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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:The Digital way of working
Moderator:QUARK::LIONELON
Created:Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5321
Total number of notes:139771

19.0. "a bulb for your lamp, sir?" by PRSIS4::DTL () Wed Mar 06 1985 02:07

A new nominated manager got a new office/room/desk/chair etc...
He went to see his new secretary in order to have a lamp. The secretary called
the office accessories supply unit ("when you don't have a dictionaire, just
explain what you wish to translate". Confucius) and asked for a desk lamp for
her manager. A couple of days later, she received the lamp, unpacked it and
noticed that there were no bulbs for the lamp. She phoned back the OASU and
asked about the missing bulbs.


"You ordered a lamp but you didn't order any bulb, did you?" was the answer...

I ask: where are we going with such persons in our Company?
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19.1FRSBEE::KLEINBERGERWed Mar 06 1985 03:1718
Didier,

	I can see where you are headed in this question, but can I play 
devils advocate, and take the young ladies side?

	The manager did indeed order a lamp. When you go to a store and buy 
a lamp, does a bulb get included? Not with the one I bought for my desk the 
other night!

	What is the cost of a bulb? Maybe 50 cents? If 100 people ordered 
lamps that did not need the bulb (for some strange reason), can you see the 
savings to DEC? Mere pennies, when compared to the cost of a new 11-785, or 
8600, but still.....

	If the manager had wanted both, then I say he should have ordered
both, or made certain that it came with a bulb.

Gale who can see the other side
19.2PRSIS4::DTLWed Mar 06 1985 20:0710
objection your Honour!

the difference between a store and our Company is that we are intelligent
here, and when a manager receives a new desk and asks for a lamp, the
secretary should have guessed that he will need the bulbs.

And the fellow who received the order should have asked why there were no
bulbs included in the form.

Didier who is perhaps idealistic but who believes we must be the best
19.3SPEEDY::WINALSKISun Apr 28 1985 03:175
I think that this particular problem is the secretary's fault.  A stock room
basically IS a store.  If the secretary wanted light bulbs, they should have
been specified as part of the order.

--PSW
19.4RAJA::MERRILLTue May 28 1985 14:474
different stocks for different parts: the lamp is a "capital goodie"; the bulb
is a "replacable goodie".  (p.s. the same story happened to me too!)

	- an engineer
19.5HUMAN::CONKLINThu May 30 1985 03:278
And then there was the (mythical) customer that ordered a Digital 
system and two Digital terminals on the same order from a Digital 
salesman. And when it was delivered, there was no cable to plug 
the second terminal into the system. "If you had wanted a second 
cable you should have ordered it...."

Moral--our internal catalog of services is just as incomplete as 
the external catalog of products!
19.6Trade my Petty Cash for your Supplies?FURILO::BLESSLEYMon Jun 30 1986 23:3221
    Disagree. This is a case of someone saying (whether with words,
    or actions") - "Not My Job" (your "success", however defined, is
    not my responsibility. Happens all the time where the goal is to
    fill orders, not make happy customers.
    
    Expense reporting in the US has become more stringent lately. "Petty
    Cash" seems to be truly living up to its name. A friend's expense
    report (legitimate according to anything we could find in Policies
    & Procedures) was rejected several times - the last time because
    he failed to ITEMIZE his meal expenses.
    
    THERE IS NOWHERE ON AN EXPENSE REPORT TO ITEMIZE EXPENSES! (nor
    any policy requiring it).
    
    My point is that people's performance is based on their goals, and
    their adherence to goals. Not all goals are in the interests of
    other workers, or other groups. When they are not, things like this
    story, and the light bulb incident happen.
    
    -scott
    
19.7A look at the "lighter" side.KERNEL::ABELLWed Mar 30 1988 10:5515
    
    I think that the real question is :- Did the lamp have a plug fitted
    to it.?
    If the lamp did not have a plug. then surely it would not need a
    bulb..
    or 
    As the lamp did not have a bulb it does not need a plug. So if a
    plug was supplied then the company has spent money on a item that
    is not really needed.
    
    Moral of this is why not save the cost of a lamp,a plug, a bulb
    and electricity by sitting near a window.....
    
    Only joking
    Alan.
19.8More "light" on the subjectANGORA::MORRISONBob M. LMO2/P41 296-5357Wed Mar 30 1988 21:3011
  I can't resist putting in my .02 worth. It is customary for a fluorescent
lamp to come with bulb(s) and an incandescent lamp to come without. If the
lamp comes in a sealed box, it wouldn't make sense for the stockroom to open
the box, put in a bulb, and close it. But it would make sense for the clerk
to find out in advance whether the lamp comes with a bulb and if it doesn't,
to stock the bulbs and suggest that the "customer" add it to the order.
  What does this have to do with computers? Several times I got "burned" be-
cause I ordered hardware from IEG and didn't order cable(s) to go with it.
I then had to wait another 3 weeks or so after I got the hardware because it
didn't come with cables and I had to order them. I hope this hasn't happened to
our customers.
19.9for lack of a connector, systems were lost...REGENT::MERRILLGlyph it up!Thu Mar 31 1988 21:4310
    re: .8  The XCON program was created to be sure that you got all
    the parts, including cables, that were needed to make the system
    work.  If you buy a system you will get all the parts. If you buy
    a part - you're on your own!
    
    Perhaps an order for "a part" should be capable of having the system
    information attached to be sure the right/needed cable came too?
    
    	rmm
    
19.10GLINKA::GREENEMon Apr 11 1988 17:3813
    re: several
    
    Alas, customers ARE complaining that no one told them they had
    to order a cable separately.  And they ARE saying that it should
    be obvious that if they order a [computer_name_here] and a
    terminal, then a cable should be included automatically.
    
    These comments have showed up in EVERY survey [yup, of real
    live DEC customers] that our group has conducted since I
    started working here 3 years ago.
    
    sigh.
    		Penelope