I was fooled

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What just happened to me these 2 last days is like a prank in some comedy show.

Before giving my final answer to Employer 1 (that I worked with for 5 years as Assistant project manager) , I signed on a written agreement (In English and in a company's customized format) with Employer 2 (on which is written all the points discussed and mutually accepted during 5 long f*****g interviews). Based on the this agreement, I gave my final decision to employer 1 which is to quit after 2 months . There was no obligation period and the like on this paper. Employer#2 is the second biggest retail of appliances in Lebanon and the offered position was CRM manager.

Just yesterday, the employer#2 's assistant called me to tell me with her over-cute voice that I still have to sign on the final "official" contract which is in Arabic, I smelt a dead rat just by hearing this.
Me: "But I already signed on an agreement and it was even sent to me by email.
Her: Yes, but the official contract is not signed yet, you should sign it with the company's advocate Mr.*ballout*.
Me: I want to talk with Ms.[Employer], now.
Her: She's not in Lebanon, she's in holiday for 2 weeks.
Me: Ok , I am coming."

So I went to the company advocate's office , the man welcomed me with a wide smile on his face , "here sir, just sign here" , he told me while he was pointing at the bottom of the contract.
Me: "I want to read it first.
Him: Of course! of course!"

And so I started reading it, the first page has the same points of the initial agreement , sweet!

I turned to page 2 .... not sweet at all, just 4 points on page 2 , and those are 4 middle-fingers were added to the initial agreement:

Middle-finger#1-A first obligation period of 5 years , the contract will be renewable automatically after this period for another 3 years with the same conditions , unless if I give a notice period of 2 months before the end of the obligation period (so before 2 months of the 5th year). In other term, if I don't quit during these 2 month before the end of 5th year, I ll be obliged to be f****d with them for another period of 3 years.

Middle-finger#2- In case I quit before the end of the contract's period, I ll be obliged to pay 10x the salary as penalty.

Middle-finger#3- The salary agreed on the initial agreement was a $X amount of NET salary, while this contract clearly states that it's a salary of $X without the taxes and national insurance's costs.

Middle-finger #4- The employer can end the contract anytime in case the employee breaches the article 74 of the local labor law without any compensation.

So I smiled back to the advocate and sarcastically giggled: "I am not signing this now , these are not the same points I agreed on with Ms.[employer] at all" and took a copy of it with me . I won't go back there again.

There's no force in the world would oblige me to sign on a such prison agreement for five years and probably for 8 years, regardless how attractive the position and the experience is. I have already a job and I am not that desperate to get one.


So I called my employer#1 and told him that I want to stay and I am ready to renegotiate again about job#1, I didn't give him the reason why I changed my mind but he's not a fool man at all, he knows that a huge issue happened that made me change my mind drastically , he knows that he'll be in a much stronger position this time.

And so I did and I accepted the my employer's offer#1 again but for a price : The increase on salary will be slightly less than what was promised than the first time (that was expected, employer1 is now in a strong position while I am now in a weak position) under the pretext that my coworkers got increases because I was supposed to leave. It was a compromise that I had no choice but to accept it, otherwise I would have to accept the prison agreement, I had no choice , but at least there's no such f*****g obligation period for this job. Freedom is priceless.

I wanted to make this move to advance in my career, look how things ended up.

Wow, those are some crazy stipulations.

I wouldn't sign that either.

Bad luck.

Would you do it differently next time? Maybe wait to resign your first job, if possible?

I would handle it differently next time, I would make sure if there's any other final 'official' contract needed to be signed first. I would be more cautious.

Sounds like a scam. Forced to pay ten times the salary before the period expires and the employer can end it at any time? Yeah, screw that.

Is this typical of the kinda practices employers try to get away with in your part of the world then?

^ Yes, two Saturday ago I got a job offer with the same conditions, but the employer was honest since the beginning, so I refused it on spot.

Do the labor laws in Lebanon actually allow this? It shouldn't be allowed and I don't think it would even be legal if it were to happen in South Africa.

I sent an email yesterday to the GM saying that I no longer want the job while explaining my reasons. It was a definite email of rejection

I got a very unexpected reply from their GM.

Wise Jono....

I should get you a girlfriend.

They accepted to remove all the bad clauses mentioned in the OP and even offered me a higher salary.

Oh wow tough one... what is the new job to you? A step up? Is it a huge improvement and what about the money is it a LARGE difference?

You could always tell you old boss that they are attempting to retain you and see if your deal is sweetened.

OR if it is a better deal walk it to the end and get everything signed and sealed THEN quit the old job.

Good Luck!

Yikes. Well, I think if they've fooled you once, then they've proved themselves to be untrustworthy. I'd take that into account before signing any new agreements with them - make sure the contract is locked in.

I think, as someone else said, it's probably only worth switching if the terms are significantly better than your previous job. If they are untrustworthy from the beginning, then it's likely to be a real aggravation for you further on down the line.

Then again, what do I know, I think go with your best judgment taking into account that us with AS are usually more easily screwed over due to our inability to detect deception or manipulation. I think your decision should also be based on how good a deception detector you feel you are - if you've been screwed over often in the past due to not being able to pick up on peoples intentions, I'd be doubly wary.