Few years ago (during the heady days before the dot com bubble), the company I worked for had its partners meeting in Hong Kong. This was an annual exercise mainly intended to give our folks in the USA a glimpse of Asia (in other words total time pass). It was usually sponsored in part by the local partner.. how we managed to get them to sponsor will be the subject of another post. These meets usually happened at the most expensive hotel that one could find. Usually these were attended by all our partners from across Asia and invitees from Europe. It was also an opportunity for us to “thank” our customers.
So anyhow a group of us (including the Sr. VP – AN) are sitting down and having dinner. Most of our Silicon Valley friends were the high maintainence types. Lots of food and more importantly red wine… bottles of it.. as times goes on more and more people join the table.. some invited… some uninvited. Suddenly the table grows to about 20 people.
Finally our sales person from Australia Pam joins the table with two of her Aussie counterparts. They had just returned from having dinner outside and were hailed by the group as they walked by. By now dinner is done and people are having after dinner liquer. One by one the people at the table start disappearing. Each one assuming that the other one is going to pay..finally the only people at the table were Pam and her small group and she got handed the bill… much to her surprise… and nearly faints after looking at the bill… about $4000 USD… anyway she signs it hoping that it will be paid with her expenses.
A week later we are having a conference call.. when AN clears her throat and says “Ahem..Ahem guys.. we need to really look at expenses.. Pam.. my dear.. I am looking at this item thats says ‘entertainment’ and its $4000. You really need to control costs. No way we can pay that”.. Pam’s trying to speak but keeps getting cut off… “No no Pam.. we cannot afford such entertainment… you need to really control it”… (most of us on the call know what that expense is…poor Pam)
Finally Pam sputters “But.. but…this was not my expense… this was YOUR dinner in Hong Kong.. I just happened to be the last person at the table”…
Silence…
Finally AN breaks her silence.. “Hmm.. ahem… well ok.. didn’t realize that”…. More Silence “I’ll approve that right away… but guys we really need to watch our expenses…”
July 3, 2008 at 8:58 am |
Gosh! That was a fast one on poor pam.
Does these things still continue?
July 3, 2008 at 10:41 am |
now thats some old-school blues
July 3, 2008 at 11:34 am |
Nice one!
A good example of not practicing what one is preaching!
July 3, 2008 at 12:34 pm |
Typical Boss direcly out of Dibert cartoon = AN.
July 3, 2008 at 2:52 pm |
B o o n d o g g l e ! Unfortunately it’s so rampant.
My employer, in top 2 banks in the US who rescues other institutions and federal authorities from fiscal crises is on a cost cutting spree. A purchase order for a $5.99/- business card for a new hire of mine got escalated to the CTO(we have about 100 firmwide). We had 3-4 meetings and between the people present in those meetings, including the CTO in some, the 2 hours spent, when translated to dollars would turn out to be $2000/-.
In another of those, we have “all travel” needing heavy scrutiny causing core teams to duke it out on the phone, land into issues and miss dates. But we did have the money to fly in 50 of us to Vegas for a 2010 Go-To plan(when we do not know what’s on cards a month from now..) of a CTO who was let go a month after his gradiose vision..
Penny wise, pound foolish..
July 3, 2008 at 11:11 pm |
really cool LOL poor Pam it is true many times the bill gets passed on to the last innocent guy and he may not get reimbursed also if it is personal meets. poor guy/gal who has not even took anything may end up in paying a hefty bill
your memories are great and you are able to recollect the whole thing and you you explain i feel as if I was there right there
thanks vijya continue your this venture along with others where you have monetary interest here nothing it is just satisfying readers a great service and it takes back somewhere else from our hectic schedule
July 3, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
Hehe, reminds me of a time in London that work colleagues (6 of them) ran up a 700 pound bar tab and the two of us who weren’t drinking got stuck with the bill because the the drinkers were too smashed to get their wallets out. This is what tequila can do to you!
July 4, 2008 at 4:29 am |
Hahaha, been there, done that. That’s corporate life…
July 4, 2008 at 5:25 pm |
ಏನ್ರಿ ವಿಜಯ್… ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು “ಓಸಿ” ??
