INTERNS ARE HIRED “THROUGH FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF STAFF AND ASSOCIATES”
**This story has been updated since it first went live earlier this week – see Comments below for the latest news**
Quintessentially — the concierge firm serving the rich and famous — has admitted to hiring interns for up to three months, paying them expenses only. Responding to our Pay Your Interns campaign, a spokesperson told Graduate Fog that despite working “normal office hours” for free, interns are expected to demonstrate “a good work ethic and attitude.”
The company, co-founded by Camilla Parker-Bowles’ nephew Ben Elliott, has an annual turnover of £50m and made £7.85m in profit last year. It charges clients £2,500+ a year for access to its exclusive services, including arranging five-star holidays and booking tables at exclusive restaurants. Quintessentially has 60 offices worldwide and counts Sir Richard Branson, Sienna Miller and Scarlett Johansson among its clients.
The spokesperson also said that it found its interns “through word of mouth” and “friends and family of staff and associates” – and that interns who “excel” are often offered paid jobs at the end of their internships. She also said the company had recently raised £15,000 from auctioning internships at the company (and several auction houses and a modelling agency) on eBay in April 2010.
However, almost a week after their initial email containing these details (Wed 14th September), nobody at Quintessentially has been able to respond to our follow-up email seeking clarification on the exact nature of their interns’ work — and how they feel it fits with the National Minimum Wage legislation.
Having initially been told last Thursday (15th) that the managing director would like to speak to us on the phone immediately (which we declined, preferring to keep all communication written), we requested a written response by Monday lunchtime (19th), which we felt was reasonable. But on Monday, we received an email from the managing director saying she is on holiday until Wednesday (21st, tomorrow), so won’t respond until then. There was no apology for this delay.
We had hoped to hold off from publishing this story until we had heard back from Quintessentially, giving them the chance to clarify the nature of the work that their interns are doing. But frankly, we started to feel like we were being fobbed off, which was annoying.
We have now lost faith that Quintessentially will ever respond, so have decided to go ahead and publish this when it suits us, not them. Which is today.
So, here is what happened when Graduate Fog approached Quintessentially about its policy on internships:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially Press Office
Date: 14 September 2011, 10.33am
Subject: Press comment about internships at QuintessentiallyDear [name removed],
I am writing to ask about Quintessentially’s policy on internships, which is an issue that the users of Graduate Fog take very seriously. I would be extremely grateful if you could answer the following questions:
Do you employ interns within your company? If you do, please estimate how many you have currently, and how many have you had in the last year.
How long are your internships — and what work is involved? Do your interns have set hours and responsibilities?
Do you pay your interns at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW)? (This is £5.93 an hour, for over 21s). If you pay less than this, what do you pay?
We believe that too many companies are taking advantage of young people’s desperation to find work and gain experience – and using interns as a way of cutting their staff costs. We feel that big companies like yours should be taking the lead on this issue and setting a good example.
We look forward to hearing from you. Until we receive a reply, your company name will appear on our website with a note saying ‘Awaiting response’.
With many thanks
An hour later, Quintessentially replied:
From: Quintessentially Press Office
To: Graduate Fog
Date: Wednesday 14 September 2011, 11.16am
RE: Press comment about internships at QuintessentiallyHi,
Thanks for getting in touch and putting this opportunity through to us.
Please find details below re internships:
Internships within Quintessentially
Internships within Quintessentially will normally be for no more than 3 months. Although interns will not be paid, their expenses will be reimbursed. Interns are individuals, usually graduates, who are placed within the company to gain work experience. At Quintessentially we ensure that all interns are given tasks and projects will help them develop their skills and CV, we aim to provide a valuable internship programme for all those who join it.
How we recruit them:
Through word of mouth, friends and family of staff and associates, through our HR department who receive numerous applications a day for work experience / internships. Through our sister businesses.
How hard they have to work:
We ask them to work normal office hours and they are invited to attend events should they wish to gain experience in that area. We expect a good work ethic and attitude, internships are a great opportunity to prove yourself to the Quintessentially Group and interns are often offered jobs (if a role is available) if they excel.
