Conference 7.286::digital

Glad I work in an Engineering facility!  Facilities in ZK tried to do this
in ZK1 very early on.  They got disabused of the notion in short order.
ZKO has a Tenant's Committee with representatives from each of the organizations
that works here.  The Committee exists to communicate concerns from the
organizations to Facilities Management.  The T.C. raised a big stink about
the sanitization order and it got rescinded real quick.

I'd suggest complaining to your representative on the Merrimack Tenant's
Committee (if they have one--maybe that was the Host BOD mentioned in the
memo?).

In their defence, Merrimack *is* a facility dominated by Marketing groups.
They *do* get an awful lot of customer visits, and the need to maintain
a professional veneer is much higher than at an engineering or manufacturing
facility.  Tough luck for the Engineers who have to put up with all the suits
and the squeaky-clean halls and whatnot.

--PSW

    Send them by my office. It's a mess.

        Sounds to me like you had fair warning.  You should have taken the
        stuff down until they'd done their rounds, then put it back up.
        Since they took it down for you, all you have to do is put it back
        up.  You might want to make sure your manager doesn't object to
        any of the things you will be putting back up, so that if any
        issue arises, you will have backing. 
        
        Tom

        One more point.  You had it on the wall OUTSIDE your office?
        You might put it inside next time.  You'll have a better chance
        of arguing that inside your office is "your" space, not public
        space, and that you have a right to post non-offensive things
        there.  Point out that they help you do your job.
        
        Tom

	After all, I work in an engineering group where no customers
	ever wander (as a matter of fact, I've been told that customers
	are not allowed on this floor past the Customer Dining Room).
	Also, the way I read #6 was that only things that were "not in
	good taste" would be torn down - apparently A-to-Z posters are
	"not in good taste"! But then if red wagons aren't in good
	taste... My initial reaction when finding they'd had actually
	torn my stuff down was, "What's next, a dress code?" About the
	only thing I see this accomplishing is ticking off a lot of
	engineers (responses range from "civil disobedience", to talk of
	bringing it up with our Personnel Rep). I don't have any plants
	in my office, but if I know some of the people in this group the
	only way they'll get at the plants is to put Agent Orange
	through the ventilation system.

	Also, they took the feet off several people's cabinets (which
	were propped up to make access to the lower drawers easier) -
	can't have anything over 5 feet!

	I have no idea what a "Host BOD" is, or if there is anything
	like a "Merrimack Tenant's Committee".
	
	My posters are back up (Digital posters on the aisle walls,
	random stuff on the cabinet which forms part of my wall). Gee,
	you can see the baseball card with the picture of my little
	brother in his Little League uniform from the aisle - heavens,
	what if a customer saw that:-)?
	
	Mike

I also live in MKO2 and had the same experience. Our solution was to comply 
and remove things from walls. Note this only applies to things not on the 
pin-boards (cork). So, we are ordering about 8 boards and charging the cost 
to facilities. If the charge bounces, we will absorb the cost.

I specifically asked if "approval was needed" for the content of the 
material. "No". I asked if there was an approval process or group. "No". I 
then asked if the above plan of using cork boards was ok. "Yes".

I left it with the facilities' type thinking he had a moral victory.

Total waste of time and money. They actually hired a contract worker to 
remove the posters, etc. Wouldn't want a Frank to dirty his hands, right?

Regards, Ira Grollman (GSG Systems Engineering), totally miffed at the 
bureaucracy

We here in CX03 (the_Big_Building) have been doing this
ever since we moved in.  In fact, we were warned about it
for months *before* we moved in.  We get lots of customers
coming through for tours, so nothing may poke above partition
walls, only approved "art" may hang on the walls (we're still
debating if what we have is art or something else), nothing
may hang on cubicle walls facing an aisle that customers can
walk in, clean up any mess you make in a conference room when
the meeting is over, etc, etc.

It does limit individual expressions of "taste"; we do have
wall space in our cubes, but we tend to use that for other
things (like shelves to hold the V4.4 documentation set 8-)).

You are not alone.

          UK CSC Facilities tried this. They specifically said
          that all posters could be hung if framed and that they
          would pay for frames. Corporate frames cost $150! We
          gave facilities 40 posters from my group - and got them
          back unframed due to the massive cost.
          
          They are now back on the walls and cabinets.
          
          -- A

    I agree, at least, about the rubber chickens. But plants? I guess
    if you make a rule, you have to enforce it for everyone. Personally
    I think MKO1 is a tacky building that could use a reasonable code
    for decoration. It could also use clean carpets, clean walls, better
    sound proofing, and generally a more professional look.
    
    When my local rubber chicken was removed (under protest), it was
    replaced with a poster of a nude eagle. Very professional.

