Conference 7.286::digital

    I must agree with the base note.  What an appropriate title!
    There must be volumes here describing that same careless attitude.
    What will it take to make these individuals conscious of the
    seriousness of the situation?
    Damn, it's pathetic!
    
    /Mike
    

    Just to echo .0.
    
    Last week I attended the Interop Trade show in San Jose. I had it on
    good authority that over 160 people were registered at the show from
    DEC. Of those at least 40 were there as booth workers. The vast
    majority of the time the booth had more DEC people in it than
    customers. Somebody even told me that he was told by a customer that
    he didn't come into the DEC booth because it always looked so
    crowded...
    
    Then of course there were all the people that had a car all week when
    there was free commuter rail transportation between the hotels and the
    convention center.
    
    Oh yes one other thing. I tried to get my air tickets greater than 7
    days in advance because I was pretty sure they'd be cheaper. American
    Express categorically told our secretary that there was no advantage
    to booking over 7 days in advance. Later another American Express agent
    told her that there would have been an advantage but those tickets
    would have been excursion tickets which are non changable and they
    don't recommend them to Digital. So I ended up with a ticket that was
    50% of FULL COACH. If i'd got one before the 7 days it would have been
    cheaper and saved DEC money.
    
    I see so much waste and peoples inattention to waste that it makes me
    ill.
    
    Dave

    
    
    	I agree that on the surface it may seem to be an intentional waste
    	of money, but let me give you another perspective which may or may
    	not explain some of it:
    
    	I teach some courses for Digital. My customers are Customer
    	Services Engineers, many of them "senior" because of the nature
    	of the courses that I teach. On opening day in my classes, it is
    	many times like a class reunion....greeting old friends and
    	colleagues, and meeting new ones. And they are invariably from
    	"out of town".
    
    	What follows is that many (most) of them end up dining and sight-
    	seeing, etc.,  together, and  they carpool when they do this. For
    	a rental car to get very little use during the work week is not
    	unusual.
    
    	There is also the airport arrival and departure times which never
    	coincide.
    
    	I'm not condoning waste...I just wanted to point out another
    	possibility.
    
    	John
     

    ANYWHERE in the company where this type of 'blatent' disregard for
    company funds is absolutely unexceptable. I'm sure its going on. Ask
    yourself, would you rent a car for you and your family while on
    vacation and then leave it parked at the hotel all week? Obviously not.
    Obviously you wouldn't have needed a car in the first place. It's
    a different story when the funds are coming out of yur own pocket...
    now isn't it?
                 You would not see this "dishonorable" attitude in a
    Japenese Company. Not at least the 1's I worked for. I thought when
    I came to work for DEC I would see the same type of "honor" for the
    company. I am dissapointed.
    
    

    
    	re .4
    
    	Does not apply, not even remotely. People that happen to end up
    	carpooling during the week most often do not even know who else
    	will be attending until they get there.
    
    	It would be a good idea to turn your car in if you can reasonably
    	do without it, and without accruing financial penalties, however.
    
    	John

    Rergarding Interop, I know some of the engineers who fried themselves
    for weeks getting software ready for the show, then flew out to set it
    up and demo it all week.  I mentioned this note about wasting rental
    cars when public transportation was available, and he replied, "The
    public transportation doesn't run after 2 am, so it's a good thing we
    had the cars."
    
    In general, I agree with the idea that renting a car unnecessarily and
    staying at the Ritz when all you need is a locked room and a soft bed
    is wasteful.  If I were sent to a strange place, I'd feel more secure
    in the Ritz and more confident with a rental car instead of a metro bus
    schedule.  Certainly more thoughtful planning could save Digital money,
    but we want to be at our best when we travel.

    I book lots of trips to meetings and such for my department.  Whenever
    a hotel has a bus/limo service to the hotel and said hotel is where
    the meeting is going on, the person attending said meeting refuses
    a rental car.  It's cheaper to pay, if necessary, for local 
    transportation (taxi, limo) etc. then to pay for a rental car when
    it won't be used.
    
    Booking penalty flights can be expensive if there is any chance of
    the traveler either extending his trip or shortening it for some
    reason.  Best to pay a non-penalty ticket cost and have the 
    freedom of being able to change flight plans.
    
    Linda
    

    re: -.1
    
    Definitely agree on the air travel.  Having been in a postion where I
    had to travel to remote sites, it became cost-effective (and company
    policy) to buy changeable/refundable tickets--even at a higher cost.
    
    Rental cars, and hotel rooms do differ, however.  Having also attended
    Interop, I had a rental car and thank God!  Because of a
    miscommunication in the office, I didn't *any* reservations until the
    Friday before the show started (Monday).  Having to fly into SFO (~50
    miles from San Jose), and staying in Santa Cruz (another ~40 miles
    one-way) would have been prohibitivily expensive w/o the car.  It
    depends upon what your doing when you travel.
    
    What would upset me is the blanket travel plans that always include
    rental cars, even when the traveller states one isn't needed.
    
    --- Gavin

    
    	Ok, I agree with the points raised between us, but you try
    	describing the situation in .0 to your immediate manager or 
    	supervisor and their just not interested. I know I tried it.
    
    	I bet if I told somebody up at Country management level they'd
    	listen and act?!!
    
    
    Peter B

	Re: -.1
	> I bet if I told somebody up at Country management level they'd
    	> listen and act?!!

If you feel that strongly, why don't you then?

regs
Warren (who would like to try apathy but never quite gets around to it)

    
    	OK folks, watch this space or should I say watch this desk!
    
    Cheers.....
    
    (Its been nice knowing you)!

    
    	A brief update. I had a good discussion with my Service Centre
    	Manager. He was as upset about this kind of attitude/behaviour
    	as most of us. He has a meeting this week with Sergio Giacoletto
    	head of Digital Services, Europe in which he will raise this
    	incident in the meeting.
    
    	I'll let you know how we get on.
    
    
    Peter B
    
    (Who still has a job at this stage)

    	Ok, after such a long time since writing I've still had no word,
    	only that I shouldn't pursue what happened at the meeting, it's
    	not my problem, your not responsible for monitoring the situation.
        It's not effective use of company time and money!
    
    	Can you believe that, we're all responsible, alright I may not be
    	the one who takes any action but it still affects me and all of us
    	one way or another, I don't need to be specific here do I!
    
    
    Cheers....