Make sure to read up on the company structure and the main characters before diving into the diary.
You missed part 7? Read it here.
2020-02-21 16:38
I check my Line messages again. I had received another message from Antonia at 10:32. I don’t open it, but the preview indicates that she did not actually want to reschedule the appointment to Wednesday 26th but have it today as planned. Which would have been 11:00am.
2020-02-22 16:00
I head to the company accommodation in Singburi to start packing up my stuff. A colleague is there and tells me that between Friday 14th and Wednesday 19th somebody was in our rooms using the company’s backup keys. He had left his door unlocked when he left but when he came back it was locked. Therefore somebody else must have used the backup key. In the room of another colleague the fridge had been unplugged and her food had started to mold. My appliances (including my fridge) had been unplugged as well, causing some damage.
Later on Sebastian comes by. He casually mentions my appointment at the labour department next Wednesday supposing that I already knew about it. This matches the message Antonia had sent me by mistake and then backpaddled from. It appears something is going on but they are not communicating clearly. He then confirms that Ae gave the order for the housekeeper to go into all rooms and unplug devices to save electricity.
Understandable from the company’s perspective, yet violating privacy and damaging belongings of staff is not to be taken lightly.
2020-02-23
I’m heading back to Bangkok by public transport. My car is still getting fixed but I don’t want to be around Singburi on Monday. By the time I go to bed my heart is pounding knowing that tomorrow the fight will continue and I will probably wake up to them sending me the next messages. This really starts to affect my health.
2020-02-24
It is suspiciously quiet. Nothing new from The Green Lion all day. Especially after Sebastian’s remark about Wednesday I expected something to happen.
In the late afternoon I message my lawyer who confirms that we’ll be filing the lawsuit on Tuesday or Wednesday latest, that means tomorrow or 2 days from now.
I’m still waiting for confirmation what that would mean for my employment with The Green Lion. Could they still get me a new work permit or would that door close once we file.
2020-02-25 12:21
My lawyer calls and asks if anything new happened. He mentions that we may not yet have enough evidence to make a case in court as none of the written communication with Antonia uses the word “termination” and none of the communication with Patrick (which does use the specific word) can be used in court as he is just a shareholder, not a manager and can’t legally terminate me.
We talk again about the message Antonia had sent me about postponing the appointment and then deleted. My lawyer suggests to send an email to re-confirm the appointment which I do at 12:45.
2020-02-25 16:44
My lawyer calls. No answer from Antonia yet, so he suggests that I can’t take the risk and need to be at the Labour department the next day.
2020-02-25 18:49
A friend informs me that Patrick had asked a staff member to invite local students to show them the recycling machines that I paid for and my team built in their leisure time.
This is especially interesting as Patrick had told me that the program is bad and has no potential.
2020-02-26 11:10
I left Bangkok around 7 and arrive to the Labour Department in Singburi just now. I walk the building several times, check all entrances and the parking lot. Then I sit at the front door for more than an hour waiting for somebody to show up.
2020-02-26 12:16
I call my lawyer. He suggests to file another police report about them not appearing but asks me to wait until his colleague is back from lunch.
2020-02-26 15:10
I file the police report with the help of my lawyer via the phone, then head to the staff accommodation to continue packing up my belongings.
I stay overnight in the staff accommodation.
2020-02-27 9:59
Emile emails me with the next threat:
He claims that Kantiya was at the Labour Department today. To my knowledge we didn’t have a meeting today. Also Kantiya and Patrick left Singburi to go to Hua Hin yesterday morning, so I consider it unlikely that she was there yesterday either. Her car was not in the parking lot and I had walked all the hallways.
2020-02-27 10:06
I call my lawyer. He asks to forward the email and talk again afterwards. We talk again 20 minutes later and he outlines an email I should send to Emile. I draft it and send it to him for review.
2020-02-27 10:58
I message a colleague in Hua Hin. He answers shortly after:
So the statement that Kantiya (also called Ae) had been waiting at the Labour Department today was simply another lie. Yesterday morning she could have been there, but 11:00 would be tight as it usually takes me about 7-8 hours to drive to Hua Hin, including a stop for gas and congested traffic in Bangkok. She would have had to make it in less than 6 hours.
2020-02-28 12:22
I check my online banking for the salary of February and notice I only received a partial amount. I call my lawyer, he suggests to email the company and ask. I send an email to Emile at 13:41.
2020-02-28 14:39
Emile answers back and attaches a document. It’s all in Thai, I can’t read much of it. I forward it to my lawyer. Turns out it’s my termination letter, dated back to February 18th. So after all the unofficial emails and messages from Patrick they now finally fired me officially; retrospect. Further they attach a ticket from the queue at the labor department dated Friday 21st 11:29. This actually matches my story of waiting until 11:27 and then leaving.
Last they attach a police report they seem to have filed Wednesday 26th 12:28. That was after I left the labour department and while I waited for the lawyer to come back from lunch break before I went to see the police myself.
In the termination letter as well as in the police report they accuse me of not handing over the company’s source code which supposedly caused a lot of damage to the company as they couldn’t update their website. This is interesting because:
- We invited the company’s CEO in writing to come to my lawyers office on Feb 19th to hand over all company property in my possession. My laptop would have contained the source code they were looking for. Yet they sent Patrick who is not a company representative and ended up not taking my laptop.
- They may need the source code on my laptop for many things, but not to update their website. So they just made a false statement to the police, which to my knowledge is illegal.
Stay tuned for the next chapter
The Green Lion Diaries 