okay... so this morning was my office's typical monthly meeting. i'm used to these basically being an hour long break where i get to sit on my ass and do absolutely nothing except tune out whatever i'm being droned on at about. however... this morning's meeting was a little different. it was [oh this is classic] a meeting about [dramatic pause] meetings. [yeah, you read that right. i was just as shocked.] yes. we had a meeting about how our meetings next year were going to work. and not only did we have a meeting about it, but we had and hour and a half long meeting about it. [!?!]
right about now i'll bet you're thinking "what? a meeting about meetings? how inept are the managers there?" well i'll tell you. they are so inept that my office manager [thats my boss's boss, for those who dont get the bureaucratic structure around here] had to make a list on a white board of OUR ideas of what a "good meeting" and a "bad meeting" were. [i was shocked and appalled. i mean i knew she was incompetent, but i didn't think she was THAT incompetent]. the really sad thing about it is, this was sorely needed. our staff meetings are pointless and boring, and generally have nothing to do with anything that affects us as a group, and generally singles out issues that individuals are having that none of us have need to even think about let alone deal with. [and that, my friends, didnt end up on the "bad meeting" list until I PUT IT THERE MYSELF]
my office is so bad off, that we had to SET GROUND RULES for said meetings, and determine that there should be an agenda circulated beforehand, and say that there needs to be a specific reason for the meeting or not have one at all... i mean, isnt this common sense? why the heck call a one hour meeting if you dont have anything to talk about? [oh wait. this is a government organization we're talking about here. sorry. my bad.] oh yeah, we're also so bad off that part of the ground rules had to be "be respectful" and "dont interrupt people" [erm, what the fuck, is this KINDERGARTEN?]
maybe its just me, but i thought that the way meetings worked was as follows:
1. manager decides theres something their staff needs to know, or theres a problem that needs to be solved.
2. manager calls a meeting to discuss said issues.
3. staff shows up and listens.
4. after the manager (or their alloted spokesperson) is through, staff gets to ask questions.
5. meeting done.
and the whole thing is handled in an adult, professional manner, with no screaming, no yelling, no calling names... i mean hell, thats what grown ups do in an office environment right? act like adults? be professional in group settings? [i know they dont act professionally in personal, or relatively private settings... we're all human... and we all need our bitch sessions].
the funny thing is that the younger staff in my office gets this concept, and through the entire meeting we were looking at each other like we'd suddenly been transported to mars and our supervisors had been replaced by radioactive venutians or something. it was the older crowd that needed this "tutorial in meeting ettiquette". in fact, it was our office manager who needed it the most, and she was the one leading the stupid meeting!!
so yes, this was a royal waste of my time, and my energy, and i should have just skipped the whole thing and suffered the consequences [my boss going "why weren't you at the meeting this morning?" me saying "because i assumed it would be pointless and a waste of my time as usual" her saying "oh, well, you should have been there anyway" and me wondering why...]. but no, i'm non confrontational like that. ah well.
so yeah, that about killed my morning. havent a clue what i'm gonna do now... its a half hour til lunch time, and everything i've got to do will take longer than that, and i dont want to have to stop in the middle of something, because then i'll forget where i was when i get back to my desk... bleh. what a waste of time. well... maybe it wasnt a waste of time for the supervisors, ad they learned what a meeting was supposed to be like... but me, well, somehow i dont think its my job to have to teach them. at least, its not on my official job description, which of course doesnt cover half of what i do on a daily basis... [yeah. i should get that looked into. i think i'm due for a re-class, or at the very least, a raise.]
ah well... more later... i'm going to go waste half an hour.
yes! thats exactly what we need! a meeting about the meeting about meetings!
ReplyDeletePhin, do you work for the govt too? lol