Conference 7.286::digital

    ... which I would propose as a fitting alternative to the clock tower,
    and as a choice preferable to the new logo.
    
    No really, I agree 100% with Tim.  Leave the clock tower...  Despite the
    ghosts that walk there.  Or because of them.
    
    Dan
     

    
    	I agree with .0.  Leave the clock tower.
    
    Joe

    Thsi talk of service awards is most bewildering to people working in
    the UK.
    
    We have been told by HR that all service awards have been suspended
    whilst a Corporate-wide review is carried out.  Once the review is
    complete employees will be advised of the decisions that have been
    taken.
    
    So how come there's a current, active service award scheme in the USA? 
    Isn't the US subject to Corporate activities?  And why also is there
    still an active award scheme in Switzerland?
    
    Or should we just accept this as another example of valuing
    differences?

    Absolutely.  Get used to the fact that only the Americans & the Swiss
    are doing anything worth getting excited about...
    
    .NOT.
    
    :-)
    

    ah, give it up.  I'd never even seen a real clocktower until I moved to
    New England.  How do you expect employees in other parts of the world
    to appreciate a part of our locale?  Also, how come you reject the new
    service awards without ever having seen them?
    
    Besides, some of us are now the proud owners of a collector's item, or
    two... :-)
    
    Mark

    Re: .5  We don't get the same options in the rest of the world.  I
    don't know about the rest of Europe, but here in the UK, for 5 years
    it's a silver pen and for ten years a gold pen and pencil.  At least,
    it was.  I've been waiting 2 years for my 10 year pen, and they're
    still thinking about it.
    
    Mike

    I think the clock tower is already gone. I sent in the form for mine on
    my 25th anniversary.
    
    Ive sent severl notes about when it would come. 
    
    Ive had several answers about delays of various types.
    
    My 26th anniversary is next week.
    
    I still have no clock.
    

	Perhaps the clocktower design should be replaced by a digit?
	(could I tell you which one?)

		(%^<)

		Dick

>	Perhaps the clocktower design should be replaced by a digit?
>	(could I tell you which one?)

    I thought the service awards were being replaced with pink slips!
    ;'}
    
    -OFWAMI-

    see note 3414 for more creative ideas!
    

    Awards seem to be suspended here in the US too.  I passed 15 years last
    month, and all I got was a EMAIL telling me to wait while they figure
    out which end is up.
    
    bill

    	I passed 20 years last May, and the result of a mail a few weeks
    ago to HRO asking them the direct question as to whether it was worth
    anything has been ...

I liked the clock tower... 'til it fell off.

Might as well leave it off, now that we don't have one anyway :-(

-Andy

>> I liked the clock tower... 'til it fell off.

I was able to pry the clock tower off of my gift.  I suppose I will
be able to pry the digital logo off the next one.

	As well as many others that have responded, I've passed my 25th
	anniversary, have selected the clock tower, and the silence has
	been deafening.

	I received the pamphlet in July and received a mail message in November
	stating that the awards dinner had been rescheduled to the Feb - Mar
	'95 timeframe (dependent upon Bob's calendar).

	I sent in a mail message a few weeks ago, asking for an update, but
	believe the addressee to be analagous to those little plastic boxes
	that used to catch the paper tape "punch-outs" (a.k.a. "bit buckets")!

	Does anyone have a GOOD idea for an address that we can actually
	reach to try and get an answer ?

	...still w-a-i-t-i-n-g ..... 

	Leo Martin, Augusta,ME

    I'd call the "office of the President" and ask when the dinner is
    scheduled for.  If the other one was awaiting his schedule, why not go
    to the source.  A 25 year veteran deserves better.... 
    
    Toodles.....JP
    

    Coming to a Taco Bell near you...
    