@Madhu, so true many a times we end up wasting so much effort(which equates to money in corporates) to debate over a small issue (which again equates to money)..
Vijay, good stories coming up these days.. looks like you are dusting all old decks of your brain? ….
July 4, 2008 at 7:50 pm |
Madam, please heli, “dusting old decks of brain” andre yenu antha? Powerpoint deck thara na? playing card deck thara na? ship’s deck thara na?
July 4, 2008 at 9:59 pm |
mohan:
“Does these things still continue?”
i started my “it career” after the dot com bubble era. i can assure you that if such companies still exist (i am sure they do), they are in the minority!
vijay:
look at it this way, at least pam managed to get the expense approved!
- s.b.
July 4, 2008 at 10:07 pm |
poli huduga/veena:
this reminds me of my primary teacher saying something in class (this is more than three decades ago!) – paraphrased, of course:
“the human brain stores memory like pieces of paper, one stacked on top of the other. when you dig deep, you can unearth an old memory. obviously, as the deck piles high, you tend to forget items that are at the very bottom, unless – by some stroke of luck – one of those pieces is pulled up to the top and read from.”
the human brain does not really have ram memory and maybe the description is not exactly accurate, but my teacher did know something! and it does appear similar to what veena describes too.
- s.b.
July 5, 2008 at 7:02 am |
Haha! Poor Pam! Happens to me sometimes, though, I usually text the people who were at the table that the bill was so-and-so and that each person owes me so-and-so.. Works like a charm!
ee hotel bill vishyadalli swalpa churuk buddhi beku, alva saar? Janrella haage dudd kodde hogbidthaare..!
July 5, 2008 at 2:01 pm |
@SB,
Desi companies are a tad prudent in spending back home — so your statement about these companies being in the minority may hold true. But when at a client site, especially US, where much of the decisions happen on golf courses, especially the sun-n-fun kinds (fly them to Vegas or Florida kinds), they shell out as much as their foreign counterparts. Desi companies have even gotten better and get the clients on a Taj Mahal piligrimage, in guise of getting to show its offshore capabilities..
July 5, 2008 at 5:38 pm |
— “Get the clients on a Taj Mahal pilgrimage, in guise of getting to show its offshore capabilities..”
Ha Ha… Good observation!! and so true too.
s.b, thanks ri.. I think I wouldn’t have explained this better.
p.h, hope you got what that line meant… so Vijay avaru avara brain nallina haLe shelf nella open maadi, haLe pustakadallina haaLegaLallina kathe haLuthiddaare.
July 5, 2008 at 8:37 pm |
madhu rao:
i’ve been in the usa for about two decades now. i have never worked in india nor have i set foot on a golf course or driving range anywhere, so cannot dispute what you say (not that i disagree with what you say).
in my mind’s eye, i can see george bush chatting up sheikh x on a golf course, offering him an expenses paid trip to mecca in return for an increase in oil production. waitaminute now, i think i now know why he was unable to influence the saudis on a recent trip there!
vijay:
along those lines … more power to you with those new golf clubs – whenever they arrive from boston, that is!
- s.b.
July 6, 2008 at 3:57 pm |
madam, vijay avara brain nalli shelf matthe pustaka hegirakke sadhya antha artha aaglilla innu… really very unique.
July 6, 2008 at 6:14 pm |
Foreign or not wherever you go it is always the same. People on top are not so smart as usual… but smart enough to get there
July 7, 2008 at 4:52 am |
@Mohan: They are going on as we speak
@balu:
@Rada: Corporate Mantra: Do as I say.. dont do as I do
@xylene: Dilbert is as close to real life as a cartoon can get.. maybe too close..
@Madhu: But Vegas is important
@Pranesh: Thanks
@Aditya: lol
@bpsk: Always good to be on the bandwagon
@veena: sure
@sb: It STILL happens
@Nikhil: Takes a lot of determination.. going from person to person?
@Kishore: The challenge is getting there… that uses up all your smarts
July 22, 2008 at 12:28 pm |
LOL @ “we really need to watch our expenses”
nice narration, as always.
August 3, 2008 at 12:31 pm |
It’s amazing