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MsTriste
OTS
Joined: Dec 08, 2005
Age: 44
Posts: 3373
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 Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject: Staff Meetings Suck |
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Anybody else have a hard time with staff meetings?
I swear, after each of the last 3 staff meetings I've wanted to walk out in the middle of the meeting and quit my job. In general I like my job, but I can't handle the meetings.
I'm going to talk to my doc about it and see if he can write a letter so I can be excused from them due to AS. |
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preludeman
Velociraptor
Joined: May 22, 2007
Age: 38
Posts: 476
Location: In my inner sanctum of solitude.
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| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject: My Two Cents. |
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they take too long, yet they do have information that is useful.
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Do what you can when you can. I'm also the "alien"they are looking for. |
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Paula
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 16, 2005
Age: 47
Posts: 732
Location: San Diego Calif
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| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Who likes staff meetings? They are just one of those necessary things you gotta do. |
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Seshat
Butterfly
Joined: Mar 25, 2008
Posts: 13
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| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Staff meetings are no fun for me either. In my most recent job, I worked as a claims adjuster for an insurance company, and they were big on "Team Meetings" for everything from how the pending claims were going to what theme to have for Halloween. I had two managers and two teams during my brief time with this company.
My first manager was pretty decent. I think she sensed something was "different" about me, but as long as I kept up to speed and did my work, she was cool with my relative quietness during pow-wows at her cubicle. But then she transfered to a different department, and me and the three other girls who worked under her got divided-up to other groups. And unfortunately for me, I got Mr. Gung-Ho Team Player guy as my new manager.
Don't get me wrong, I don't totally want to villify this guy, because a lot of people seemed to like him. But he was so evangelical about the "Team" thing that he and I constantly clashed (and I'm not exactly a confrontational person). I remember this one meeting the group had where we were discussing what was new for the quarter, how last quarter went, claims practices, etc etc. But a couple of days after the meeting Mr. Gung-Ho called me into his cube to talk about "why I didn't contribute". And I was like, "What?!" (Or at least I was thinking that). Seriously, I was a relatively new trainee, and so were two other people in my group, and we were still learning about claims handling. What exactly was I supposed to "contribute"? I was still a n00b, and Mr Gung-Ho was admonishing me for being me. It freaked me out a little, because I really didn't think I'd done anything "wrong". It's not like people weren't aware that I had a reputation for "being quiet".
But it wasn't even that, it was like he took it personally that I didn't have tons to say during the meeting. I'm a listener, that's what I do. I can't help it. Besides, there were other people at the meeting who had been in his group longer and actually did have relevant things to say about business on the floor.
There were many other problems I had with this manager, and he was a big part of what caused me to quit that job. Maybe some day I'll do a whole separate thread on it. Anyway, sorry to go off on a tangent there. OP: I do feel your pain, and I guess my best advice would be to fake interest as best you can, and hopefully you can get a doc's letter to get out of the meetings. One of the things we used to have to do at the insurance company was bring a note pad, so I would always pretend to take notes (even though I didn't need to; I usually just doodled as discreetly as possible to pass the time while I listened  ). |
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pakled
"Bless his Heart"
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Age: 51
Posts: 3281
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| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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even NTs hate staff meetings... trust me on this one. Yeah, I show up for the free pizza (is there an unwritten rule that because you're a tech, all you like is pizza? Howsabout pasta, salads, ethnic food, barbecue...sorry...rant of me own...
What I do is sit quietly, face the direction of the speaker, and take notes on things that affect me. I don't ask questions (to quote an old Jello Biafra song 'the number one enemy of progress is questions...
I'll play 'buzzword bingo' (you find an overused phrase that they're using, or a tick, like saying 'yeah yeah', for punctuation, etc), counting how many times they say it. Sometimes, if I'm far enough away, I'll provide running commentary (dangerous for small meetings, probably not a good idea in general...
There's no rule to managers that are good with people (sometimes I think there's an exception...
If you're not a 'team player', find someone who is, and offer to help some. Then you can say you're working 'for the team'. One thing I've found, usually managers don't last forever. At least in my line of work (28 managers in 21 years.... Instead of quitting, sometimes try a lateral transfer. You keep your bennies, and meet new and interesting people. |
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t0
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 24, 2008
Posts: 526
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| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Staff Meetings Suck |
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| aylissa wrote: | | Anybody else have a hard time with staff meetings? |
What is it that you don't like about them? I'm not a fan of staff meetings because they often feel like a waste of time. At one point I had a (lousy) manager who used to have 30 minute team meetings every day. It was boring but I went ahead and did it anyway. |
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harvester52
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jan 24, 2008
Age: 19
Posts: 135
Location: WA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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I don't mind our crew meetings at Wendy's. They're not very frequent, but they're an extra two hours pay and you usually walk out with all kinds of cool prizes. I got this huge water bottle at our last one that holds like a gallon of water. Not to mention, my manager is really nice and pretty funny. Our crew is real laid back. I have, however, been in positions where I HATED meetings. I think it all depends on who you're meeting with.