Opportunities not normally available:
To gain valuable insight into the luxury market on a global scale. With over 60 offices worldwide and 32 sister businesses across the luxury market they have the opportunity — all under one roof — to experience numerous areas of business, develop skills, experience and confidence. They are also given the unique opportunity to be part of the ‘VIP’ world — when working at our events. Quintessentially are involved throughout the year with numerous high profile events, from charity galas, to film premiers and private screening, seasonal parties and luxury product launches, all of which have VIP guests in attendance. Interns working in the relevant departments involved with these events have the opportunity to gain insight into this notoriously hard to access, private world.
The opportunity to shine — Quintessentially is an entrepreneurial company, which consistently strives to produce the highest levels of excellence across all sectors of business we are involved in. If an intern works hard, proves themselves and showcases that much lusted ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ they will more often than not be offered a job at the end of their programme.
Auctioning of internships
The Quintessentially Foundation held a small internship auction in April 2010. We offered internships from companies such as Christies, Storm Models, Burberry, Sotheby’s, the Caprice Group and the Quintessentially Group and auctioned them off onto eBay. We raised GBP 15,000 which 100% went to SOS Children’s Villages, Room to Read, The Place 2Be and The House of St Barnabas.
Do let me know if I can send through any more information.
On a separate note, it would be great to meet for a coffee / lunch to discuss other editorial opportunities — let me know if it’s something you have time to do?
Best wishes,
Graduate Fog wrote back:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially
Wednesday 14 September 2011, 3.26pmThank you for your email, which I read with interest.
However, I have some concerns about its contents – and would be grateful if you could answer the following questions too:
– If your interns do proper, useful work for Quintessentially and you pay them less than the national minimum wage (NMW), can you explain how you feel this fits with our NMW law? There is no legal definition of an ‘intern’ but the legislation states that anybody who fits the criteria of being a ‘worker’ (with set hours and responsibilities, not free to come and go as they please, not just work shadowing and not doing is as part of their course) must be paid at least the NMW for their work. (This is £5.93 for over-21s, rising to £6.08 on 1 October). All employers must pay this and an intern cannot waive their right to these wages, even if they say they are prepared to work for free in order to gain experience.
– If you are concerned that your current policy on using unpaid interns may not fit with the National Minimum Wage law, are you prepared to review it now that I have brought it to your attention?
At Graduate Fog, we believe that unpaid internships exploit those who do them — and exclude those who can’t afford to do them. We believe these internships are getting longer and longer — with less chance of a job at the end of them. We believe that it is a myth that unpaid internships lead to paid, permanent jobs — now, they are actually replacing paid, permanent jobs. Many employers are unaware of the damage that the practice is doing to young people’s futures. Is Quintessentially one of them?
We look forward to hearing from you.
With many thanks
A day later, we had heard nothing – so we chased Quintessentially:
From Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially Press Office
Thursday 15 September, 4.01pmHi [name removed],
Can you just confirm when you will be able to respond to this?
Many thanks,
This came back:
From: Quintessentially Press Office
To: Graduate Fog
Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:16 PMHi,
Thanks for your email and apologies for not coming back to you on this yesterday.
My company director would be delighted to speak with you further about this – please can you send me your number so that she can give you a call?
Best wishes,
Pay Your Interns is an online campaign – so it is vital that all communication is written, so that we can post it publicly online for everybody to follow. We are not interested in having cosy chats on the phone. So we replied:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially Press Office
Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:22 PMHi,
Thanks for this, but we would prefer to keep all communication on email. Just let me know when we can expect a response from your end.
Thanks again,
Weirdly, they didn’t seem to be getting it…
From: Quintessentially Press Office
To: Graduate Fog
Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:25 PMHi,
She’d like to speak to you personally before responding — do you have a free minute?
Best wishes,
So we wrote back:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially Press Office
Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:31 PMHi [name removed],
As I said in my previous email, I would to like to keep all communication written.
Thanks
By the next day, we had heard nothing. So we sent this:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially Press Office
Date: Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 3:55 PMHi [name removed]
Can you confirm when somebody from Quintessentially will be able to respond to the discussed questions? We will be updating our database early next week so would like to hear back from you by Monday lunchtime. I would be grateful if you could let me know if this will be possible?