    ;^)

re:   <<< Note 3691.15 by CSC32::M_BLESSING "Non-DEC addr: [email protected]" >>>

>>>> I liked the clock tower... 'til it fell off.
>>I was able to pry the clock tower off of my gift.  I suppose I will
>>be able to pry the digital logo off the next one.
				      ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    good luck!
    ;^)
    

From:	PAMSRC::STUTZMAN     "Software should be released, not escape" 13-FEB-1995 11:40:06.85
To:	NM%CTOAVX::MTS$::"MRO::Sandy Justice Savage"
CC:	STUTZMAN
Subj:	Suggestion for Service Awards Certificates

Sandy:

I received your message about the delay in service awards.  Allow me to
suggest a radical change to the certificate program.  Instead of waiting
for a physical certificate to be produced and sent to the person
(or his/her manager), build a application that automatically sends
a personalized mail message to the person dated with the actual service
anniversary.  In addition to the usual "recognizing N years of service," there
could be some standard text discussing what was going on on Digital the
year that the person started (The "How we work at Digital" book from
Digital Press would be an convenient source of material).  Both of these items
would provide timely and personalized recognition of service.

I make this suggestion based on several experiences in my past 15 years:

-  My 5- and 10- year certificates both arrived at least 6 months after 
   my actual anniversary.

-  My 10-year certificate (when it was finally located), arrived with a
   blank "Suggestions to manager for presentation" form clipped to it.  I 
   consider this form as an ironic but integral component of my 10th anniversary
   at Digital. (Incidentally, this was three managers ago...I'm sure my
   current manager wouldn't have done this).

- I personally would have much preferred any kind of recognition on the
  actual day as opposed to a certificate that arrives later.  My service
  Digital is certainly something that only I expect to "recognize," so
  I feel it should be tied clsoely to the day.

If you stay with physical certificates, it would be nice to add the actual
anniversary date.  This certainly could be accomplished with any
reasonable desktop publishing package.

Thanks for your original note.

Walter Stutzman
Consultant III, DECmessageQ Engineering
DTN 320-5425

> (or his/her manager), build a application that automatically sends
> a personalized mail message to the person dated with the actual service

I hope the intent was ironic (sorry, can't tell from the tone).
Although perhaps it'd be fitting in the Brave New Digital that
the only entity that notices you've been working for N years
is an automatic computer system.
 
> Digital Press would be an convenient source of material).  Both of these items
> would provide timely and personalized recognition of service.

That should read 'impersonalized'.  Or possibly 'resourcized'.

Actually (ta-da) we have it now.   It's a fully distributed
system.  I just now took steps to ensure that I will receive
a grateful message on my next significant anniversary.  Here's
what I did...


$ NM$AFTER = "1-AUG-1997 00:09:00.00"
$ MAIL TT: NM%MU::PORTER /SUBJECT="Congratulations!"

 Dear Dave,
 
 It is twenty years, almost to the hour, give or take a 
 timezone change or two, since you first reported for
 work at DEC in Reading.  Thanks for doing a great job!
 
 /signed/
   Dave

^Z
$


Now I just need to keep this VMS system running for
two-and-a-half more years...

    
From:	SEND::NMAIL-DAEMON 01-AUG-1997 09:04:32.70
To:	SYSTEM
CC:	
Subj:	Report on failed mail

Errors were detected when processing mail message
 which was entered at 16-FEB-1995 15:31

From: PORTER
To:   MU::PORTER
Subj: Congratulations!

----------------
The following error message was returned whilst sending to
 address MU::PORTER

    %MAIL-E-NOSUCHUSR, no such user PORTER at node MU

This is a hard error.
No more attempts to send to this address will be made.

    Lets keep the the Tower!!  I'm still waiting for my 15 year award.  If
    not the Clock Tower, then let me have not.  
    
    AKA(AG)

        RE:.18

    >Coming to a Taco Bell near you...

    	I made 20 years last August and going to Taco Bell would have at
    least told me my manager knew about my anniversary.  As it is I don't
    think he knows or cares, a far cry from the DEC I started at 20 years
    ago.  I remember at my 10 year anniversary we had a nice sit down
    dinner and after everyone was done the plant manager called people up
    one at a time and thanked them for their years of service and handed
    them their service award.  It made you want to do more, it made you
    feel appreciated, but that was when the clock tower was the company
    logo.

    Joe  

    At 20 years my manager came by my cube one day and handed me an
    envelope with 'I dont know why this came to me, its yours' The
    instructions to the manager about how to properly present the
    certificate were still attached.
    
    At 25 a different manager handed the certificate to me, with a bit of
    an awed expression, and some comment about being in grade school when I
    started working for DEC. 
    
    Next week  is 26, hope I get my 25th service award by then.

