Not like Moses at all.

The company has been telling me for weeks that I must go to a meeting of managers from each station, to be held next week in the glittering desert oasis of Las Vegas. In the universe of station managers and corporate directors this is much-anticipated. They will wear expensive clothing and say heady things to the throng, making pronouncements in consultant-speak. Evenings hold the promise of good times at the bar and craps tables.

I don't want to go.

There is nothing I can think of that will interest me less than three days in a corporate prison, captive to suits telling us we must continue to operate "lean" and challenging us to have fewer injuries, accidents, delay time and a richer bottom line. Don't we all know that anyway--that we are supposed to gain efficiency and improve safety? Do we really need three days out of the shop to be aware of that?

I know some of these guys are licking their chops to get there. Perhaps it is to make presentations of successes forged in their shops at home, and get a public pat on the head from a vice-president. Maybe it is to refresh old friendships with former coworkers and acquaintances. Or maybe it is appealing for the prospect of such base activities as unchecked consumption of alcohol, gambling or the engagement of a paid escort. I have worked with folks who just don't do well without their wives to manage available free time.

For me, there are several reasons I balk at all this.

First, I could care less about gambling or the other sins of Vegas. While I love the desert climate, I am happily married and have no interest in professional women; I don't drink much at all; and unlike others who are actual managers, paid well by the company, I am in reality a much lower-paid supervisor-in-charge with scant funds for wagering. (I guess it makes me a joyless person not to take interest in gambling. Aside from not being lucky or skillful, I think I would rather just give a homeless fellow the $25 that most folks say they're willing to lose in a casino outing.) Believe me, I would just as soon be at home with my family from whom I am absent too much.

Second, in other travels I've had with this enterprise, I really haven't cared much for the people I've met. They tend to be pompous, demanding, competitive and arrogant. None of those qualities are endearing; less so in a dying industry which was never respected to begin with. It would be refreshing to meet people in my company who seem grateful just to be working. Not so.

Third, I am just not into this anymore. I would be happy to park cars or pump gas, without concern for monthly budgets and food cost and payroll. With only a few short years until a hopeful retirement, I lack elan for the business or the people who are in charge of it. Sufficient work exists now. Enough words have been uttered by consultants. Leave us alone.

And finally, I noted that the meetings are at a pricey resort just outside the city. Why should a corporation, struggling financially to stay on the good side of its owners, spend $175 a night, plus meals, airfare, and other incidental costs which eighty people will expense? Put it all in a letter. Print a brochure. Have a conference call and interrupt an afternoon instead of a week.

This is the kind of poor corporate judgment that AIG and Lehman Brothers displayed. No public money is involved, but how can the parent company allow this? (I guess I would have a little more respect if they were using a Super 8 and meeting in Dallas at the HQ building. All the HQ people could go home at night, saving a lot.)

The sleep I will lose, the time I will sacrifice and the money just our shop will waste on this venture into the desert is significant. Moses led his people into the desert back to Israel. I am just being led into the desert, period. Moses didn't have to listen to consultants.