With thanks again
Then came this, from Quintessentially’s co-founder and managing director, Katie Marshall…
From: Quintessentially (Managing Director)
To: Graduate Fog
Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 4:03Hi,
Please can you let me know what questions you are waiting for answers to.
Best,
Katie Marshall
Partner
Quintessentially Communications
So we forwarded the email:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially
Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 4:05 PMSee below. [all previous emails were forwarded]
Thanks again,
Then everything went quiet. So on Monday we chased again:
From: Graduate Fog
To: Quintessentially
Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 11:55 AMHi Katie,
Can you confirm that this email reached you on Friday and that Quintessentially will be able to provide some sort of response today, by 4pm? We will be blogging about this tomorrow.
Thanks,
20 minutes later, this arrived:
From: Quintessentially
To: Graduate Fog
Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:13 PMI am on holiday and will respond to you on Wednesday
Thanks,
Katie
(And by the way, this last message was not a generic out-of-office response — we know because we got one of those too).
Annoying, isn’t it? After Katie wanted us to be available instantly to speak to her on Thursday, she has now gone on holiday until Wednesday — and has not apologised for missing our stated deadline of Monday. Oh well, perhaps they’ll email now…?
*Have you interned for Quintessentially?
What sort of work were you doing? Was your role more like work shadowing – or do you think you qualified as ‘worker’?
Sorry I missed out on this over the weekend.
Dear Aaron, Unfortunately I would not be able to apply for one of your unpaid internships, even if I wanted to. I live in Scotland and no matter how good my qualifications, skills or enthusiasm I would not be able to undertake an internship with your company. Why not? Because I am not able to live in London and work full time unpaid. How would I pay rent? How would I pay my bills? How could I afford food? The only possible way would be for me to take on evening and weekend work and in a city such as London even that would be pushing it to make enough money to live off, never mind the fact that I would spend my life working. I’m sure that you are a very nice company to work for, but I will never know, because I can’t afford to work for you unpaid. No-one is saying that graduates should expect to swan into a job without having experience, but there is a huge difference between gaining experience and doing a job for a company or organisation. And that is what these internships are – actual jobs. If an organisation couldn’t cope without their interns then that will show you just how much these interns are actually doing a proper job and not just gaining experience. And yes it may be the case that competition is so fierce between graduates that there are people willing to work unpaid, but some people no matter how willing just simply cannot afford it and even if it is the case that this can happen, it shouldn’t be happening. I am currently doing a paid internship through the CSPP Adopt an Intern programme. I make just over minimum wage which allows me to pay rent, bills and buy food. I am asking for nothing more than that. Companies such as Quintessentially make millions in profit a year, they have absolutely no excuse for not paying their interns and the fact that you would even try and justify it is appalling.
‘I am not going to defend how much I care about my staff to a complete stranger.’
Hope anyone who is thinking of applying for a role with Quintessially reads that first!
Did everyone else enjoy the piece in last week’s Stylist about Quintessially Gifts’ ‘grounded’ MD who takes black cabs to work each morning and has a personal trainer? Maybe that’ll give us a little clue about how out of touch they are.
Oh fail, Quintessentially.
Jerry – you can tell that you’re going to lose an argument when your closing line is ‘but what about the people dying in the Third World’…
@Jerry I’m not here to knock successful people; the issue I’m here to talk about is unpaid internships which are illegal and unfair.
You espouse the same self-reliant ‘hard work will see you through’ attitude I have heard from many a self-made person. You must be exceptionally bright and hard-working and most likely confident in your abilities to have won a place on the PPE course in the first place. Not everyone has your same gifts and talents. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who does not have your natural advantages; do you really think that a one month internship will lead to a paid job at the end? Do you think it is okay if it doesn’t?
What do you think about interns who have had three or more unpaid placements? Do you think they didn’t work hard enough? Is it always THEIR fault?
I just wanted to remind you that you cannot directly translate your own story of hard graft (and Cambridge cache) onto grads of the middling sort.
Jerry, far from being a company that “creates jobs”, Quintessentially is one that replaces them with unpaid workers.
PAY YOUR INTERNS AARON SIMPSON!
