[The biggest problem ever] We are moving our workshop

Hello!
My name is Daiki Kawada, Production Manager at HushTug.

It has gotten colder in Mongolia since last week, with daily highs of around -10°C. The temperature in the office has dropped significantly to 10°C, making it impossible to work.

Today I would like to write in more detail about the circumstances surrounding this incident.

[When I moved to my current office]

We moved to our current office on August 15, 2019.
The size of the office before the move was about 50 to 60 square meters, so I thought 10 craftsmen was the limit. So I started looking for a new office in July.

However, in Mongolia, it's not like in Japan where you can just find a property online, look at pictures, think it looks nice, and then go and take a look inside.

There is a message board for recruiting tenants, but the images are random (sometimes there are no images) and there is very little information about the properties.

I couldn't find the office I wanted, so I walked around the area I wanted to be in. Even if someone was already there, I even contacted the owner randomly (because there were many companies that were behind on their rent).

I did all that, but I ended up finding my current office on a bulletin board and took a look inside. The main space is 144m², and the room right next door is 100m², so it's quite spacious, and it's on one floor, so the conditions are good.

I thought the location was a little questionable (it's about 3-4km from the center), but it would be better because it would be closer to the tannery than my previous office.

One of the social problems in Mongolia is traffic congestion, so it is common for it to take 1-2 hours by car to travel 5km. So being close to the tanning factory that I visit every month is a big advantage.

One thing that bothered me a little when I was looking at the property was that the heating looked old and I was worried it would be cold. When I asked the owner about it, he said, "The office is cool in the summer and hot in the winter." I thought, "Even if the office is cold in the winter, it's the owner's responsibility, so I can just write that in the contract and it'll be fine," so I decided to draw up a contract and sign the contract.



By the way, at that time, I did not rent the entire 144㎡ and 100㎡, but I rented 144㎡ and wrote a contract for the remaining 100㎡ as a temporary lease. This is because I thought that even if I rented 244㎡ as of August, I would still have too much space.

• During the temporary lease, the 100m2 space will be used only as a warehouse (no work will be done there, no interior work will be done).
• I will pay extra rent for the provisional lease.
• If someone comes forward wanting to rent the 100 square meters before us, we will terminate the provisional lease agreement, so please go ahead and rent it out to them.
• If you rent the entire 244㎡, the price will be set at 13,000₮ per ㎡.

I borrowed the property provisionally under the above conditions. Of course, the above contents were included in the contract. Also, when I signed the contract, I had it signed by an institution (notary public) that officially certifies that both parties agreed to the contents of the contract.

We successfully signed the contract, and the office was decorated to the bare minimum, and the day to move arrived. If we couldn't use the sewing machines, production would come to a halt, so we wanted to move within a day at all costs.

Three trucks and six workers were scheduled to arrive at 11:00, but by phone at 11:00 the number had been reduced to two trucks, and by phone at 11:30 the number had been reduced to one truck and one worker (laughs).

It turned out that we couldn't use that company, so we had to find a company that could come right then and there. To be honest, at this point I thought to myself, "Oh no, we can't move today," and started thinking about work the day after tomorrow.

However, thanks to the hard work of our employees, we were able to secure two trucks and four workers, and although it took until 9pm, we managed to complete the move!

The move was completed without any problems, and the electricity was back on so we were able to start work the next day.

Current office status

So, what is the current state of the office? Well, something I said four months ago has been a hint…

Since October began, the temperature in the office has dropped to around 20°C. It's a little chilly, but still possible to work at that temperature. Some of the craftsmen who don't like the cold were saying, "It's cold!" so I immediately told the owner. (By the way, heating is turned on in Mongolia from October.)

The owner said, "Okay, I'll check it out." So I had this exchange more than four times in October alone.

Then, it got really cold last week, and the temperature was no longer suitable for work. We couldn't wait any longer, so we called in a specialist to check it out. Then, we were told that "the hot water that should be coming up from the basement wasn't coming," so we checked the basement. Then, we found out that the company we rented from before had cut the pipe that brought the hot water up to the first floor.

It took less than two hours from when I called to when the cause was discovered. I had a headache, but when I told the owner, he said, "That's right, I'll fix it tomorrow."

It was fixed on Tuesday, but was delayed until Wednesday, and when I went to the room on Thursday morning, the room temperature was 12°C.

Yes, the room temperature is 12 degrees Celsius.

I stopped production for two days out of concern for the health of my employees.

When we told the owner about this, he said, "We've increased the temperature of the hot water and fixed the heating, so now it's your turn to make an effort."

Since we couldn't continue talking, I presented my conditions.

1. I bought an electric stove to keep me warm so I don't have to pay for the stove or electricity.
2. I will move until I have a working environment and will not pay rent for that time.
3. The third floor will be temporarily rented out, and in the meantime, we will consider what to do with the first floor.

The owner chose option 3, so production of bags has resumed for now. Although the space is small, they have brought in tables and are working there.

[The future of the office]

Now let's talk about what to do with the office in the future.

In my opinion, moving our current office would be too costly in reality, so I tried hard to find a way to avoid moving.