    Re: like .26
    
    For my 10th (and several 15's and 20's the same nite) we had a nice
    dinner and then Bill Demmer (Then VP of Eng) presented the awards.  You
    did not go to him, he came to you to congratulate you.
    
    
    Sigh,
    	Bill
    

    The "awarding" of certificates has been inconsistent in my
    experience, depending on what group you're in, and who you are
    within a given group.
    
    In one group, 15-year consulting engineers were presented with
    their awards at a special on-site cake-and-speeches celebration
    that everyone in the greater organization was encouraged to attend.
    But a 20-year recipient who was a lower-level engineer in that same
    group received his certificate in an ordinary weekly small group
    meeting as an afterthought at the end.  And as a senior engineer
    in that same group, I didn't get my ten-year certificate (or any other
    acknowledgment or recognition of the event) from them at all; three
    months later I transferred to another group, and the management
    shipped the certificate to my new supervisor, who handed it to me
    one day in his office ("Here, this came for you...").
    
    As for my 15th, it too went unobserved, but a few weeks later
    a former supervisor at the same site saw me walking by and called
    me over to his office, where he handed me the certificate saying
    that he'd gotten it a while ago and was "tired of having to look
    at it" there.
    
    I don't really care about this, other than the corporate hypocrisy
    involved in pretending to care about such things vs. the reality
    of how it's handled.  I've never believed that anyone should get
    prizes for having warmed a seat and consumed valuable Digital Oxygen
    for a particular span of years.  But I'm always amused by the
    disparity between their professed priorities and their actions.
    
    Chris

Last year around my 10th anniversary I asked about a service award and was
told that they were now being batched at the end of the calendar year, in
December.  (And if one left the company in the interim?)  It's over seven
months later and I still haven't seen hide nor hair of any award or
certificate.  You know, I actually don't give a damn about the thing itself
-- certificate, cheap pen, whatever -- but the hypocrisy and bad behavior
do bother me.  I think I'd rather get a timely mail message generated from
the employee database rather than be jerked around by human beings.

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

___Pete

    	I intend to ask about my 20 year service award (joined 1-May-1974)
    at my exit interview on Monday ;-)
    
    	Dave

    My 5th, 10th, and 15th were handled in a nice way from my Manager, in
    staff meetings, with a few kinds words.  I give my bosses at those
    times credit.  I've worked for quite a few clunkers over the years, and
    believe I have been lucky each time the 5 years rolls around.  It's
    amazing how little it takes to be just a bit considerate with employees
    at the right times, but it's also amazing how few folks fit into that
    catagory.
    
    Mark
    

Something taught in Digital's management courses -- and in my experience
it's true -- is that although there are very few "motivators" (factors that
move people to work more or better) there are very many "demotivators".

The prospect of a 10-year (5-year, 15-year...) service award has absolutely
no effect on my desire to do a good job, stay late to finish something, put
in extra effort, or help my colleagues.  Neither does my salary.  But it's
discouraging and demotivating when no one recognizes the quality of my
work, or the effort I put in, or my loyalty to my colleagues and to the
company.  The recognition can come in many forms private or public --
direct attaboys, raises, stock options, public recognition, service awards
-- but it has to be real and significant to whomever gets it.

What I read in this thread has to do with demotivation.

Who cares about the stupid awards?  What matters to people is that they
work hard, do their best, put in the best hours of most of the days of
their lives over a long period, and are ignored.  Perhaps we'd be better
off with the attitude expressed by a Marxist (half Karl, half Groucho :-)
friend of mine: "Don't expect charity from them.  You give them time.  They
give you money.  That's it."

This is actually a very 90s attitude, one that any conservative economist
would approve.

___Pete

    My 5th anniversary service award was presented to me on the occasion of
    my 10th anniversary, in a nice ceremony at the senior managers staff.
    The senior manager was a little embarassed that I had not yet received
    my 5th year gift, but he made up for it.
    
    My 15th year I received (1) a certificate in the interoffice mail, and
    (2) a gift form at home. No personal recognition of any kind.
    
    At 20 years, my then manager approached me several weeks BEFORE my
    anniversary to say he was aware of it, had my new-style certificate
    framed (VERY nice), and took the group out to lunch to celebrate.
    THe guy (Clem O'Brien, if any of you ever have the good fortune to work
    for him) knows how to treat his people right.
    
    I passed 21 on Feb 11. Now I can drink!
    
