Expenses

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anonymous

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I have been in pharma for a very long time and have worked at Novartis for years. I don’t ever recall having as strict expense guidelines as there are now. The one policy that has sent me reeling though is the one for no cash tips. Because My role requires frequent travel, this has become a burden. I always tip whether on personal or business travel (many family and friends who are in the service industry who depend on tips). But now we don’t get reimbursed for cash tips and it seems unrealistic and unreasonable. I will continue to tip out of my own pocket, but this seems so unfair and ridiculous for a multibillion company.
 


anonymous said:
I have been in pharma for a very long time and have worked at Novartis for years. I don’t ever recall having as strict expense guidelines as there are now. The one policy that has sent me reeling though is the one for no cash tips. Because My role requires frequent travel, this has become a burden. I always tip whether on personal or business travel (many family and friends who are in the service industry who depend on tips). But now we don’t get reimbursed for cash tips and it seems unrealistic and unreasonable. I will continue to tip out of my own pocket, but this seems so unfair and ridiculous for a multibillion company.
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Ok, I was with you on the first two sentences. Nothing is more absurd than Novartis expense reports. Worst of any company I have worked at. But why don’t you just tip on your company card? I do every time. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to be generous.
 


anonymous said:
I have been in pharma for a very long time and have worked at Novartis for years. I don’t ever recall having as strict expense guidelines as there are now. The one policy that has sent me reeling though is the one for no cash tips. Because My role requires frequent travel, this has become a burden. I always tip whether on personal or business travel (many family and friends who are in the service industry who depend on tips). But now we don’t get reimbursed for cash tips and it seems unrealistic and unreasonable. I will continue to tip out of my own pocket, but this seems so unfair and ridiculous for a multibillion company.
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Sent you reeling? Shut the fuck up, square.
 


Nobody likes expense reports. Nobody on the planet likes concur. But we are especially awful because we try to make concur talk to veeva and those two programs do not play well together. Somebody once described this process at Novartis as 1000 tiny little knives flying into your eyes all at once. I’m just quoting them. I didn’t make that up. Everybody from Dez on down to every single rep loathes our the expense report process. I read an article in the New York Times recently about expense reports. Finance people love to make them complicated so that you spend less and it’s less work for them. That was the gist of the entire article. So places like concur go out of their way to make it annoying. What are we gonna do? Not a thing. This is a reality of our industry. There is no easy answer for this. But I will tell you that if I am on any kind of a trip like a sales meeting and I want to buy a cocktail or I don’t feel like standing in line for lunch and I go grab lunch. I pay for it out of my own pocket and I don’t even bother to expense it. They pay us enough. Not to afford to buy our own lunch. Should we have to? No. But I hate that expense report process so much, I’d rather spend my own money. I wish I had an answer for you. Much luck.
 


anonymous said:
Ok, I was with you on the first two sentences. Nothing is more absurd than Novartis expense reports. Worst of any company I have worked at. But why don’t you just tip on your company card? I do every time. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to be generous.
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Hi Mr. Valet do you take American Express for 1 dollar
 


anonymous said:
I have been in pharma for a very long time and have worked at Novartis for years. I don’t ever recall having as strict expense guidelines as there are now. The one policy that has sent me reeling though is the one for no cash tips. Because My role requires frequent travel, this has become a burden. I always tip whether on personal or business travel (many family and friends who are in the service industry who depend on tips). But now we don’t get reimbursed for cash tips and it seems unrealistic and unreasonable. I will continue to tip out of my own pocket, but this seems so unfair and ridiculous for a multibillion company.
Click to expand...
I drive a chuckwagon sales-shill field sales mobiel and company provides a fuel car. I typically fill my fishing boat on Fridays with marine fuel at the marina in Milwaukee and also hang out at gas stations in Wauwatosa and offer discounted gasoline for random drivers for $40 a tank netting about $20 bucks cash each fill.

