Fuck off, Man

I had a third meeting with him this afternoon. He changed his tack now not acknowledging the necessity to amend the contract termination notice. It is absolutely contrary to what he said in our first meeting of March 21: he then agreed to my request to change it. His reason for refusing to do so is that the notice is for in-house record keeping and is only between the company and me, and the company has no intention to use it for any purpose. I should not accept his argument if there is even a very slim chance for the company, or any individual, to disclose it, with or without dishonorable intent. It is obvious a mere verbal assurance must not be enough. Why is the company so adamant to refuse my request? What is the real reason behind it?

The company, he says, is ready to write recommendation letters for my future employment. And he also says that it demonstrates its good intention. But the wording of the notice and writing recommendation letters are completely different issues that should not be mixed up.

The reason he cited for the contract termination is his belief that I would not be able to come back to work (in the office or at home, despite my clearly expressed intent to keep working) and, without somebody who would take over my tasks, the company operation would not be sustained. (Up until now, it hasn’t hired anyone in my place.) He decided to terminate the employment contract with me also because he judged his allowing me to work at home would be a bad precedent other employees might want to follow. I said the operational sustainability was the company’s problem, not mine. His “counterargument” is that getting sick is “your personal problem, not the company’s.” So does it mean the company does not care about an employee, should he or she require a long-term recuperation from an illness or an accident? Does it have a right to fire the person unilaterally without notice?

The termination notice does not mention anything about working at the office or home. What the notice says about the reason of termination is my absence from work “without the Company’s authorization and without any reasonable excuse or cause,” and my “unsound mind.” Having notified it of what had happened to me without delay, it is quite reasonable to think that I did have the Company’s authorization.

The discrepancies in the reasons of termination cited by him and the notice are one more reason that I should demand amendments of the notice. And how long does it take anyone to change it? Five minutes?

I also believe that the failure on the part of the company to notify me about the contract termination in advance entitles me to an extra one-month salary because the notice says, "with immediate effect" and its failure to initiate any talks with me before sending me the notice by e-mail. It seems that the company thinks it is following the employment contract. He says, only recently did I start talking about this extra pay. By saying so, he implies, the company have no obligation to pay me extra. This is not true. E-mal messages in which I pointed out the part of the employment contract that provides for a one-month extra pay are a summery of what we discussed at our meeting of March 21. At the meeting, I also mentioned that there are only two procedures for the company to terminate its employment contract with an employee: give the person a one-month notice or, without thereof, paying a one-month salary.

We have been talking about the employment contract and official documents here. Who is this company director that seems pretending not to know what’s written in the employment contract? My impression is that he tries to be legalistic in one place and emphasize "common" (is it really so common?) business practices, legal or illegal, telling me to believe his verbal words and at the same time asking me to sign documents.

What did he say about all the work I did at home while sick? His view is that it is a "common practice" for employees to bring work home without demanding pay. It is surely more understanding and noble if an employee says he or she will not demand any pay for the work he or she does at home, showing deep commitment and goodwill toward work. When a company says it is a common practice making no employee eligible even to a word of appreciation. It says a lot about this kind of company.

I didn’t sign any document today. Of course, I didn’t sign the one that says by signing it all matters will be considered "settled and resolved." I’m not that stupid. I simply couldn’t sign such a document with big issues still outstanding.

Moreover, the February salary has nothing to do with the issue because the termination document is dated March 7. In February, I WAS an employee: as I believe, it must have been paid within one week of the payment day, which was the last day of month.

I even feel sorry for that man who called me "kimi" today and showed it to me to sign, perhaps not fully understanding what sentences the payment document contains... But let me tell you something, I AM FURIOUS. Yo, man, pay me up and fuck off.

けさ、コンタクトレンズが50セント硬貨を超える大きさになって、はめられずに困ってる夢を（また）見た。