Conference 7.286::digital

I would try  Personnel, but now that I think of it I had the same complaints
about the TWO cafe whenever I visited over the years.....

Claude

    Normally there is a group in the building that acts as the "host"
    for the building.  It is usually the largest group, so it is likely
    that you work for the person who is responsible for the building,
    indirectly.  I suggest you persue the problem up your management
    chain.  If you don't get to the responsible person you should at
    least reach someone who knows who the responsible person is.
    
    This is the kind of problem that the "open door" policy was meant
    for.  Use it.
        John Sauter

    
    	In ABO one of the buyers, in purchasing, is responsible for
    the contract with the food caterer. They give the $$$$'s to the
    caterers so if your set-up is similar try that route.
    
    	-John

        Sigh, I wish we had a cafeteria in our facility to complain
        about.
        
        q
        

    If all else fails, go to the "Plant Manager" as he/she has ultimate
    responsibility for the whole Facility.
    
    
    <CIA>
    
    

    In ICO (Chelmsford, Mass) the members of the secretarial forum decided
    to do something about the cafeteria.  Lots of comments to the effect
    that "nothing could be done" were heard, but with the help of a
    very diplomatic personnel manager, major changes were instituted!
    
    What it basically came down to, as I understand it, was very nicely
    letting the contract agency who runs the cafeteria know that the
    group was going to investigate other food service contractors if
    basic services could not be provided as requested.
    
    We now have breakfast, coffee in the afternoon, club sandwiches,
    and very pleasant personnel readily available in the caf.  The food
    quality could be better, but big improvements were made.

  Tobin Food Service is the main contractor at DEC plants in eastern
Mass.  I heard that Mr. Tobin became a millionaire by serving food
mainly at DEC plants; he retired a few years ago and died last fall.
I eat in the caf 95% of the time and have eaten entrees in at least
15 DEC cafs. Most of the Tobin's cafs are pretty good, but the one
at LMO2 is marginal. 
  One problem with having a full service caf is the size of the
plant. However, Tewksbury is large enough, so that is not the reason
for the problem. I have never had the experience of not being able
to get service during the scheduled lunch hour; it sounds like a
real problem.
  There used to be a corporate caf committee and caf committees in
several plants. The advantage of a committee is that someone who is
really interested in the caf can volunteer to be on the committee,
and it provides a better feedback loop for complaints. Over the 
last 3 years, at least one committee was disbanded. At LMO2 the
facilities dept has been responsible for the caf since the plant
opened in 1982. 

      Drive the three miles or so to the Andover plant and eat there.
      APO has a Tobin cafeteria that is grade A number 1; no kidding.
      
      ...and tell him Groucho sent you.
      
      Dave C.

    Dave is right in -.1.  LKG is also pretty good; both are Tobin.
    
    Tewkesbury is run by Canteen, not Tobin.  Canteen also does VRO
    in Concord, which is also a disaster.  They made a great pitch to
    get the contract, but went downhill after about a week.  The contract
    can be cancelled by Digital pretty quickly, but nobody seems to
    want to do it.
    
    Tobin isn't always good, though.  They have trouble with small sites:
    In general, if a site is small (under about 600 people), it's not
    worth cooking there, so stuff is trucked in, or the selection is
    very limited.  Tewkesbury is not full, so selection is limited.
    
    Several other contractors are around (Interstate United, Servomation)
    but Tobin is the biggest.  Since they started getting competition
    around 1980, they've gotten much better.

    Slightly off the original topic...
    
    How is it decided whether or not a new facility will have a cafeteria?
    
    I worked in the New York Area (which actually covered parts of NY
    and NJ) for five years and never saw a facility with a caf.
    
    I'm now working in a smaller facility in Mass. ... that has a cafeteria!
    
    Now, I'm not knocking my current circumstances, but I *am* puzzled.

In the Central Mass region, the facility organization determines the cafeteria 
needs for each building. I don't know how the field manages their facilities,
but I'd say the person to track down is the facility manager.

Jim

     
    i think DEC ignores the cafeteria issue.

    i think DEC should put more emphasis on food. because without
    good food, DECeees will not function well, and will whither with
    time.

    we need more emphasis on the cafeterias and food situation here in DEC.

    iam sure most DECeees would not mind paying few more bucks for
    an improved food and cafeteria environment for all of us.

    i also think that the veg'ees between us are ignored completely
    in the kitchens of DEC cafeterias.

    re:  -.1
    
    at least you *have* a cafeteria....some offices in the
    field are lucky to get sandwich vending machines :-)
    
    ahhh, to be back at GMA and world-of-Tobin/Canteen ......
    

    Dad gum right! Out here in Iowa, we have the most lousy cafeteria
    program you ever saw. We have to bring our own lunches or go out and
    buy food from commercial restuarants. Can you believe it!
    
    How they ever expect me to run my fastest and jump my highest when I
    have to get up 5 minutes earlier to pack my 'veggies' I'll never know!
    
    Why just last week a bunch of us were struggling over how to invent
    more complex software licensing schemes, and solve the holiday turkey
    crisis, and do this that or the other with SAVE and medical benefit
    programs when it was lunch time. And guess what? Digital had not
    provided a decent, veggie filled cafeteria for all of us to attend!
    
    You should have seen the stir and subsequent comotion whilst we
    scurried around and realized that we were BIG boys and BIG girls who
    could get lunch on our own........

    .-1

    our hearts flow to you and your DECeee colleagues down there in Iowa.

    hearing things like this from fellow DECeees all over the world makes
    me thankful for our ZKO cafeteria after all.

    it is true what they say, the green is always looking more on the other 
    side. (or something to that effect).

    maybe you can buy a small refrigerator, and you and the other DECeees
    in the Iowa office can put your lunch there, then it is all ready
    to eat when lunch time comes ? 

    iam glad you a veg'ee too like a lot of us down here as well.
    