Been doing this for 17 years, no problems, just a perk like using the company jet or helicopter.
 


anonymous said:
Nobody likes expense reports. Nobody on the planet likes concur. But we are especially awful because we try to make concur talk to veeva and those two programs do not play well together. Somebody once described this process at Novartis as 1000 tiny little knives flying into your eyes all at once. I’m just quoting them. I didn’t make that up. Everybody from Dez on down to every single rep loathes our the expense report process. I read an article in the New York Times recently about expense reports. Finance people love to make them complicated so that you spend less and it’s less work for them. That was the gist of the entire article. So places like concur go out of their way to make it annoying. What are we gonna do? Not a thing. This is a reality of our industry. There is no easy answer for this. But I will tell you that if I am on any kind of a trip like a sales meeting and I want to buy a cocktail or I don’t feel like standing in line for lunch and I go grab lunch. I pay for it out of my own pocket and I don’t even bother to expense it. They pay us enough. Not to afford to buy our own lunch. Should we have to? No. But I hate that expense report process so much, I’d rather spend my own money. I wish I had an answer for you. Much luck.
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"They pay us enough".
You are senior managements' wet-dream.
No bonus on Leqvio for a year? "We pay them enough"
3% merit increase on my mediocre salary? "We pay them enough"
Double someone's territory and make them do the twice the work they were doing a month ago? "We pay them enough".
The food at the national meetings is a total disgrace & I have paid for my own meals out of my own pocket many times, but by no means does that mean that they "pay us enough".
 




anonymous said:
"They pay us enough".
You are senior managements' wet-dream.
No bonus on Leqvio for a year? "We pay them enough"
3% merit increase on my mediocre salary? "We pay them enough"
Double someone's territory and make them do the twice the work they were doing a month ago? "We pay them enough".
The food at the national meetings is a total disgrace & I have paid for my own meals out of my own pocket many times, but by no means does that mean that they "pay us enough".
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Have to agree with you. We aren’t “paid enough”. Although some reps and teams are, and seems to be those who make 2 calls a day to specialists who don’t even come in for lunches
 


anonymous said:
Ok, I suppose you got me there. However, I can’t think of a single time in 25 years I have gone anywhere with a valet on company time.
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Maybe you aren’t in the field? I valet constantly when I have to drive to meetings or a conference at a hotel, dinner with my boss. Airport coming back on a late flight
 


anonymous said:
Hi Mr. Valet do you take American Express for 1 dollar
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I've driven nearly every brand of car. Mercedes is the best. Genesis is number 2. Audi 3. BMW 4.

Why doesn't Elon (Tesla) get into Formula One or build the best luxury car the world has ever seen? I understand the value of "practical" and affordable cars. However, the Tesla lineup reminds me of gocarts. Plus, the dei/woke/hipster vibe is a huge turnoff.
 


God said:
I've driven nearly every brand of car. Mercedes is the best. Genesis is number 2. Audi 3. BMW 4.

Why doesn't Elon (Tesla) get into Formula One or build the best luxury car the world has ever seen? I understand the value of "practical" and affordable cars. However, the Tesla lineup reminds me of gocarts. Plus, the dei/woke/hipster vibe is a huge turnoff.
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You might say that rating cars is subjective. It's not.
 


They keep talking about ai this ai that and yet our expense reports are the most prehistoric thing about this job. Cloning an event is not that much easier than starting from scratch. It's ridiculous. And all this apple/ Microsoft integration is terribly incompatible. You want to open a link in an email? please enter your password and then let us call you to so you can press pound.
 




anonymous said:
I drive a chuckwagon sales-shill field sales mobiel and company provides a fuel car. I typically fill my fishing boat on Fridays with marine fuel at the marina in Milwaukee and also hang out at gas stations in Wauwatosa and offer discounted gasoline for random drivers for $40 a tank netting about $20 bucks cash each fill.

Been doing this for 17 years, no problems, just a perk like using the company jet or helicopter.
Click to expand...
I do the same at the Naples marinia and Sunoco gas stations for years plus buy extra food for personal use. It’s a perk like flying in the company Gulfstream 750 or Euro Star heliocopter.
 


anonymous said:
Maybe you aren’t in the field? I valet constantly when I have to drive to meetings or a conference at a hotel, dinner with my boss. Airport coming back on a late flight
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Until this reorg I was in the field more than most with the miles and sales to prove it. Valet parking just isn’t common on my part of the country. I self park at the airport. I have been to a few local meetings at boutique hotels in the last few years, but I self parked.
I hear your point, just not the most pressing of the many policy absurdities on expenses for most in the field.
 


anonymous said:
Until this reorg I was in the field more than most with the miles and sales to prove it. Valet parking just isn’t common on my part of the country. I self park at the airport. I have been to a few local meetings at boutique hotels in the last few years, but I self parked.
I hear your point, just not the most pressing of the many policy absurdities on expenses for most in the field.
Click to expand...
Smell the carpet of your vehicle before driving away from the valet lane. Someone might have urinated in your car... The same applies to physicians.
 









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