RedHead, clearly Tanya allowing your post ‘Oh Fail, Quintessentially’ and the fact that you don’t reveal your true identity, suggests that you don’t give a toss about 1,500 employees and their families. Get a life.
Joddle, yes, I see where you are coming from, but I don’t see how paying the NMW for a person for 2 weeks changes the view on their future employment within a company. And if someone fails at 4 roles, then perhaps they have to recalibrate their ambitions. Sorry but I do think that some people do bounce around various opportunities not delivering and not knowing what they want to do. Ironically its the people that really need the opportunity that actually deliver. That’s why internships work – paid or otherwise.
@Jerry
I’ll let RedHead defend herself, but I think she meant to say that Quintessentially’s response was a “fail” rather than expressing that she hoped the company would collapse (putting people out of work, as you rightly point out). RedHead, was that the case?
Also, I’ve just seem this on today’s Gorkana, it looks like Quintessentially are throwing a massive swanky party tomorrow night:
Quintessentially Awards
David Frost hosts concierge service’s annual awards ceremony celebrating the best luxury brands in travel, fashion, dining and art. Expected guests include Bianca Jagger and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Venue embargoed, London, United Kingdom
If I was an unpaid intern at Quintessentially I might be feeling a bit sick about them justifying spending all that money on a lavish party, knowing my employer is too tight to even pay me £5.93 an hour for my work. I wonder if the unpaid interns are helping to set the party up…?
They’re also launching a new venture I see… How much money do you reckon they’ve put in to that?
Quintessentially Asia
Quintessentially Asia is launching tomorrow in Hong Kong and will be distributed to members in Greater China and Singapore. With exclusive content on insider topics that are Asia-specific or specific to Asian interests, the magazine is aimed at those who love fine wines, hotels, luxury cars and jewellery. Editor-in-Chief Daniel Jeffreys can be reached at daniel.jeffreys@quintessentially.com. The group’s website can also be viewed at http://www.quintessentially.com
@Jerry
Most internships are at least 3 months minimum and can go on for as long as 12 months, very few of them are for as little as 2 weeks.
This is my second (paid) internship and it isn’t because I am not good at what I do, or have the relevant skills to do it but because graduate level jobs are increasingly being replaced with unpaid internships. Increasingly the only way to obtain a job in certain sectors is to work unpaid first and then hopefully be given a permanent position, which makes it very difficult for the graduates who can’t afford to work unpaid to have any chance of getting a job in those areas.
Considering the amount of sponsors they had I’d be surprised if it cost them anything? Although don’t let that come in the way of your crusade. I’m sure the new venture hasn’t created any new jobs either. You know new jobs that graduates may be able to apply for?
Tanya I understand your position, I really do but perhaps you need to focus on the industry giants that make billions a year and ruthlessly exploit interns – you are a journalist – you know who these companies are. These two recent posts make it look like you have a personal axe to grind. Keep up the good work in the meantime and do yourself a favour and drop any of your sponsors who are anyway connected with unpaid interns there are plenty of companies out there who will help you out.
@James
Are you kidding? That event will have cost Quintessentially a packet! As for going after bigger companies, don’t worry, I’m on it…
Quintessentially may not be a household name but it’s a company that makes huge profits and is very well-known in the media and celebrity world, which is why this story got picked up by the Telegraph ; )
@Jerry
I think your call for Graduate Fog’s campaign to stop is misguided. Here’s why:
In essense, Pay Your Interns is about getting a law that already exists enforced. We already have a NMW wage, and it is already applicable to internships. It’s just that it’s hardly ever enforced, and succesive governments have shown little interest in stronger enforcement. I would estimate that 90%+ of the unpaid Intern positions that Graduate Fog highlights are ones that would fall under the NMW definition of ‘a worker’. And I would argue that, wherever you stand on whether unpaid internships are a good thing or not, it’s in your interests for that law to be properly enforced:
For Tanya and supporters of Pay Your Interns it’s fairly obvious, as that’s what we want, and what we believe to be just.
For companies like Quintessientially, which seem to believe that their Intern positions do not fall under the NMW definition of a ‘worker’, proper enforcement of the law would either vindicate their position, or show them very clearly that they are wrong. If they’re right – great for them, they can carry on with what they’re doing.
