SINGAPORE: A Singaporean has asked Reddit if he was wrong to expect payment after spending six months working for a friend’s business, despite not completing all the projects he was originally hired to handle.
In a post on r/askSingapore, the man said he had been brought in to help with operations across two businesses owned by his friend.
However, the arrangement became complicated as his responsibilities changed.
He spent most of his time on one business
The man said around 80% of his time went towards Company A.
He was initially hired to work on several operational projects, but said he was regularly asked to take on other tasks.
These included dealing with clients, supporting deals, building the sales pipeline and handling other urgent work.
“Whenever I raised the need to prioritise or make trade-offs, I was told that client/deal-related work came first,” he wrote.
He said he was also sometimes told to “slow down” and focus on one task at a time.
As a result, some of the projects he was originally hired to complete were left unfinished when the six months were up.
He spent the remaining 20% of his time working for Company B, for which he said he was paid.
His friend refused to pay for Company A
The dispute arose over his work for Company A.
According to the man, his friend said he was not entitled to further payment because he had not completed the original projects.
“Their position, as I understand it, is essentially that my compensation was tied to completing the specific operational projects, and since those weren’t fully delivered, they don’t believe additional payment is owed,” he wrote.
The man, however, believed he should still be paid for the work he had actually done.
“My perspective is that I was genuinely working for the business for six months, with roughly 80% of my time going toward it, and I was repeatedly redirected toward other client-facing, time-sensitive work that took priority.”
“I therefore assumed that my time and contribution to the business as a whole would be compensated, even if some of the original operational projects weren’t completed exactly as planned.”
He asks Reddit who was in the wrong
Unsure whether his expectations were reasonable, the man asked Redditors to weigh in.
“Who is being unreasonable here?” he asked.
“Was it reasonable for me to expect compensation for the work I actually performed, given the amount of time spent and how priorities were managed?”
“Or is it reasonable for them to say that because the original operational deliverables weren’t completed, they don’t owe me anything beyond what was already paid?”
The man said he had intentionally left out identifying details and some of the smaller nuances of the situation because he wanted to hear genuinely unbiased opinions.
He was not simply looking for people to take his side, either.
“I’m interested in hearing what I could have handled differently and where I may have been at fault.”
‘This is why I never work with friends’
While some sympathised with the man and said they could understand why he was upset about not being paid, others pointed out that he probably should have had a proper contract from the beginning.
They said the agreement should have made it clear how he would be paid, whether per project or based on the time and work he put into the business. That way, if things went awry, he would at least have something in writing to back up his side of the story.
Some also felt the whole episode was a good reminder that mixing friendship and business can get rather messy.
“This is why I never work with friends. Fastest way to end a friendship,” one user said.
“Separate work from personal. Always have a contract in place. No such thing as a friend when money is involved, and a dispute occurs,” another added./TISG
Follow Google News
Join us on WhatsApp
Follow us on Telegram