The problem of the office being cold is clearly not ours (we didn't break the heating), but the owner's. Also, the contract clearly states that we must "create an environment where we can work."

Since it was clearly the owner who was violating the contract, we brought in our lawyer and set up another meeting to discuss the matter.

My only request is to keep the office temperature above 25°C.

In response to this request, the owner said, "Please add more electric heaters to make things warmer. However, if the electricity bill increases significantly, we will ask you to stop using the electric heaters. Instead, we will add three more hot water heaters."

By the way, regarding this "adding three stoves," anyone who sees this would say, "The room temperature definitely won't change, right?" In other words, it's "pointless."

We were also planning to officially rent the office we had been temporarily renting from December and expand the office space, so we were also discussing that at the same time. From the owner's perspective, this would mean increased income, so there were only benefits.

However, when we discussed heating, they said, "If you expand your office, it will cost 14,000₮ per square meter."

I immediately replied, "No, we agreed on 13,000₮, it's clearly stated in the contract, and you signed it."

I thought, "Oh, maybe they forgot what they wrote in the contract." Actually, to be more precise, I just wanted them to say that they simply forgot.

The owner responded, "That's what the contract says, but I never said that."

"That's what the contract says, but I never said that."

What does this mean? I still don't understand it even after a few days (lol)

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard this (lol)
No, it would be more accurate to say that all I could do was laugh.

 

[How is a breach of contract judged in Mongolia?]

So we decided to move on to the topic of what to do about this obvious breach of contract. We asked our legal counsel questions from various angles.

The conclusion was that "even if we went to court, it would take six months to a year and cost a lot of legal fees, so the best option would be to move."

The owner is in the wrong, and we haven't caused any damage or harm to them in the last four months. In fact, we've been very kind to them. But we have no choice but to accept it...

Also, even if we were to take drastic measures (such as installing additional stoves without permission and not paying the electricity bill), the owner holds the keys to the office, so if they are seized, it would all be for nothing.

If this situation is allowed, the contract is no longer meaningful.

It seems that if the scale is large, it is possible to claim a reasonable amount of compensation, so "the lawsuit has meaning → the contract carries more weight."

As an aside, there was actually another unbelievable incident before the heating incident.

[Rubber glue incident]

When attaching leather to leather or leather to lining, we use something called "rubber glue." This rubber glue has a fairly strong smell.

Then, about two months after moving in, the owner told me, "The smell has reached the office on the second floor and I need to do something about it."

Our factory is on the first floor, and the sandwich factory is on the second floor. The owner's building is separate from the factory (but there is a connecting corridor). This means that the smell can't reach the owner's office.

If there was going to be a complaint first, it would be from the sandwich factory on the second floor or the office on the first floor. So I just ignored them (laughs).

Then apparently he vented his anger at our employees, and soon afterwards he said, "We've received complaints from the sandwich factory too."

Since it was a food factory, I thought that this was bad, so I went to the site to hear directly from the president of the sandwich factory.

"No such complaint has been made," he said.

After that, we headed up to the fourth floor, where the owner's office is located. The first thing I heard when I entered was, "See, the smell has reached the fourth floor, right?"

I don't have a very good nose, so I don't know. So I asked, "Where is the smell coming from?" And I was told it was coming from the ventilation fan.

The ventilation fan is located in a place that anyone can see is clearly showing that "that ventilation fan has no connection to my factory."

For some reason, when I told the owner, "That ventilation fan is not connected to the factory," he fell silent.

I immediately pressed on, "You said that the president of the sandwich factory had not filed a complaint, but what does that mean?"

In the end, the conversation changed to something else and they never complained again.

[Future Plans]

After speaking with the owner and lawyer, I decided to move my office.

This is because I was convinced that even if the heating problem was solved in my current office, some other problem would arise in the future.

We have a mountain of things that need to be taken care of, including finding an office, signing a contract, moving, and handing over our current office, but we hope to complete them all and welcome 2020 in.

It is very sad, but the reality is that such tyrannical owner opinions are tolerated in Mongolia.

They face problems that are different from Japan's, such as the fact that legal systems have not kept up and differences in thinking between the younger generation (capitalism) and the older generation (socialism).

By the way, after this heating incident, we found ourselves unable to keep up with production due to the extra two days off.

Without my involvement at all, the craftsmen discussed it among themselves and decided that they would come in on weekends and somehow complete the project together, and so they have been working from morning until late into the night on weekends.

Apparently, that idea also came from a craftsman himself.

Of course, there are Mongolians who are working hard like this. And HushTug is where these people come together. (Thank you for always helping me!)

We will not give in to the current situation in Mongolia, and we will create a win-win situation for consumers, producers, society, and the future, which is one of HushTug's philosophies.

We will work hard together with our colleagues and business partners who share our vision of "creating a new industry in Mongolia" and are willing to cooperate with us, to create a global brand from Mongolia.

For customers who are expecting delivery in December, we sincerely apologize for the delay in the expected arrival date. On the Mongolian side, everyone is working hard to produce the best products as quickly as possible.

We would appreciate it if you could wait a little longer until the product arrives.

And we look forward to your continued support in the future.

Production Manager: Daiki Kawada