Wednesday, February 18, 2015

A really bad look for Little

There are things that happen that some would dismiss as 'small beer'. But when Andrew Little was identified as somebody who commissions work, hires help, employs a person - call it what you will -  and then refuses to pay them, it's a really bad look. It immediately reminds every viewer of last night's TV3 news of the time or times it has happened to them and how frustrated and cheated they felt. When negative emotions are evoked the impression left is strong and lasting.
David Cohen wrote about an unpaid invoice in his National Business Review column last week, noting that while Andrew Little had been talking up small business and workers' rights, it made life harder as a freelancer when people did not pay their bills.
Mr Little said the invoice - for about $1000 - has now been paid, but refused to say whether it was after National's Steven Joyce raised the matter during yesterday's question time in Parliament...

Mr Cohen said he could not help but think it was Mr Joyce's question that prompted the payment.
"I think it's reasonable to surmise that after four months of prodding that the intention was not to pay it, so I can only imagine somebody possibly scurried to a computer and effected the payment."
Mr Little said the timing was not the point, it was the fact that he had paid the bill.

I once had a gang member offer to chase a debt for me. I declined, politely. People should pay up without  pressure being brought to bear. Any other scenario merely highlights their shabby, dodgy, dishonesty. Of course "timing" is the point Mr Little. It is going to be very difficult for you to keep throwing stones in the future.


1 comment:

Brendan McNeill said...

Anyone who has been in business for themselves knows that chasing debtors is a sad fact of life. Sole traders, as I suspect this journalist was, are often the most exposed because most simply don't have the resources to 'tide them over' while their customers get around to paying them.

This is not a good look for Little, and creates a considerable gap between his rhetoric and his practice. If he thought the $1K invoice was expensive, how about the cost of not paying it?