 is fine. That's actually- | + | :Ponytail: Sure, $61,333 is fine. That's actually-- |
− | :Cueball: | + | :Cueball: '''Point 3 repeating or I walk!''' |
+ | |||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
− | |||
[[Category:Job interviews]] | [[Category:Job interviews]] | ||
+ | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
− |