Showing posts with label Meetings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meetings. Show all posts

24 July 2008

"And it seems such a waste of time, if that's what it's all about"--Billy Joel



Lacochran's Business Rule #3: After making sure your boss is happy and realizing work isn't really about you, the most important skill to master is being able to sit in a room of painfully boring people for hours on end and not look bored. This means you do not do any of the following behaviors, each of which I swear to you, lovely reader, I've seen:

  • Snort derisively*
  • Drum your fingers incessantly, especially to tunes like Wipe Out
  • Play video games on your phone/PC
  • LOL at the IM/email you just received
  • Photoshop your personal photos on your PC
  • Do glut, or any other muscle clenching, sets
  • Pick your teeth, your ears, or your nose (with great concentration, no less!)
  • "Adjust" yourself repeatedly
  • Pass non-business notes
  • Yawn loudly
  • Sleep/Snore**
  • Lay your head on the conference table (unless you have the special haircut featured in the photo above)
  • Lay your head on your neighbor's shoulder
  • Lean back in your chair so far that the chair tips
  • Focus on the ceiling
  • Focus out the window
  • Focus on the chest/crotchal area of the person across from or next to you
  • Roll your eyes***
or otherwise let anyone know you are bored to tears. What you can do:
  • Look at each person that speaks as if they are the most interesting person on the flippin' planet
  • Repeat SILENTLY to yourself, "They're paying me buckets of money for this" and smile serenely.

* Snort appreciatively, all you want.

** The manager asked at the end of the meeting "You think we should wake him up or just leave?"

*** This is particularly challenging for me as this is an almost constant expression. I don't even realize I'm doing it. Honest. It's not you, it's me. Call me?

16 February 2007

Nobody's interested in seeing my treatment

I feel like an ugly starlet in Hollywood. Nobody is taking a meeting with me. I don't get it. They say "sure, sure" and then blow me off. What is it about me lately that is creating such bad karma? Sigh. This is about the third time I've tried to set up a meeting and have it fall apart before it even got off the ground. Jeez. I use deodorant. I use toothpaste. What's up with that?!

What does the Diamond Cutter say?...

"Problem: When you undertake some form of cooperative effort--project, business partnership, etc.--it doesn't seem to work out.

Solution: This is the result again of dishonesty. Be totally honest with your words and with your impressions."

Have I been dishonest? I didn't think so. Worth thinking about, I guess. Sigh. Really glad it's a 3-day weekend.