    Tony
    

>    I passed 21 on Feb 11. Now I can drink!
    
Now you need to.

My girlfriend got hers during the "limbo" period between being told by her
manager that she was likely to be TFSOed, and the time she got the official
notice.  I think it was several months late.

Sigh.....

	THERE MAY BE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL !

	(This MAY also only apply to US)

	I hit up the plant Human Resources Manager, and was given a
	phone number to call for status:

		1-800-828-8835

	Now I've not gotten to total closure, but I have spoken to someone
	LIVE.

	When/if I hear anything conclusive I'll drop a note.

	Until then, "...let your fingers do the walking..."

	Leo

I'll never forget my 5th Anniversary ...

I was sent by personal mail a formal invitation (RSVP) to attend

       --------------------------------------
       | "A FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON" | 
       |           in my honor              |
       |          to be held at             |
       |       SHERATON-BOXBOROUGH          |
       |               on                   |
       |    Friday, December 10th,1982      |
       |     (Transporation Provided)       |
       --------------------------------------

I selected my choice meal... then 2 weeks before the BIG event...
"Due to the financial state of the company the luncheon will be
 had in the Maynard Mill Cafeteria" ... No Kidding !
            ----------------------
Some things never change !

    
    The 1978 five-year awards luncheon for MRO people was moved from the
    White CLiffs to the MRO caf.
    
    See that! The signs were there even way back then, and we weren't
    paying attention...
    

    My 5 year award was supposed to arrive in 1980.  Do you think I should
    give up on it?
    
    :-)
    							Don

	CONTACT !

	The number I gave in a previous reply (1-800-828-8836) is for US,
	and is for all awards EXCEPT the clock towers !

	For status on the clock towers, call (DTN) 223-7628 and Steve (?????)
	will either answer, or his voicemail will come on.

	I left a voicemail and he got back to me within 6 hours.

	There are a batch of clock towers shipping next month (March)

		...AND I'M SUPPOSED TO GET ONE !

	So, for anyone inquiring about other than a tower - I encourage you
	to call the "1-800" number above.

	For clock tower inquiries - call Steve (I couldn't catch his last name).

	good luck

	Leo

    
    	Back in 79 when I got my 5 year award it was standard procedure for
    all 5 year lunchens to be on site.  10, 15 and 20 where off site and a
    much more formal affair.
    
    Joe

    ITS HERE!
    
    My Clock tower was waiting for me when I got home tonight. One year
    and one week after my 25th anniversary.
    
    It arrived in fine condition- even with a battery in its clock.
    Although I was a bit dissapointed to see such a fine bit of casting
    work housing a cheap plastic clock motion, but I understand most of
    the world would not appreciate a manually wound motion. Only one face
    has the clock drive- the other three are dummies.
     
    Maybe I'll have to make a motion for it! Ive got some photos of
    the real works, from back in the old mill rat days when you could get
    into the tower. 
    

	Ron,

	  Congratulations !

	  How was your clock shipped ?

	  Up here in the great white (damn it's still snowing !) north
	we don't have all the modern conveniences as (my assumption)
	folks in the "big city" !

	  Please note that my definition of the "big city" is anywhere
	SOUTH or WEST of Kittery, Maine !

	Leo

	P.S. Ever seen the INSIDE of the clock "up close and personal" ?
	     Of course I've never seen it, as there was a locked door made
	     out of "scrap lumber" with the normal screening on it !

I was pleasantly surprised to received my clock tower yesterday as well. I
spoke with a friend on Monday evening who works for the pewter company; the
order was only completed and put on the shipping dock on Monday afternoon. 

I was less concerned with the cheap clock movement since I wanted the clock
tower both for its sentimental value and because I like pewter castings. 
My son and youngest daughter asked if the clock really worked but they were
more interested in whether the bell rang. Maybe a trip to Spag's for a
replacement clock movement with a chime when the existing one dies.... 

The more I look at it the more I like it.

    It is indeed a nice bit of pewter work. Very well made and finished.
    And I was mostly interested in it as a senimental item. I like clocks
    and old mill buildings. I have been inside the mill clock works, have a
    few photos of it.
    
    Among my various service awards, this is clearly the only one of any
    lasting value or interest. Somehow it seems a shame in our haste to wipe
    out all traces of the old DEC that this will no longer be a service award.
    We are truly purging all that was great about our past. 

