[erikprotagonist]

Around the same timeframe as the Op (late 1990s) I worked for a no longer existing IT company where management some time before I started had the brilliant idea to pay sales bonuses based on forecasted sales. If you didn't make the sales you had to pay back the bonus on your next monthly pay.

Needless to say this really put the pressure on sales to get the contract signed - feasibility or profit margin be damned. Turnover in sales was really big as well, but then the company went from more than 300 staff to about 60 in the 2.5 years I worked there.

The company also had a matrix organization, where everyone in middle management had two bosses, one national, and one international. At one point my then boss got a new title and responsibilities on a Monday, for it to be changed to something else on the following Wednesday.

At least working there was quite educational.