Nothing new here.  The same battle was being fought in MK 5 or so years ago.
The fact that it's surprising people now means that for most of those 5 years
the regulations were ignored.  Hope that happens again....

							-- Jerry

just after mk opened there was a story going around about the engineers vs
the facility people.
it seems that the items that stuck up above the partitions were placed on 
the floor or desk at night.
so the engineers took to putting tall, very heavy piles of listings
on top of the file cabinets.
soon they were not moved any more.

i never worked in mk, so do not know if this really happened,
or if it happened how widespread it was.

    
    	Im going to get my BOD{down to the loca{ joke shop and get a
    rubber chicken. What next? Will I have to shine my sneakers?  
    Pay for performance or pay for appearance? Seems like a case of
    another person with too little to do!
    
    	Engineeringly Yours,
    	-John

        I'm not sure the Danes would approve of stifling personal
        expression the way it seems to have been done in MKO.
        
        Tom

	1. The policy is too wide - MKO is not a Marketing facility, it
	is a Digital facility which contains both Marketing and
	Engineering groups. Customers never see the Engineering groups -
	why apply this policy facility-wide? Why apply it at all - each
	person at Digital in a group which interacts with customers has
	a responsibility to make a good impression - if customers walk
	by their office and are offended by some poster, then they are
	responsible for that and should answer to their manager. There's
	no need for a general policy - what happened to the principle of
	individual responsibility at Digital?
	
	2. Even for those areas where making a good impression is
	important, it seems too restrictive. The Facilities people took
	down, among other things, posters advertising Digital products.
	Is pride in our company something that might offend customers? I
	can't see how a customer would be offended by most of what I see
	on people's walls (all right, maybe a Laker fan would be
	offended by my Celtic posters:-). How do the certificates
	showing my participation in the last two Walks for Hunger make a
	bad impression (in the unlikely event a customer gets lost and
	strolls through BCSE)? I'd think it'd make a good impression
	that Digital employees are involved in their communities, and
	proud of them. How do plants make a bad impression on customers? 

	I catch myself referring to a "policy" - to clarify, the
	original memo was not a policy statement but a clean-up notice;
	however, it seems to imply a policy on "housekeeping".
	
	Mike

        Oh to have the office space to put posters up.    My  office is 
        wall to wall bookshelves, filing cabinets and cupboards. It has 
        been reduced in size in the last two moves that I have  made. I 
        have  space  for  pictures  of  my  wife,  an F-18 jet, a Lambo 
        Countach and a �Vax2 CPU card, and a few  cartoons.    The only 
        objectionable  thing  in  my  office  (apart  from it's regular 
        untidy state) is me - I get grumpy with STUPID Salesmen and the 
        in-ordinate  number of people in this organization who wan't me 
        to do their Job as well as my own. [[Back to the Garret, Q]]
        
        Q

    Clearly a major part of Digital culture is the freedom that we as
    employees have been regularly given.  This policy appears to infringe
    on this part of our culture.
    
    I have been in the field serving our customers for almost nine years
    and have always found that our customers are POSITIVELY impressed
    by our freedoms.  Yes, they are even impressed that employees are
    allowed to have tasteless (in SOME eyes) personal statements in
    their place of work.
    
    Just a small voice,
    
    Positively don

    Exceprted from a Digital Interoffice Memorandum
    
    TO:  Cost Center Managers      FROM:   (name) PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
         PKO1, PKO2, PKO3                                            
    
    SUBJ: BUILDING APPEARANCE
    
    Please advise all the personnel within your organizations that no
    item of any kind should be visible above the module office partitions.
    
    If additional shelving, filing cabinets, etc. are needed to acoommodate
    these items, please submit a "REQUISITION FOR DIGITAL STANDARD
    FURNITURE" and send it to...
      ...the Property Managment Group will fill these requests as quickly
    as possible.
    
    Working together towards this goal, we will be able to maintain
    the aesthetic environment of our buildings.  Your cooperation in
    this matter is greatly appreciated
    
    --------------
    
    Our ``aesthetic'' enivronment?  I wonder if that includes the jiffy
    poles with our ethernet drops...

    I just got word that "office cleanliness" will be in my review.
    I am basically a slob, but do observe common sense when I have
    a visitor from outside the plant, visiting me, and therefore attempt
    to clean up the debris. The visits are rare however, as I am an
    engineer and have nothing to do with sales or marketing.
    
    Why is this all happening?
    
    	-John

Perhaps you should research the official compensation policy's format for a
Component Engineer's review.
				/AHM

	Another one of these memos came through today (fall
	cleaning)... Somebody still can't find real work to do...
	
	The most interesting new feature is a new bulleted item:
	
	11) Any VT100 terminals will also be accepted during this
	clean up period.
	
	Are VT100's "not in good taste for our business
	environment":-)? I really need mine...
	
	Mike