And for employers (and individuals) who simply think that the NMW law is wrong, and that unpaid internships should be allowed regardless of the work involved, duration etc, well, there’s a potential benefit in enforcement for them too. Because if, as a number of these employers and individuals contend, proper enforcement of the NMW would lead to dire consequences both for them and their interns, there’s the old saying “The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly”. No doubt, if the dire consequences predicted emerged and the loss of unpaid internships saw business after business go to the wall, the government would not be slow to change the law and make unpaid internships legal.
Of course, I sincerely believe that these dire consequences won’t emerge – either for companies or individuals – but if they did, and if as a result unpaid internships were made legal, then at least everyone would know where they stood, and at least business practice and the law would be in step with each other, unlike at present.
　
So Jerry, that’s why I feel that even though you passionately believe “This isn’t about class or cash, but about motivation and drive.” , you should still be supporting “Pay Your Interns.”
(To give some context to my comments, I’m a University Careers Adviser working in the South of England. I feel I’m seeing first hand what the practice of widespread unpaid internships is doing to a generation of students & grads, in terms of damage to their aspirations, motivation and long-term prospects. HE Careers Services have taken a bit of a kicking on Graduate Fog for not doing more to make students and graduates aware of their rights in respect of NMW etc. While I suspect there are more shades of grey to the efforts made by Careers Services in this regard than the discussion on here usually reflects, I feel the general argument is valid – we’re not doing enough. I do know of a few Careers Services (and a geater number of individual Careers Advisers) doing good work in educating students/grads on their rights – I sincerely hope that this will soon become the norm, but it seems it isn’t yet.)
Dear Tanya,
I see you are up to your old tricks, naming and shaming companies for not paying their interns and winding people up in the process! As ever, we agree with the sentiment but not your way of dealing with the problem. We pay our interns and ask the companies we work with to do the same. We know Quintessentially well and have facilitated paid internships with The House of St Barnabus which they helped set up: http://www.wexo.co.uk/wexo/blog/2010/12/08/my-wexo-experience-life-skills-charity-many-cups-of-tea/
The internship above was paid at a rate above NMW using our relationship with STEP who have provided over 23,000 placements and paid internships since 1986. We have been trying to present Quintessentially with ways to pay their interns using similar schemes. Our concern is that your hard handed approach will simply freeze the pipelines of opportunity – here and across London – all together. We continue to lobby government to at least help educate companies as to their options and obligations when taking on young people and to understand the distinctions between internships and work experience – which for limited periods of time makes good sense: http://www.wexo.co.uk/wexo/blog/2012/02/01/its-my-work-hed-say-and-i-do-it-for-pay-2/). Many companies do not realise the error of their ways (they know their trade, not employment law and often think they are providing much needed work experience). They might respond better to a guiding hand (many companies that we have spoken to have responded to this approach – see our weekly Blogs from paid interns).
I admire your persistence but, “it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better”, we should all focus on addressing the problem – not berating those that hold the key to its solution.
Yours etc,
Robin
Robin Kennedy
Co-founder, WEXO
hi, i have been offered an internship for 6 months with quintessentially in dubai with pay of 1000 aed per month. would anyone like to give me advice on whether i should do it?
regards
hassan
How much does that work out as in £s, per month – and is that enough to live on?
it works out to be approx £170 and i have done some research about rooms for rent etc and it is possible to get a room for under 1000 aed per month.
So you’re saying you could just about cover your rent with it… But would it leave you with enough to live on?
it would be enough for rent but obviously not enough to live off if i include food and drink etc. however, apart from the pay, quintessentially internships are supposed to be really good so i was thinking of saving up enough money before i go because i still have 4 months before the internship as it is starting in september. what do you think about that? if you wish you can contact me through email. my address is hazzali123@hotmail.co.uk
Personally I think Quintessentially are total scumbags not to pay their interns a wage they can live on – but it’s really your call!
Haha thats one way of putting it. Do you know anything about the work they make interns do?
Hassan, i dont know why you are asking Tanya such questions when you are only going to receive negative answers. If you want to do it then do it, give it a go and experience it for yourself then you can make up your own mind.
