-- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I answered this once before, but my computer ate the answer. Thinking about
the differences, I think that the companies I've worked for have had many
more layoffs than the one you work for. In my career, I've been through a
50%, a 80% and another 50% layoff. I was laid of in the last one. As a
result, the companies I worked for were often lean and mean. When push came
to shove, people
>Ok, try to make all your appointments yourself. Plan all your >meetings,
>contact all the participants in those meetings to find the >one date they
>all have time to attend, then make the last minute >changes because someone
>made a mistake.
That's how I mostly did it. The only variation was during the last year
when there was an automated system for reserving rooms. I needed to get one
of the few people who were authorized to reserve a room to do it for me.
But, that took me as much time as if I did it myself.
>Then buy the supplies and make the sandwiches and coffee and tea for >the
>break during that really long meeting. Of course you also have >to serve
>it.
We live in different worlds. We are pretty self-serve here. Stopping by for
donuts worked for morning meetings, and getting pizza for lunch worked for
lunchtime meetings. Coffee was made by whoever finished the pot.
>Arrange for the necessary glasses, cups and plates and afterwards >wash
>them and put them back where you got them.
Paper cups and plates, thrown in the garbage.
>Make notes during that meeting and type them out
>yourself. Send them to the participants of the meeting.
Yup all the time. It was easier that way, because I wrote the minutes from
my understanding of what I wanted. Much faster than several iterations with
a non-existent secretary.
>Book your own hotels/flights.
We weren't always authorized to do that, but it would have been just as
fast. Towards the end, it was automated.
>Make your own travelling scedules.
Usually.
>Read and write all your mail (e-mail and snail mail) by yourself.
I would never want anyone else reading my mail.
>Of course you should recieve every incoming phone call even when in >a
>meeting.
You really don't have phone mail? We have an automated system.
>Make your own coffee.
You actually have people to make you coffee? Europe is so different from
the US. Here, if you don't make your own coffee, you are considered stuck
up...unless your a VP or higher.
>And also don't forget that you have to keep track of, pack, order, >recieve
>and unpack all supplies and stuff that a company needs, just >to function.
Sure, we had a purchasing department for big stuff, but they were college
train procurement specialists who were not paid anything close to minimum
wage. As for the little things, we did have a cabinet with stuff that got
restocked, but I had to go to the office central stores myself if I was in a
hurry to get something. There was just one person running that place.
Really, US companies are very lean.
>Find your own mail in the stack of incoming mail recieved by your >company.
By the last year or two, I only got snail mail once a week or so.
>I mean, these are really low value jobs and to us engineers they >seem very
>trivial indeed and even I sometimes take that
>kind of stuff for granted. But I wouldn't wanne work in a company >where I
>would have to do everything myself.
Well, then, I guess you won't move here. Seriously, though, I did have
respect for everyone who is productive, particularly if they help my project
go forward. It�s just that the culture in the US is different. For
example, when I was a project manager, when we worked late at night, my
software folks and my EEs and my Etechs were often working on stuff that I
couldn't help with. So, I went and got them dinner. On a project I'm
consulting on now, the project manager often asks during the meeting "you
need me to pick that up for you? I'll go across town." The project is
king.
But, when it comes down to it, none of the people I talked about were the
minimum wage folks. Administrative assistants make about 2x to 3x minimum
wage. Etechs now make about 4x-5x the minimum wage. We have very small
design teams that can do a lot. Assemblers made a bit over minimum wage.
But, the kicker was that it was much cheaper for the project to go out of
house. With overhead, they cost the project $140/hour�.its now up to
$200/hour if you can believe that.
Dan'm Traeki Ring of Crystallized Knowledge.
Known for calculating, but not known for shutting up
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