In Reply to: Re: Are things really this bad? posted by Employee on 23 December 2001 at 14:36:18:
I hear it here and now I hear it there ... "I need the money so I check my conscience in at the door". Disgraceful some might say, but that would be a total misrepresentation. The truth is that you, I and everyone else who joined pre 90's bought in to what was presented to us as a "very special company". That meant we went the extra mile ... without pay. Wasn't Special Company the core message in the 75th anniversary issue of THINK? The problem we have then is that we paid the subscription but haven't had the delivery, and the delivery agents are waving their hands and shaking their heads and saying "Did no one tell you tell you honest employee? This company is not special, it has no principles and it must live in the jungle by the natural laws which govern the jungle. It is without our control. We are sorry that you had the misconception that IBM was special but the truth is that it is not. Further we can't imagine where you got so a whimsical idea from."
As Fitzgerald's Daisy said "Rich girls don't marry poor boys Jay Gatsby. Has nobody told you that?" In other words we have all been used and to date had.
I disagree though about what one can do. Smile in work but tell your relatives,friends, neighbors and the friendly press man at the bar on a Friday night just what is going on here. Write to your elected representative. You will not be alone. IBM's reputation is rocking and has been rocked severely in the last five years. Let's tell Lou thru others what a splendid job he's done.
Philby