Because he’s trying to make an *informed* decision by the sounds of it Anna.
You can come work for me. I will make you prime minister.
Personally, I want to shed some light on this whole situation with Quintessentially and I think it is great that you have put this into the media. I have been in two ways for the last year reading your article, whether or not to come forward and after reading page 16 in the Evening Standard tonight about how they take advantage of interns in this current climate, I thought I may as well.
My experience with Quintessentially was not so positive.
I was an intern for 5 weeks and a very long time after I am still waiting to receive my expenses which were promised to me. They said in the beginning that they were very likely to offer me a position at the end of the internship which never happened. I worked very hard for them and received next to nothing. Indeed they are a very fun, interesting company to work for and truthfully I did gain some invaluable experience through them but it is just disappointing to see such a large corporation taking advantage of people for their own benefit.
Have you interned unpaid for Quintessentially? Or for any other well-known brand? Fancy some free money?
Check out Interns Fight for Justice – the new campaign from Graduate Fog and Intern Aware. We are looking for interns who are feeling brave / angry / skint enough to challenge their former employers and request the wages they are owed for the work they did unpaid.
Even if your internship was a while ago and you agreed to work unpaid at the time, that doesn’t matter. The minimum wage works out at around £1,000 a month, so depending on the length of your internship you could be in line to receive a tidy sum!
Just get in touch with us for more information:
https://graduatefog.co.uk/2012/2080/interns-fight-justice-campaign/
Thanks!
Graduate Fog x
PS. None of this will cost you a penny!
I started working for Quintessentially a few years ago as an intern and within 2 months had a fantastic role with a very reasonable salary.
I cannot fault the company for the opportunities it offers young, smart, driven job seekers and if I found myself in the same situation again I wouldn’t hesitate to about apply to Quintessentially as an intern.
Hi Anonymous – that’s all very well, but what if you hadn’t been able to afford to work for free for approx 2 months? Presumably you’d never have got that salaried role. That’s what we’re complaining about.
I have worked for quintessentially in dubai, its the worst company i worked for. They fire their staff to employ intern and save money. I heard they were taken to court. they change staff all the time and is managed by some dodgy egyptian guy and an english girl with booze problem, stay away from them!! the ceo ( who is no longer there) was disgusting, they only just employed a new md , lets see how long she will be there…likely not going to last 6 months
And no you can not get a room at 1000aed , with that you will get a bed space meaning you will share a room with another 2 people.
Wexo state: “It’s not who you know, it’s who you are”. A wonderfully glib headline grabber, when unpaid internships are all about getting your foot in the door, and making good contacts. Because “who you are” is someone who deserves to be paid. Dare to disagree with the exploitation that is unpaid internships, and not nod in all the right places – and “who you are” will count for nothing.
First of all, your messages to Quintessentially are written in a very basic language, although the essence of them do carry a serious and meaningful note – makes you look like a child, who is trying to prove he is right, but does not have enough lingo to execute it.
Secondly, if you don’t want an unpaid internship – don’t apply to Quintessentially, Jesus there is plenty of fish in the sea, and actually many companies nowadays don’t pay their interns. You know why ? Because they are interns, which means no experience, still at university, lack of professional ethics and so on. Not paying for an internship = compensating for the risk of a low quality intern, that’s simple financial management for you ( I am referring to CAPM model).
Not paying interns is appalling.
But only accepting applications thro word of mouth ie people who are cronies of some so called “prince” is even more appalling.
The graduate employment field is endemic with social class based corruption. Its not a “system”, it is discrimination and dishonesty.
The fmr head of recruitment of one of Britain’s biggest investment banks told me “dont bother with the graduate scheme if you didnt go to a public school”.
Fortunately, I found my way on my own ie set up my own business. And it turned out quite nicely (largely because my clients were in Europe, outside the pathetic British “class system”).
I was actually comparing Quintessentially to the other concierge providers, with a view to using them.
After having read this, I will NOT be using Quitessentially – for the 2 reasons above.
So well done Benny the toff!
I wont be using you on the grounds of
i)your class bigotry and discrimination.
ii)your greed and exploitative attitude.
You’ve shot yourself in the foot!