u/Last-Attorney-7801

Hi I’m currently visiting Toronto from the US as a US Citizen. Going through customs the officer asked me a few basic questions (what am I here for, how long, have I been here before, where am I staying, how long have I known this person, etc.) but then she marked my receipt with a red sharpie with the number 88.

When I handed my receipt over to the officer at the exit, he collected it and put it on his desk rather than with the rest of the non marked receipts in his hands. I exited like normal

Does anyone know what the reason could be or if it’ll mean something on the way back? What is the reason they marked my receipt and separated it? I had nothing to declare and I’m staying for a week.

I just got out of a discussion with my DL and he essentially stated that I was tiered a tier 4 bc directors had to meet a quota. Therefore I do not get a raise, nor a bonus. (So about a $6k salary cut from the previous year). I am an A2a now tier 4 and my reviews were always stellar and impressive for all of my submissions. I have plenty of reinvest work, mentoring, and campus recruiting as well. I’m honestly extremely frustrated that I have wrung myself delivering high quality work but they put me in a bucket to fit their quota.

My utilization was lower (52% compared to my
Peer average of 75-80%) and I was an outlier which I agreed and didn’t expect to me tiered at a 1 or 2. But bc I had other work backing me and amazing performance reviews I atleast expected a tier 3.

My DL explained it to me as this-
The quota system:
The firm gives directors allocations — set numbers of how many people at each tier level they have to fill, almost like a forced curve. So even with good reviews, someone has to land in the tier 4 bucket, and the clearest measurable metric to justify that was utilization.
Who typically falls into tier 4
DL said tier 4 is usually people with pointed development issues — not meeting expectations on engagements, or consistent negative feedback. He was clear that wasn't my situation. My actual work quality and delivery were never the issue.

My case specifically:
My utilization was an outlier. That gap was too hard to overcome regardless of reinvest contributions. He acknowledged the business development work, monitoring activities, and travel, but said the utilization number was just too far outside the norm.

The director comments at the roundtable:
A couple of Chicago directors said i "could have reached out" to them about internal audit testing or other work — and my DL himself didn't fully agree with that framing. I was already proactively reaching out weekly to multiple managers and getting ghosted, so the expectation that you should have independently tracked down directors ive never worked with, or in teams you aren't sure exist feels pretty unfair given the context.

The honest takeaway from his framing: my work was fine, the practice had a down year, and i was the clearest statistical outlier to fill the quota

Hello all, I will be travelling to PR for a work trip for the very first time and will be needing to attend to both cities across 2 days. I am from the Midwest (and female so safety is also a concern) so I really only have experience with flat lands and prairies and have been seeing online the drive can be hard through the mountains.

How bad/tough is the drive? Mostly worried about the terrain. Safety wise I’ve been seeing is pretty safe and can be done in one go.

What are you supposed to wear to promotion day?? Is everyone in office wear or is it casual ?

I’m in consulting as a current A2 in Risk & Reg. CRTs are around the corner and my RL said I’ll likely be just an A3/low tier which I’m fine with (id rather just have a job than be a slave). My utilization is below/at 50% even though I try to network and reach out for work. I’m wondering if it’s a something managers hold towards me letting their personal bias come into play but anyways- my SSs have good reviews at performing at level and impressive + I have a decent amount of reinvest work.

If my utilization behaves like this by next CRT, will the firm let me go, is there an A4, or is there a possibility to still be promoted to senior? My RL is aware of my situation and efforts and I create a lot of content for him to go back to CRTs with, but I want to know how my future is looking at the firm.