Adjusting per diems to account for Cost of Living Allowance

                                        Garnering Input

Our German-born CFO , Mister Herr Krebbs, suggested that we lower the per diem allowance for our customer service engineers who travel to client sites to repair our product. 

Looking very lugubrious, which is a word that many people don't know, Krebbs said, "ve neat to vake up unt smell ze Koffee-ve haf cash flow prrrroblems." 

Krebbs suggested that the per diem be cut from $70 a day to $50. "Zat vill safe uz a million dollars. Das is gut!"

CEO Stan, a democrat when feeling cornered, expressed that he wished to "garner" input from others. Garner is also not a word in common use, even less so than lugubrious. "Gloria, what's your cut on this?"

The gates of hell had been open for Mister Herr Krebbs as I delivered my homily.

"I think that Mister Herr Krebbs needs to learn a thing or two about cost savings from HR. It's my take that we can choppy chop chop the per diem down to far less. At the breakfast buffet, nerds can make themselves a sandwich for lunch. Furthermore and all the more so, they can adapt a business-friendly mindset  by taking very early morning flights where breakfast is served. I know that Air Canada, for example, serves breakfast on all flights that leave between 4 and 5 AM."

Catching my breath from excitement, I continued.

"Laundry expenses are personal expenses, not to be footed by the company. I know for a fact that some of our nerds don't change their socks every day. Just walk around the analog group on the 6th floor, or QA. And, I must say, taking a greyhound bus to and from the airport never hurt anyone; bus travel puts one in touch with the common man. One last point. I think Ryanair and Wizz Air are far more daily that Swiss, Singapore or Emirates."

This was followed by my coup de grace.

 "If we put and one and one together, we can bring down our per diem to $12 a day."

CFO Mister Herr Krebbs, always with the German love of detail said, "Fraulein Gloria. Vun and vun is 2"

CEO Stan asked me why I had used the term "daily", wondering if this was "a Canadian thing".