This morning there was a flurry of e-mails zooming around the office. Apparently the state is now requiring employees to buy desk or wall calendars out of their own pocket.
You're kidding me, right? Nope. You want a calendar on your desk, you have to pay for it yourself.
I admit I was a bit annoyed when they told us we had to empty our own trash. I understand their reasoning - why pay custodial staff to do something that employees can do on their own - but it still doesn't make sense to me to pay an IT professional's salary to take out one's trash instead of using the time to do one's job. Whatever, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
This calendar thing crosses some line, though. It's a calendar for pete's sake! They cost all of what, two bucks? So Mr. Pointy-Haired State Manager, you're willing to take our tax dollars and spend them to pay me to drive an hour each way to attend a 45 minute meeting because you're too damn lazy to schedule it in a conference room with videoconferencing gear, but you're not willing to pony up a couple of bucks once a year for a fleeping calendar? You're willing to pay $13 million on a white elephant of a data center but you won't drop some pocket change on something that will help me make it to meetings on time? You do realize that the time spent by the agency staff e-mailing back and forth probably cost more than the damn calendars would have?
Huh. Decision-making like this is what makes me wonder why I'm still working for the government. What's next? Bring your own chair?
Tuesday, November 29
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I so agree with you.
ReplyDeleteBeing the person who manages the office supply expenses for a struggling non-profit, I speak from experience.
There are certain tools an office needs. When trimming the budget, I may limit the models or selection of said tools. Example: I only buy Papermate ball point stick pens for the office. I'll order any color. I try to wait 'til they are on sale for $0.99/doz. They work reliably (which is why I won't order eqaually cheap Staples brand pens that don't write as well). So, everyone has something to write with. You can even color code. However, I prefer a gel pen. So, I buy those for myself out of pocket. I think it is equally fair to do the same for calendars. Choose a narrow range of cheap-ass calendars. Allow employees to pick from those or to buy their own. That's fair and appropriate.
Regarding calendars: That's what you have vendors for. :) At the last job I always "ordered" my desktop calendar from a title company we worked for.
ReplyDeleteAnd be quiet about the chairs.... if someone stumbles along this blog you know they'll add that to the list next.