    /Nasser

    Hey Nasser,
    
    Appreciate your reply, my flame is off now.
    
    You ought to come see us out here. My tiny office does $9 Million in
    sales and $5 million in services revenue each year. 
    
    We see and talk to customers every, single day. We invent software
    fixes when its within our capability and we can't wait for a SPR. We
    construct little Hardware improvements because we can and it gets a
    broken component back to a customer quickly. We weave our own marketing
    message when there is a gap in the corporate version (which is often). 

    Your vending machine has sandwiches!?!?!?!

	Re : .12
	
 	Actually Nasser, though I don't always LIKE what is on offer
	I have to say that the canteen in Solent, UK DOES cater quite
	well for Vegetarians. There is ALWYAS one main meal per day
	which is completely vegetarian, as well as salads and several
	"snacks" such as pies, pasties, jacket potatos etc..

	However it WOULD be nice to get to the stage where the vege 
	dishes were equal in number (currently there are 2 non-vege
	main courses).

	Cathy

    	Actually, the ZKO cafe is one of the better ones I've come across.
    In fact, it's too good. How are engineers supposed to function off
    well-balanced meals? I've had to resort to bringing in my own junk food
    in case the vending machines run short.
    	I've worked in 6 DEC facilities so far, and the cafes vary widely.
    In one of the smaller facilities, they'd feature two kinds of soup
    every day...but you'd have to scrape about an inch of "skin" off the
    top to actually get to the soup...And that brown lettuce...Yum! Made me
    long for the "roach coach" days. They did make a mean chili though...as
    long as you didn't inspect it too closely...

    If you want to have input into what happens in your cafeteria,,, join
    your plants cafeteria comittee.  They are normally headed by the
    Facilities Manager or someone in Personnel and are comprised of
    individuals (normally volunteer) from the buildings business groups and
    the caf. manager.
    
    Good luck
    
    Bruce May
    

    
    Good Luck was the operative word!  You call the facilities manager and
    inform them and do the same with the cafeteria manager, no change!
    You fill out their surveys and guess what - NO CHANGE!  I wish they
    would just get rid of the present contractor - yes it's another
    business in our cafeteria - and try a new one.  Just a small salad here
    is at least $4 bucks; they weigh by the ounce.  The prices are not
    reasonable for the quality of the food.  You do better with a TV
    dinner.  For me I just go home for lunch now as it is only a mile to my
    home.  By the way this is the ALF cafeteria I am talking about. 
    
    Ken
    

    Offices? This customer service engineer isn't in an office very often,
    even less of a chance that it will be at lunch time. I'm on my own to
    find a meal. Of course, when I worked in the past at HLO, LMO and FXO I
    nearly always went out to lunch because the quality and selection in
    the cafeterias left a lot to be desired.
    
    You want your employer to provide a hot lunch? Become a school teacher
    or go to work at McDonalds. ;-)
    
    
    Harry
    

    At SNO (Sydney, Australia), the cafeteria, called Brays (yep, like the
    sound a mule makes) has a vegetarian dish every day. One of the ones
    that appears every couple of weeks is "Vegetarian con carne", which
    either shows a lack of linguistic knowledge or explains what happened
    to some of our recently transitioned work mates.

    .23

    Sydney! a beautiful place, I have some of my family live over there,
    one day I'd like to go and see Australia. and go to Queensland, the most
    beautiful beaches in the world, my parents tell me.

    I assume DECeees in Sydney dont use their cars much to go to work?
    because their is an extensive rail-way system to commute on? 
    something like in London?  is SNO right in downtown Sydney as well?
    how big is DEC in sydney ?
    
    thanks,
    /nasser
    

Yo, eh!  nasser 
("Yo, eh!" is the North American greeting taught to Australians by Canadian 
visitors)

Digital's SPR headquarters is in Rhodes, a mid western suburb, about 15-30 
minutes drive from downtown Sydney.  The rail system is not quite so good.  
Extensive, but not necissarily frequent.  With a few exceptions, trains to/from 
Rhodes run every half hour.  Company cars are a lot more common in Australia 
generally (not just in DEC), so many people drive.

I think there's around 600-700 Digits in Sydney now.  We had a 20% downsizing in
July so I'm not entirely up to date on the latest figures.

Come and visit us any time, and we'll show you the cafeteria!  Alternatively
we have an "off-site" Italian cafeteria called "Il Vicilo", just down the road,
where you can get quite a reasonable lunch for around US$40.

regs

    .25
    thanks Regs for the info.

    a $40 for a lunch? humm.. DEC must then pay you DECeees down under much
    more than they do for us up over.

    here in lovely Nashua, new hamshire, a DEClunch can go anywhere 
    from 2-5 bucks, including some deserts too in the form of a cookie.

    around ZKO we also have some restaurants where many DECeees can be seen at 
    during lunch hours , but most cost anywhere from 7-10 bucks .

    but again, Italian food is always more expensive I guess...
    
    say Hi to all the other DECeee's down there. soory to hear about your
    %20 perecent downsizing.

    /nasser


    
    

    The offsite restaurant, is fairly indicative of upmarket Sydney prices,
    However the DEC "Brays" cafeteria in Sydney, averages $4-7 Aus for a
    lunch...
    
    q
    

    The best caf I have eaten is at the Kaufburren Germany plant. It is 
    run by the local brewery Atkin (sp). And being able to have Weissen
    beir once in a while dosen't hurt.
    
    garry
    

    
    
    
       C'mon Garry,  do you have to rub it in!!!!