Re: Today (Feb 26) IBM announcements

In article <62ol07F24be7bU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Pete Dashwood <dashwood@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

[snip]

>I bill by the day, where a day is not less than 6 hours. My daily rate is

>around the middle of the market; I charge less than IBM, but more than
some 
>consultancies. (I justify this by track record and a conditional money
back 
>guarantee. So far, I have never had to refund, but I came alarmingly
close 
>on one occasion :-))
>
>Usually,  I do more than 6 hours (obviously, it depends on what is 
>needed...), occasionally I will do much more than 6 hours, and sometimes
I 
>do the 6 hours.

Ahhhhhh, the 'Professional Day' routine, or something close to it.  I 
think I posted about that a while back... let me see... ahhhhh, a decade 
or so back, from 
<http://groups.google.com/group/comp.software.year-2000/msg/a30a874ee923d7e1?dmode=source>

--begin quoted text:

60 miles from Wall St... my wager is that this is the Summit, NJ office 
where I had an interview... it went sorta like this:

PHM: 'We expect a Professional Day out of you... if you have to put in a 
little extra time to get the job done then you do it.'

Me: 'That sounds reasonable... and if I get the job done in less time the 
I get to go home early?'

PHM: (odd sound of surprise... kinda like a *snoouurk*) 'No, you see it 
Just Doesn't Work That Way, there's *always* something more to do.'

Me: 'I understand... well, sir, given that situation I cannot, in Good 
Professional Conscience, work with you on this contract; it is not my 
habit to allow my time to be stolen and thereby turn my clients into 
thieves.'

PHM: 'Hunh?'

Me: 'Simple... if I were to bill you for hours which I did not work then I

would be a thief; monetary matters aside this is not honorable.  If I, 
being an hourly employee, fulfill your demands that I work hours for which

I do not bill then I allow you to steal time from me; this turns *you* 
into thieves and I refuse to put you in such a position.'

--end quoted text

DD