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MsTriste
OTS
Joined: Dec 08, 2005
Age: 44
Posts: 3373
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the responses. The problem I have is that I have been made the object of disdain (for lack of a more accurate description) at each of the last 3 meetings. I've only been at this job for five months, thought I was fitting in nicely, there was only one person who hated me but she hates everyone so I was able not to personalize it. Then for some reason a person who had been very nice for five months went off on me in front of everybody, none of it was even valid, and the boss didn't stop her from ranting about me and how I "come across". I started crying and didn't stop till I left and went straight home. My boss made me use up my sick time. It was a miserable weekend but I decided to talk to her one on one and she apologized and now we're friends again. Then the next week, I made a (what I thought) helpful suggestion and several people were very negative and hostile. Then the third week, another person who was very friendly to me, started being very critical and negative of me in the meeting.
They act nice to me in person, then we get into a group situation and all their hostility towards me comes out, three Fridays in a row. That's why I don't like staff meetings.
I'm going to use the advice of taking a notepad in and making notes and not saying a word, and writing down anything that they say about me so I can use it if I need to to get out of the stupid things.
And contrary to what someone above said, NOTHING is accomplished in our staff meetings. Waste of time. |
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BazzaMcKenzie
Wild colonial man
Joined: Aug 22, 2006
Posts: 3702
Location: the Antipodes
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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Do they have an written agenda for the meetings?
If not, can you suggest that they do - so as to make them more effective and efficient
When they stray from the agenda, you can nicely ask they stick to the agenda.
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Pandora
Cat Lady
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Age: 47
Posts: 4684
Location: Townsville
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:54 am Post subject: |
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I don't think you need to go to a team meeting if somebody writes up the minutes and distributes them to everybody in the team after the meeting. Some team meetings are tolerable to me but I've had to leave in the middle of a couple due to sensory issues with the noise. I find the meetings are usually better the smaller the team.
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Break out you Western girls,
Hold your heads up high.
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poopylungstuffing
"Ultimate Creative Oddball"
Joined: Mar 09, 2007
Age: 33
Posts: 4290
Location: not otherwise specified
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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I have quit jobs in the middle of team meetings. I was working at this kennel...long hours for very little pay. I worked my butt off for 3 months there..Little did I know that the office manager was keeping tabs on every little thing that I did wrong, and it was all only brought to light during an unexpected personal evaluation of me in front of the entire staff..needless to day, I ran out of there in tears and never went back.
When I worked at Whole Foods, I hated the storewide meetings with a passion, and always felt like crap for the rest of the day...I have difficulty articulating exactly why though.
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MsTriste
OTS
Joined: Dec 08, 2005
Age: 44
Posts: 3373
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| poopylungstuffing wrote: | I have quit jobs in the middle of team meetings. I was working at this kennel...long hours for very little pay. I worked my butt off for 3 months there..Little did I know that the office manager was keeping tabs on every little thing that I did wrong, and it was all only brought to light during an unexpected personal evaluation of me in front of the entire staff..needless to day, I ran out of there in tears and never went back.
When I worked at Whole Foods, I hated the storewide meetings with a passion, and always felt like crap for the rest of the day...I have difficulty articulating exactly why though. |
I can relate.
I can't believe you were evaluated in front of a team - that should be illegal.
The sh** we put up with in order to earn a paycheck.
And from what I read on this forum, nobody is every miserable or fired over their actual WORK, but interpersonal crap.
There really should be an allowance for us for not having to be made to suffer through this kind of crap. |
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Pandora
Cat Lady
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Age: 47
Posts: 4684
Location: Townsville
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:01 am Post subject: |
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It was very unprofessional of the kennel bosses to embarrass a worker in front of all the other staff. It also occurs to me that if they are prepared to treat their workers so badly, they probably wouldn't be treating the dogs very well either.
_________________
Break out you Western girls,
Someday soon you're gonna rule the world.
Break out you Western girls,
Hold your heads up high.
"Western Girls" - Dragon
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poopylungstuffing
"Ultimate Creative Oddball"
Joined: Mar 09, 2007
Age: 33
Posts: 4290
Location: not otherwise specified
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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It was the office managers idea to humiliate the kennel attendant in front of the rest of the staff. He is the one who hired me.
I was doing things that were against the rules, but had been taught to me by other members of the staff. Because i was not repremanded for things I did wrong as I did them, I had the false sense of having not done anything wrong...(walking the dogs around the block, to be specific)....My senior kennel attendant said I could...He also listed all of the times I was just a couple of minutes late...I don't understand the difference in a couple of minutes when I am there in a reasonable amount of time to take care of everything that needs to be done and basicly work my butt off non-stop for 8 hours on weekdays...and every other saturday....
The doctor who had recently purchased the clinic was really nice, and liked me, and and didn't want me to go, but my pride had been hurt too much to let it roll off my back.
People in management positions take their peons for granted.
Good kennel attendants are very important. I have worked with some bad ones, and there is a difference.
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MsTriste
OTS
Joined: Dec 08, 2005
Age: 44
Posts: 3373
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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I saw my psych MD who is one of my favorite NT's in the world. After commiserating with me, he wrote a letter to give my boss, excusing me from staff meetings for medical reasons.
However, I reread my job description, and, believe it or not, staff meetings are listed in my job description.
Now I'm not sure if I'm allowed to get out of them or not.
Any AS lawyers out there? |
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