- Nov 8, 2012
- 20,842
- 4,785
- 146
Need some holy wisdom advice from ATOT.
So I started traveling for a new project that I'm on. Typical project implementation, fly in Monday, fly out Thursday. This is something I'm used to by now. Well, this client is apparently a cheap ass. They want everyone that travels in "long-term" (which they define as > 3 weeks lol) to be booked in an apartment in an effort to save money on expenses.
The Situation:
1) As said, client is a cheapass. Were currently in build phase and they still haven't signed a contract with a required software vendor. Anyone with a half a brain realizes that when you delay the start of an implementation, it's only going to kick the can down the road. For every dollar you save in negotiating your software license, you will be paying $20 in consulting costs for a delayed go-live and overbooking of hours. Stupidity at its finest as I'm sure most here will know.
2) This project is... overall... in a non-cheap city. That is simply a fact. They want to book us into apartments in an effort to drive down expenses - which by the way, simply pale in comparison to our hourly consulting costs. The only cost this will affect obviously is hotels. This won't affect meals, this won't affect airfare, this won't affect taxi costs.
3) Here is the kicker: They want to book us in these apartments with a fucking rooommate. I'm sorry, I'm past the age of 19. I'm no longer in a college dorm. I'm an adult living in a professional world. Is it so much to fucking ask that I be entitled to an enclosed space with no one else?
My Arguments:
So what is ATOTs thoughts here? Would you go for it? Would you fight it? Would you give in?
Below are going to be my main arguments that I will pass on to my management (which will then have to fight on my behalf - which they likely will have no problem doing)
1) As stated above, I feel like as an adult working in a professional world as a consultant - bare minimum requirements is a standalone living area in an enclosed space without other people. If you want to argue dollars, that's fine. Give me the cost of how much the apartment is per month and I can (probably) easily stay within the ballpark of that. I may not be able to book the same hotel every week, but that's no issue for me. Maybe this is just my introverted self saying this, but I don't go for this shit. When I work I get enough of working colleagues when I'm in the office 40-50 hours. I don't need to come home to coworkers.
2) Here is my biggest problem: I've never met an apartment complex that charges by the day. That's because they simply don't exist. So they want us to lease these for long durations. Here is my problem: I have a family back at home. With all my previous projects, I tend to have some fairly simple demands: Assuming we aren't busy, I like to work 3 weeks on (locally) for every 1 week that I work remotely at home. I've never had an issue with this with previous jobs. Obvious exceptions are acceptable - such as near go-live, intense testing periods, etc...
I also tend to do other things - for example, sometimes I'll have a week where I'm in a training and need to work remotely. For Thanksgiving there is no shot in hell that I'm coming in for Mon-Wed. You get the picture. For hotels? That's not a problem, I'm not paying for those days. For an apartment? You have to pay for those regardless. My problem is that project management will be more likely to try to prevent me from working remotely if they are paying for an apartment. I don't want to put myself in that kind of situation.
3) This isn't an argument I can really make because it likely won't help me... But I have the highest status with a hotel company. There is no way in fuckville that I'm going to give that up for you to try and save a buck. GTFO. People that work for my company that work locally have tried to argue that people that work remotely get a monetary advantage to travel via airfare points and hotel points. While that may be true, I also sit on a cramped ass plane and a cramped ass living space in a shitty client office on a tiny ass desk. That is the very least you can ask for is to give me some sky peso equivalent points for all that shit. Typically we get home @ ~10:00 on Thursdays. Oh boy that was so worth the 1,000 airline miles!
So I started traveling for a new project that I'm on. Typical project implementation, fly in Monday, fly out Thursday. This is something I'm used to by now. Well, this client is apparently a cheap ass. They want everyone that travels in "long-term" (which they define as > 3 weeks lol) to be booked in an apartment in an effort to save money on expenses.
The Situation:
1) As said, client is a cheapass. Were currently in build phase and they still haven't signed a contract with a required software vendor. Anyone with a half a brain realizes that when you delay the start of an implementation, it's only going to kick the can down the road. For every dollar you save in negotiating your software license, you will be paying $20 in consulting costs for a delayed go-live and overbooking of hours. Stupidity at its finest as I'm sure most here will know.
2) This project is... overall... in a non-cheap city. That is simply a fact. They want to book us into apartments in an effort to drive down expenses - which by the way, simply pale in comparison to our hourly consulting costs. The only cost this will affect obviously is hotels. This won't affect meals, this won't affect airfare, this won't affect taxi costs.
3) Here is the kicker: They want to book us in these apartments with a fucking rooommate. I'm sorry, I'm past the age of 19. I'm no longer in a college dorm. I'm an adult living in a professional world. Is it so much to fucking ask that I be entitled to an enclosed space with no one else?
My Arguments:
So what is ATOTs thoughts here? Would you go for it? Would you fight it? Would you give in?
Below are going to be my main arguments that I will pass on to my management (which will then have to fight on my behalf - which they likely will have no problem doing)
1) As stated above, I feel like as an adult working in a professional world as a consultant - bare minimum requirements is a standalone living area in an enclosed space without other people. If you want to argue dollars, that's fine. Give me the cost of how much the apartment is per month and I can (probably) easily stay within the ballpark of that. I may not be able to book the same hotel every week, but that's no issue for me. Maybe this is just my introverted self saying this, but I don't go for this shit. When I work I get enough of working colleagues when I'm in the office 40-50 hours. I don't need to come home to coworkers.
2) Here is my biggest problem: I've never met an apartment complex that charges by the day. That's because they simply don't exist. So they want us to lease these for long durations. Here is my problem: I have a family back at home. With all my previous projects, I tend to have some fairly simple demands: Assuming we aren't busy, I like to work 3 weeks on (locally) for every 1 week that I work remotely at home. I've never had an issue with this with previous jobs. Obvious exceptions are acceptable - such as near go-live, intense testing periods, etc...
I also tend to do other things - for example, sometimes I'll have a week where I'm in a training and need to work remotely. For Thanksgiving there is no shot in hell that I'm coming in for Mon-Wed. You get the picture. For hotels? That's not a problem, I'm not paying for those days. For an apartment? You have to pay for those regardless. My problem is that project management will be more likely to try to prevent me from working remotely if they are paying for an apartment. I don't want to put myself in that kind of situation.
3) This isn't an argument I can really make because it likely won't help me... But I have the highest status with a hotel company. There is no way in fuckville that I'm going to give that up for you to try and save a buck. GTFO. People that work for my company that work locally have tried to argue that people that work remotely get a monetary advantage to travel via airfare points and hotel points. While that may be true, I also sit on a cramped ass plane and a cramped ass living space in a shitty client office on a tiny ass desk. That is the very least you can ask for is to give me some sky peso equivalent points for all that shit. Typically we get home @ ~10:00 on Thursdays. Oh boy that was so worth the 1,000 airline miles!
Last edited: