I’ve never really got the concept of guanxi, but I think it’s happening to me right now and would appreciate some guidance.
We’re having some computer problems here, and I asked one of my students to take a look. He’s a good guy. I don’t know him well enough to call him a friend. He’s not working at the moment because he’s concentrating on his studies, but he does this sort of thing for a living normally.
He did a full day here yesterday, and will have to do several more to finish the job. In all likelihood he’ll become our de facto system administrator and we’ll be calling him whenever we have problems. But when I offered to pay him for his help he refused.
He’s giving his expertise and time, for which we as a company benefit. That benefit affects my bonus. Everyone wins except for the guy who actually does the work. Personally I would rather see him being fairly rewarded for his time, but if he won’t take money…
I know he enjoys doing this sort of stuff, and he probably gets warm fuzzies from helping out teacher, and if it was my machine at home I would just be grateful and that would be that. But I’m uncomfortable about accepting big favours from people on behalf of my employers.
[quote=“stragbasher”]I’ve never really got the concept of guanxi, but I think it’s happening to me right now and would appreciate some guidance.
We’re having some computer problems here, and I asked one of my students to take a look. He’s a good guy. I don’t know him well enough to call him a friend. He’s not working at the moment because he’s concentrating on his studies, but he does this sort of thing for a living normally.
He did a full day here yesterday, and will have to do several more to finish the job. In all likelihood he’ll become our de facto system administrator and we’ll be calling him whenever we have problems. But when I offered to pay him for his help he refused.
He’s giving his expertise and time, for which we as a company benefit. That benefit affects my bonus. Everyone wins except for the guy who actually does the work. Personally I would rather see him being fairly rewarded for his time, but if he won’t take money…
I know he enjoys doing this sort of stuff, and he probably gets warm fuzzies from helping out teacher, and if it was my machine at home I would just be grateful and that would be that. But I’m uncomfortable about accepting big favours from people on behalf of my employers.
What do I do?[/quote]
Stagbasher
If the guy doesn’t want to take any payment in the form of cash, perhaps you could buy him something you think he might like, say a gift certificate for a computer store. Another thing may be to wait until he finishes the work on the computer and then have a small “party” in his honor to thank him for his hard work. Perhaps you could have some special food, like Thai. Since he doesn’t want cash, these ideas might work.
A good friend of mine who is Taiwanese fixed my bug-ridden computer for me a few months back. Not two days later, he sent me a request to edit/translate his admission documents to some U.K. schools he was applying to.
He’ll give you a chance to reward him. Perhaps some personal attention in the form of tutoring.
A friend? Friends don’t work for nothing for friends who are making money out of their effort. Friends don’t ask friends to work for nothing when they can afford to pay them. That’s the whole point.
I think I’ll just be effusively thankful and do what I can to help him in his pursuit of that elusive 6.5 IELTS grade. I’m sure that when the time comes he’ll need help with his university applications, and a letter of reference. And maybe a few beers some time too!
Or maybe I should introduce him properly to my sales manager. She’s foxy and single, from what I gather.
And so the trading begins. I didn’t mean you wouldn’t repay him in some form. I was merely stating that this could be an opportunity as you mentioned earlier you don’t know him well enough to call him a friend.
As for the money thing, I’ve done favors for friends that have benefited them but I didn’t receive anything directly. Computer work. The new generations doc…
At parties… hey my computer makes this weird noise everytime I click on a certain icon, what should I do?
how can he refuse in front of several people