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This is the story of an absolutely outrageous client I encountered at the construction site where I, then 28 years old, served as site manager for the first time.<\/p>\n
It was the day we won the bid for the project and went with my boss to meet the person in charge. When we arrived at City Hall, the section chief and the person in charge from the relevant department were there to greet us. After exchanging business cards, we had a brief meeting to discuss the project, but I felt something was off at that moment.<\/p>\n
Their attitude seems strange\u2014but only toward me.<\/p>\n
When talking to my boss, he nods along and seems friendly, but the moment I start speaking, his attitude changes completely. He stops nodding and just stares silently at the documents. The courtesy call ended amid this strange atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Once the construction work began, their attitude toward me got even worse.<\/p>\n
First, when I called to arrange a site visit, I was told, \u201cI\u2019m busy right now, so I\u2019ll check my schedule and call you back.\u201d I didn\u2019t hear from them for two or three days, and when I contacted them again, they hung up on me after saying, in a very annoyed tone, \u201cI\u2019ll be there tomorrow,\u201d and that was it.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, just because I arrived at the site a little late due to a prior commitment, I was told in a sarcastic tone, \u201cIf you don\u2019t get to the site earlier, we have work to do, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was actually getting quite angry inside, but for the sake of the company, I held my tongue and kept the construction project moving forward.<\/p>\n
One day, a discrepancy between the actual conditions on site and the blueprints arose, and we found ourselves in a situation where construction could not proceed without confirmation from the client. Reluctantly, I contacted the client to ask them to come to the site to verify the situation and to provide instructions.<\/p>\n
Then I was asked, \u201cAre you drafting the agreement? Isn\u2019t that putting the cart before the horse?\u201d I replied, \u201cI will draft the agreement, but since I\u2019m still new to this, I\u2019d like to meet on-site first to discuss what should be included in the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, the caller hung up on me in a huff, and the client arrived at the site an hour later.<\/p>\n
As soon as he saw me, he snapped, \u201cYou don\u2019t even know that?\u201d That was the last straw\u2014I\u2019d been holding back until then, but I\u2019d finally reached my limit, so I fired back with this bold retort.<\/p>\n
\"With all due respect, I've been feeling uncomfortable with Mr.\/Ms. \u25cb\u25cb's attitude for some time now. I understand that, as someone with limited experience, I may have my shortcomings, but aren't on-site meetings part of the job? If you don't like me, why don't you speak directly to our supervisor and ask them to replace the site representative?\"<\/p>\n
Apparently, he hadn't expected to be challenged, so the person in charge was taken aback and stood there frozen.<\/p>\n
Then, as if flipping a switch, he cheerfully said, \u201cLet\u2019s have a meeting.\u201d I felt frustrated and angry, but since I\u2019d been able to say what I wanted to say and felt relieved, I managed to hold back my emotions.<\/p>\n
In the context of civil engineering projects, the client is certainly the customer. However, unlike construction projects where there is a private client, the underlying concept here is that we are working together to build and manage public infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Unless we work together to move the construction project forward, we\u2019ll never be able to produce a quality result.<\/p>\n
I think this is a rare case (and I hope it remains so), but I realize in hindsight that if the relationship of trust with the client had already broken down, we should have had a proper discussion before work began on site.<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s something on your mind\u2014even if it\u2019s hard to bring up\u2014it\u2019s important to speak up and ask questions face-to-face. I believe we must never allow the workplace to be swayed solely by one person\u2019s mood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wonder if there are others out there who, just because they\u2019re \u201dyoung,\u201d have been treated unfairly the same way I was.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just this time\u2014there have been other occasions when I reported such unreasonable incidents to my boss, only to be told, \u201cIsn\u2019t your attitude part of the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n
However, no matter how humble I am or how much I try to consider the other person\u2019s feelings, there are still plenty of people who act unreasonably or aggressively toward me.<\/p>\n
In that case, is it really us\u2014who haven\u2019t done anything wrong\u2014who have to put up with it?<\/p>\n
I don't think that's the case. Even if they're young or inexperienced, there are plenty of people who are working hard to contribute on the job.<\/p>\n
People who haven\u2019t done anything wrong don\u2019t need to put up with it. Sometimes, it takes courage to speak up and say, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
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