RE: .46

	Hey, put those photos up on the web! :-)

							mike

  One of the fellows in the Terminals Group in Marlboro has a
  the real clock's bell digitized as a sound sample on his
  Macintosh. And, thanks to "SuperClock" or some such, every
  hour, the very distinctive sound of the Mill clock chiming
  wafts through the air.

  It's eerie; it certainly stops me everytime *I* hear it,
  sort of like the chime clock in Poe's "The Masque of the
  Red Death". :-)
                                   Atlant

    So get a copy and post it to the net. Then even those of us that have
    long since left the GMA can hear the Mill Tower Clock chiming on the
    hour. :-)
    
    For those that want to know how, there is a piece of shareware
    available on the net called BarClock that puts the time and date in the
    active title bar under Windows. Under 'setup' you can set it to chime
    and select a sound file for it to use as the chime.
    
    Harry
    

Could anyone give a pointer where this can be found....

regards

Remi

    Remi, check out the shareware notesfile at HUMANE::IBMPC_SHAREWARE. A
    DIR/TITLE=CLOCK or DIR/TITLE=BAR should find the right tpoic for you.
    KP7 enabled.
    
    Harry
    

The clocktower sound sample I have installed on my Macintosh was found
on the Maynard home page on The Web.  The original sound was for 3:00. 
Jim Burrows picked up the sound and edited it down to one "bong", and I
installed it in the Macintosh system 7.5 clock accessory to chime the
hours, and ring a single chime on the half-hour.  The thanks go to Jim
for fetching and editing the sound.  I do not know who originally
recorded it.

Anyway:

- PRNSYS::RELEASED_TOOLS:[VTSTAR]BONG.SND
	Macbinary file of the Macintosh sound file.

- PRNSYS::RELEASED_TOOLS:[VTSTAR]BONG.WAV
	Microsoft Windows .WAV file of the same sound.

I don't read this conference, so if you have problems with either of
these files, send me mail.

    .46
    
    Is the mill clock definitely not going to be an award anymore?
    
    For anyone getting to 25 years service, even in the next 10 or so
    years, the Mill would have been the central point of their working life
    for the majority of their time in Digital.  Seems appropriate to retain
    it as an award for quite a while yet.
    
    Or will we get pewter casts of MSO with an LCD display glued on the
    front?
    
    Axel

    Look out, the Europeans are about to flame you...
    
>    For anyone getting to 25 years service, even in the next 10 or so
>    years, the Mill would have been the central point of their working life
>    for the majority of their time in Digital.  Seems appropriate to retain
    

    the original clocktower isn't disappearing, just the Digital service
    awards.  I really don't understand why people are so attached to a
    memento, but maybe there is an opportunity for a historical society to
    sell the pewter replica (sans Digital logo).  Someone have contact with
    a group in Maynard that would take this up?
    
    Mark

    .54
    
    The Europeans can flame all they like.  I'm Australian myself, the mill
    still represented the centre of the company.  

Here in Germany, the 15-year award is an expensive Mont Blanc fountain
pen.  More or less on the appropriate day in 1992, my manager walked
into my office and presented it to me.  We had a nice chuckle about
that, because those 15 years were spent with five (or six, depending
how you count) companies.  In order of acquisition:  Bunker Ramo,
Allied Signal, ADP, Philips, [Digital Kienzle,] Digital.

The pen leaks.

Steve

	"....come to those who wait..."

	  When I came home today, my wife started describing a big box
	from some company she hadn't ordered anything from, and how she wanted
	the driver to take it back if it wasn't.... I almost had a coronary!

	  The clock tower has come to Maine !

	  I guess I'm a romantic but here's some ironic notes:

		o it came packed in the famous "vomit in a bag" that Ken
		  Olsen hated

		o this was the FIRST time I saw the time to be correct !

		o it made it here on the second day of Olin King's visit
		  to his newly purchased facility - the Augusta, Maine
		  plant -
			a. Olin King is the Chairman of the Board of
			   SCI Systems Inc, the world's largest Contract
			   manufacturer (we're his 20th plant)

			b. my time at Digital started with K.O., and my
			         time with SCI starts with O.K. !

	  I hope everyone else gets their clock towers, as they're really
	quite nice - especially to a romantic !

	Leo